Designing Dublin 2.0Love the City100 Examples

Nuala Flood

October 2010

Storytelling

Nature’s Little Helpers, byPatricia Piccinini Australia: 2004

Some things, once done, are not easily undone. We might recognise later that we should not have done them in the first place, however undoing them is not so easy. Like an egg, which once broken cannot be unbroken, when something is created, it is difficult to contain. This stands as much for a work of art as it does for a genetically modified creature. Anyone who thinks that they can maintain control of the things that they create is fooling themselves. Whether it is genetically modified canola, the cane toad, a work on the secondary market or an image on the internet, once the thing leaves our hands all we can do is watch.

Dáil Éireann / Seanad ÉireannDublin : current

Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. The National Parliament (Oireachtas) consists of the President and two Houses: Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives) and Seanad Éire-ann (the Senate) whose functions and powers derive from the Constitution of Ireland enacted

by the People on 1st July, 1937.

DebategraphWebbased : current

Debategraph is a web-based, collaborative idea visualization tool, focusing on complex

public policy issues.

Traditional Irish FortuneGeorge’s Street Arcade: current

Traditional Irish Fortune Tellers Mrs. Murphy and her daughter Trish specialise in Psychic Tarot Card readings, Palmistry and the wonders of the Crystal Ball. Each can reveal what the future holds for you, the unexpected, love, marriage, travel, career options and

spiritual guidance.

Storytellers of Ireland Web-based: current

Storytellers of Ireland

This is a website where that can connect you to lots of different story tellers in Ireland. They

also provide different lectures, workshops etc.

Yellow Arrow ProjectWorldwide : 2004

Participants place uniquely-coded Yellow Arrow stickers to draw attention to different locations and objects - a favorite view of the city, an odd fire hydrant, the local bar. By sending an SMS from a mobile phone to the Yellow Arrow number beginning with the arrow’s unique code, Yellow Arrow authors connect a story to the location where they place their sticker. Messages range from short poetic fragments to personal stories to game-like prompts to action. When another person encounters the Yellow Arrow, he or she sends its code to the Yellow Arrow number and immediately receives the message on their mobile phone. The website yellowarrow.net extends this location-based exchange, by allowing participants to annotate their arrows with photos and maps in the online gallery of Yellow Arrows placed throughout the world.

NewspapersWorldwide : current

We read them in order to explain to ourselves what is happening in the world. They tell us the current stories of the day.

MuseumsWorldwide : current

The Future’s AcademyDublin : current

The Futures Academy’s approach is underpinned by a basic assumption that the future is not predetermined and can be shaped and prepared for by those who employ a proactive attitude. They see their role as that of creatively exploring possible, probable and preferred futures for Ireland and different aspects of Irish life. They also aim to assist organisations in detecting and analysing present and prospective changes and their implications, exploring possible futures and identifying and formulating decisions and policies that will stand the test of time.

Scenario planningWorldwide : current

Scenario planning may involve aspects of Systems thinking, specifically the recognition that many factors may combine in complex ways to create sometime surprising futures (due to non-linear feedback loops). The method also allows the inclusion of factors that are difficult to formalize, such as novel insights about the future, deep shifts in values, unprecedented regulations or inventions. Systems thinking used in conjunction with scenario planning leads to plausible scenario story lines because the causal relationship between factors can be demonstrated. In these cases when scenario planning is integrated with a systems thinking approach to scenario development, it is sometimes referred to as structural dynamics. The International Governmental Panel on climate change use scenarios planning to examine possible scenarios that might result in relation to climate change.

ToastmastersWorldwide : current

Toastmasters is a public speaking club and has guilds all over the world including Ireland.

Hanging Gardens, by Nicola Placella and Magnus SvenssonThe Why Factory, The Neth-relands : 2008

The design project illustrates the massive scale of intervention required to achieve even a small percentage of self-reliancy in food production in Barcelona. To be efficient green must go large scale.

Chinese WhispersEverywhere : always

In the game variously known as Chinese whispers the first player whispers a phrase or sentence to the next player. Each player successively whispers what that player believes he or she heard to the next. The last player announces the statement to the entire group. Errors typically accumulate in the retellings, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly, and often amusingly, from the one uttered by the first. The game is often played by children as a party game or in the playground. It is often invoked as a metaphor for cumulative error, especially the inaccuracies as rumours or gossip spread,[2] or, more generally, for the unreliability of human recollection.

CharadesEverywhere : always

Charades or charade is a word guessing game. In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to convey the meaning to another party. It is also sometimes called Activity, after the board game.

Creating scenarios for sus-tainable foodGothenburg : current

Visions of future scenarios can be important tools for creating long-term strategies. In the project Food Göteborg 2050, researchers and planners from Gothenburg developed scenarios for a sustainable food production and supply chain by using a method called backcasting. The visualisations developed in the scenarios have become part of the strategic planning of the Gothenburg City and region. Scenarios can be a tool to put words, visions and visualisations to a necessary process of change. A sustainable food and grocery chain contains a movement towards local production and sale as well as a change in consumer behaviour. A future sustainable diet consists of two thirds vegetable protein and one third of animal protein, the opposite of today.

New Babylon, by ConstantUtopia: 1954-74New Babylon is a Utopian anti-capitalist city designed in 1959-74 by artist-architect Constant Nieuwenhuys.The goal was the creating of alternative life experiences, called ‘situations.

Scratch and SniffWorldwide: 1970’s - presentScratch and sniff is created through the process of micro-encapsulation. The desired aroma is surrounded by tiny micro-capsules that break easily upon scratching. Because of the micro-encapsulation, the aroma can be preserved for extremely long periods of time.

PsychogeographyAnywhere: anytimePsychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” Another definition is “a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.”

Francis Alÿs, various worksMexico: contmeporaryThe ideas of conceptual artist Francis Alÿs usually relate to a specific local context, but his methods suggest a network of possibilities that is global. He has used the basic human activity of walking to generate works that are remarkably diverse, including instructional performances, photo documentations, videos, slide projections, animations, and paintings. Schooled as an architect in his native Belgium and in Italy, Alÿs has lived in Mexico City for the past fifteen years. Much of his work has taken inspiration from the chaotic, sensuous, and brutal streets of that city.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brasserie LippParis: 1969Street photographer

Entrepreneurship

William KamkwambaAfrica : current

William Kamkwamba, co-author and subject of the best-selling book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Trapped in poverty and unable to afford school, William taught himself to build a windmill at age 14, generating income for his family and his village. He went on to become a TED Africa fellow, and win a scholarship to the African Leadership Academy in South Africa where he now studies, and his 2009 book has become the subject of great media attention.

Barefoot Solar EngineersThe Barefoot College, India : 2006

Barefoot Solar Engineers are rural women trained to install and repair solar power systems in India.

The Barefoot College has been pioneering solar electrification in rural, remote, non-electrified villages, since 1989. The College has demystified solar technology and is decentralizing its application by making it available to poor and neglected communities. By ‘demystification’ of solar technology and ‘decentralisation’ of its application, meaning placing the fabrication, installation, usage, repair and maintenance of sophisticated solar lighting units in the hands of rural, illiterate and semi-literate men and women .

The MatchmakerLisdoonvarna, Ireland : Cur-rent

Willie Daly, 66, is Ireland’s last traditional matchmaker, a third-generationpractitioner from the Co Clare town of Lisdoonvarna, famed for its annual September. For a small fee, he will check his records, which contains information on possible suitors all over the contry. Willy is the main attraction at the annual matchmaking festival, which attracts over 40,000 visitors each year and generates 4 million euro for the local economy.

Benjamin EisenstadtNew York : 1906 – 1996

Born in New York City, and educated at Brooklyn College, he first operated a cafeteria across from the Navy Yard in Brooklyn. He then switched to making tea bags after his cafeteria declined in revenue. He came up with the idea of single servings of table sugar to utilize his tea bag machinery. He shopped the idea to the major sugar producers, but since he didn’t get a patent, they used his idea without paying him proper royalties. In 1957 he came up with a formula for a powdered saccharin sweetener. Previously saccharin was sold as liquid drops, or tiny, hard-to-dissolve tablets. He mixed the saccharin with dextrose to bulk it up to a teaspoon sized portion, added cream of tartar, and calcium silicate as an anti-caking agent.

UmbrollyUK : Current

Umbrolly offers several different types of Umbrella vending machine, which range in size. The smallest (named the “mini unit”) is only 8 inches deep, and is thought to be the smallest umbrella vending machine in the world. The company are now in the process of building a network of retailers who will house the vending machines, and they have been successful in winning over several lucrative contracts where passing pedestrian traffic is high, such as in airports, train stations and shopping centres.

Brazilian TelecentrosFree broadband Linux computer time in some of the poorest neighborhoods of Sao Paulo.

Bumrungrad HospitalThiland : current

The all-digital integrated system has enabled it to accommodate a 40 percent rise in patient loads without increasing IT head count, achieve 33 percent gross profit [though the cost to the customer is a tenth what it would be in the US], and handle 860,000 outpatient visits yearly, with the average visit including registration, treatment, diagnostic procedures, pharmacy and bill-paying taking just 45 minutes and medical errors and infection rates have fallen.

The information system helps us attract and retain doctors. It makes it easier for them to practice high-quality medicine. Physicians can see so much more on an electronic health record than when you’re shuffling through a paper record. [it also describes the diagnostic advantages of browsing digital images over film.]

People TreePeople Tree creates beautiful Fair Trade and organic clothing and accessories by forming lasting partnerships with Fair Trade, organic producers in developing countries.

Heston BlumenthalUK : currentBlumenthal is the owner of ‘The Fat Duck’ restaurant and is famous for his scientific approach and has been described as a culinary alchemist for his innovative style of cooking.

Cap and ShareFesata, Ireland : Current

Cap & Share is what is called an “upstream system”. The cap is enforced by requiring the fossil fuel suppliers to have permits to bring fossil fuels into the economy. The number of permits determines the size of the cap.

Each year you get a certificate for your share of the country’s CO2 emissions allowance. It might be for 10 tonnes of CO2, say. It’s free, and every adult in the country gets the same.

The fossil fuel suppliers (oil, coal and gas companies) have to buy these certificates (you’d sell them via banks or post offices) and they become the permits. If a fossil fuel company buys your certificate, this allows them to bring in as much fossil fuel as will emit 10 tonnes of CO2 when it’s burnt (somewhere down the line). The more certificates they buy, the more fossil fuels they can bring in.

Eat Love: Food Concepts by Eating-Designer Marije VogelzangHer work is conceptual food — and while the medium is purposefully edible, it’s meant to be “experienced.”

Sometimes serious, sometimes playful, Vogelzang is all over the place — she has no rules. Employing different strategies to subvert and tweak the experience of eating, she mixes and matches from the culinary, design, and art fields, crafting experiences in an attempt to elicit memories and emotion, examine cultures and ritual, or simply trigger new food sensations.

Lacaton & VassalFrance: CurrentThe architectural practice have designed commercial, educational, cultural and residential buildings. A connecting thread across their work is the desire to find what is essential in each situation and to create a modest language of architecture based on an economy of means. Whether it is their celebrated conversion of the Palais de Tokyo or their social housing refurbishments, Lacaton and Vassal make intelligent re-use of the existing, minimising new building through innovative design, and through an appreciation of the transformative possibilities in each situation. They maintain that ninety percent of what is required for most projects is already available on site. Philippe Lacaton traces this attitude to five years spent in Niger which he describes as a formative experience, where he witnessed first hand what could be achieved with very little through the innovation and creativity of those living in scarcity.

Father Shay CullenThe Philippines: CurrentFather Shay Cullen, nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize and other Human Rights Awards, is a Missionary priest from Ireland and a member of the Missionary Society of St. Columban and has worked protecting women and children and human rights in the Philippines since 1969.

Father Shay Cullen established Preda Foundation in Olongapo city, the Philippines in 1974 to promote human rights, justice and peace. Believing that poverty, violence and child abuse are barriers to peace and give rise to extremism. He strives to eliminate child abuse and promote respect for children’s rights. He works for peace by striving to change the unjust economic political and social structures and attitudes that allow such abuse.

Katie PriceUK: ContemporaryCelebrity business woman

Urban CatalystBerlin: 2001- 2003Urban Catalyst was a European research project based in Berlin during 2001-2003 that explored strategies for the temporary use of left-over sites in urban areas. Founded by Phillipp Misselwitz, Phillipp Oswalt and Klaus Overmeyer the project was organised as an interdisciplinary platform for research and public interventions in order to stimulate discussion amongst architects and planners about the use of void spaces in the city. The project took as its topic the various unplanned and informal uses of these spaces, which operate within informal economies and fall outside the remit of traditional urban planning. Using the city of Berlin as their site, Urban Catalyst organised a series of events, exhibitions, publications and workshops, in order to develop strategies for integrating such processes into the urban design of contemporary cities. They research explored new forms of urban development where citizens would be the initiators rather than professional developers.

City Mine(d)Brussels: currentCity Mine(d) is an NGO based in Brussels that has been in operation for over ten years and now has branches in Barcelona and London. Including artists, activists, academics, social organisations and politicians, the group came together around a series of actions in derelict buildings in Brussels in 1995 and formalised itself as an NGO in 1997, dealing with issues arising at the intersection of art and politics in the city. Through a critique of the increasing privatisation of public space in Europe, City Mine(d) describe their aims as searching for new forms of citizenship and working towards the re-appropriation of public space, virtual or otherwise. Their work takes the form of urban interventions, action research projects and they try to influence policy at a European level through localised action and through establishing a network of like-minded people and projects.

The Bernard Shaw Coffee WindowDublin: currentA window at the front of the building has been opened up to sell coffee directly to the street.

Bubble BoyGrafton Street Dublin: current

Jamie OliverUK: current

James Trevor “Jamie” Oliver MBE (born 27 May 1975), sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is a British chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his role in campaigning against the use of processed foods in national schools, and his campaign to change unhealthy diets and poor cooking habits for the better across the United Kingdom and the United States.

Damien HirstUK: current

In September 2008, he took an unprecedented move for a living artist by selling a complete show, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, at Sotheby’s by auction and by-passing his long-standing galleries. The auction exceeded all predictions, raising £111 million ($198 million), breaking the record for a one-artist auction as well as Hirst’s own record with £10.3 million for The Golden Calf, an animal with 18-carat gold horns and hooves, preserved in formaldehyde.

Interaction/Technology

Green Cloud by HeHeHelsinki: 2008

This environmental art installation is done by French art duo HeHe - Helen Evans and Heiki Hansen. Hehe have installed Ga Green Cloud across sky of Helsinki. It is used laser tracking to project this cloud over the cimney of the Salmisaari power plant. Shape and size are adjustable. Here are an explanation from HeHe: “No other space, network, grid, community could better represent a city and it’s activity as a whole. The physical dimension of the Salmisaari site, inhabits a special position in Helsinki; physically, visually and metaphorically. The vertical vectors of the architecture connect the underworld with the sky: the underground coal storage tunnels descend to 126m below sea level (the deepest point in Helsinki) whilst it’s chimney reaches 155m into the sky with its cloud disappearing into the lower atmosphere.”

Talking Trash CansHelsinki: current

The talking trash bins greet passers-by and encourage them to throw their trash away. They are never at a loss for words, whether the subject is culture or politics. This summer tourists will be delighted to hear that the talking trash bins speak not only Finnish and Swedish, but also Japanese, English, German, Polish and Russian. Tourists can also learn the basics of the Finnish language, such as: “One of the sure signs of summer in Finland is that the trash bins start talking.”

BarcodesEverywhere: current

Architect - HertzbergerThe Netherlands: current

He makes buildings which are open to interpre-

tation by their inhabitants.

Extreme Green Guerrillas, by Michiko NittaLondon: 2007This project gives a critical point of view on the current general green visions, because many green activities are used as a medium of con-sumerism. Even though climate disaster might be happening, the artist doesn’t want people to panic and just follow what they are told to do.By illustrating an extreme green scenario through E.G.G. manual book, she would like people to think of the core problems and de-bate about it. Her point is not to say that this is the solution nor the future. Her role is more to provoke with intriguiging artworks, have people question their lifestyle and get the debate on green issues going.On the left is the examples of messaging ve-

hicles.

Various pieces of sculpture, by Richard ScerraMoMa: 1992-1993

Animaris Percipiere by Theo JansenThe Netherlands: 2006

This artist/engineer makes wind powered

sculptures

Zeekracht, by OMAThe Netherlands: current

Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Archi-tecture made plans for an incredible array of oceanic wind farms that may one day produce as much energy as the Persian Gulf. Dubbed Zeekracht (sea power), the masterplan com-prises a massive ring of wind farms centered around the Netherlands that spans seven ad-jacent countries. By calling for such a large network of communal infrastructure and knowl-edge, the plan takes a giant step towards ensuring European energy independency by 2025.

Collective Consciousness

Collective consciousness is a mode of awareness that emerges at the first transpersonal stage of consciousness, when our identities expand beyond our egos. A crucial capacity that accompanies this awareness is the ability to intuitively sense and work with the interactions between our and others’ energy fields, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. For example, just as Gene Rodenberry imagined a future where Star Trek’s Spock could “mind meld” with others, more of us are now becoming aware of our capacity not only to intuit each other’s thoughts and emotions, but also to consciously think and create together without communicating through our five senses.

Tone ZoneDunshaughlin Co. Meath: current

The first Tone Zone in Ireland is situated in a recreational area in Dunshaughlin Co. Meath, near an existing skateboard park and a children’s playground. There are nine pieces of exercise equipment, some of which can accommodate up to four adults at one time. Users can improve joint mobility and perform aerobic exercises on an air walker, parallel bars, a leg press, a rocking horse, self-weighted leg press, a sit-up board and sitting or standing rotators. The robust, colourful machines are constructed to the same safety standards required of children’s playground equipment, are easy to maintain and will withstand tough weather conditions.

BirdWatch IrelandIreland : currentBirdWatch Ireland is involved in a wide range of conservation work, including a number of survey and research projects, applied conservation projects, and the development and advocacy of policies in relation to issues of importance for the conservation of birds and their habitats in Ireland. This information forms a basis for the legal framework for the protection of Ireland’s birds. Click here for more information on why birds deserve our protection.

William H. Whyte: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces - The Street CornerDocumentary: 1969Witty and original film about the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others do not.

Pocket ParksCpenhagen: currentGreen cities are on the rise. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is one of the cities trying to improve the urban environment and deal with the daily green needs and desires of its inhabitants. One way of doing so is pocket parks: Open green spaces at a very small scale, often created on vacant building lots or on irregular pieces of land.

Ringkøbing-SkjernDenmark: currentRingkøbing-Skjern: A laboratory of green growthThe Municipality of Ringkøbing-Skjern has a vision of becoming a ‘laboratory of green growth.’ An energy council is mobilized to facilitate informal partnerships and networks between local industries, NGOs and local citizens. In collaboration with local enterprises, businessmen, farmers and local citizens, the municipality of Ringkøbing-Skjern is aiming for green growth entirely through renewable energy. environment and the economy.

Changing citizen behaviour leads to cleaner cityBelfast: 2004Since 2004 Belfast City Council has been working hard to make the city cleaner. Litter was to be found everywhere in public areas. The city council therefore launched an anti-litter campaign aimed at improving public behaviour towards littering. The campaign used a combination of advertising and penalty fines. This case focuses on campaigns to change public behaviour towards littering.

Industrial Symbiosis - Waste makes resourceKalundborg, Denmark: Industrial Symbiosis is a collaborative enterprise in which the by-products of one industry become valuable resources for one or several other industries. The overall result is of direct economic benefit to the companies involved and widespread environmental benefit to the surrounding region. By 1998, Kalundborg could already boast that internal collaboration between industries had amounted to savings of 160 million dollars since the project’s outset.The basis of the Industrial Symbiosis cooperation in Kalundborg is open communication and mutual trust between the partners. Business to business relationships occur on a voluntary basis, but are encouraged, facilitated and managed by the Kalundborg Symbiosis Institute.

Compost creates income for park maintenanceNairobi: currentLack of toilet facilities and waste dominating public places is a reality in many places all over the world. A slum in Nairobi, Kenya, has come up with a possible answer to the challenge by creating parks that contain toilets and compost facilities. The compostable waste of the area is used to produce compost, which is sold locally as fertilizer and generates income used to maintain the park and toilets. The case may inspire others to bring sustainable economy into waste management systems and parks.

Mexican WaveAnywhere: anytimeThe Mexican wave is achieved in a packed stadium when successive groups of spectators briefly stand and raise their arms. Each spectator is required to rise at the same time as those straight in front and behind, and slightly after the person immediately to either the right (for a clockwise wave) or the left (for a counterclockwise wave). Immediately upon stretching to full height, the spectator returns to the usual seated position.

Pilobolus, dance companyAnywhere: anytimeThis collaborative dance company is acclaimed for its mix of humor, invention, and drama. Drawing inspiration from biology Pilobolus has created a dance vocabulary all its own.

Do the Green ThingWeb-based: anytimeGreen Thing is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. With the help of brilliant videos and inspiring stories from creative people and community members around the world, Green Thing focuses on seven things you can do - and enjoy doing.

Society

Tag RugbyNational : current

City wide and national leagues for tag rugby

Irish Country Women’s AssociationNational : 1910-present

The ICA was founded in May 1910 by a small group of well educated and largely Protestant women in Bree, Co Wexford. It is non-denominational and non-party political, principles which continue to this day and our members are drawn from every background and shade of opinion.

From the start, the Society of the United Irishwomen tackled the big issues of the day that affected women’s lives, and this has continued throughout the decades. The ICA has been instrumental in providing practical support in the development of basic utilities in Ireland, such as water and electricity, and in influencing policy in health, education, adult education, agriculture, horticulture, arts & crafts, and on a range of other issues.

Unemployed IrelandIreland : CurrentA help website for all recently unemployed people in Ireland

http://www.unemployedireland.com/Home.aspx

The ArkDublin, Ireland : Current

The Ark, Europe’s first custom-built Children’s Cultural Centre, programmes, promotes and hosts high quality cultural work which is by children, for children and about children.

The Ark is a charitable organisation, founded on the principle that all children, as citizens, have the same cultural entitlements as adults.

We work with a diverse range of Irish and international artists to develop original, inspirational and playful programmes for children (aged between 3-14) so that they can extend their imaginations and horizons. Certificates are in demand, and are worth serious money.

Mary HarkUSA : currentMary Hark, artist and Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. In collaboration with local artists and educators in Kumasi, Ghana, Mary helped create a local hand-made papermaking initiative that creates an income-generating product and protects the environment and local community by putting to use a non-indigenous, invasive plant that has been damaging farms as the paper source rather than using native trees. The GIA will allow the local artists and educators in Ghana to share their knowledge with youth, and will lay a foundation for ongoing youth engagement at their studio

Friends of the ElderlyIreland : Current

Friends of the Elderly is an Irish charity that works to alleviate loneliness and isolation amongst older people who live alone or feel alone. We believe in supporting people to remain independent and to live at home for as long as possible. We think that providing the essentials in life is necessary, but even more important is the loving support of friends.

BeLonG To Ireland : current

Today BeLonG To Youth Services for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Young People launched the nation’s first ever gay awareness week for young people. The week is themed STAND UP! Show your support for your LGBT friends, and focuses on the importance of friendships amongst young people, particularly when tackling homophobic bullying.

Healthabitat Australia : currentHealthabitat link environmental conditions, and in particular the provision of adequate housing, to general health and well-being. Their work has especially addressed these issues in the context of the Aboriginal people of Australia whose living environment and health standards have been woefully inadequate in relation to white Australians. Established in 1985 by architect, Paul Pholeros, anthropologist, Stephen Rainbow and physician, Paul Torzillo. The success of Healthabitat’s approach lies in its simplicity and their commitment that for every research phase some action or material transformation should also occur. This pledge is especially important in a context where Aboriginal communities had failed to see any major improvement in their living conditions despite numerous reports, surveys and analyses.

Public Works London : currentPublic works is an art and architecture practice based in London which was established in 1999. Currently three of the five founding members remain: the artist Katrin Böhm, architects Torange Khonsari and Andreas Lang, alongside artist Polly Brannan who joined in 2005. Public works create projects that investigate how users engage with public space, devising strategies for supporting social, cultural and other initiatives in both urban and rural contexts. They employ playful methods to involve local users, residents and passers-by in their projects, often making interventions on site in order to inform and expand a given brief.

Park Products is series of collaboratively produced goods using resources found in Kensington Gardens to be exchanged in a non-monetary mini-economy during the summer

Irish Guide Dogs for the BlindIreland : currentIrish Guide Dogs for the Blind is a national charity dedicated to helping persons who are blind or vision impaired or families of children with autism to achieve improved mobility and independence.

Multisensory Integration

Multimodal integration, known as ‘multisensory integration’ is the study of how information from the different sensory modalities, such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion and taste, may be integrated by the nervous system. Such integration may result in unified perceptual experiences that are coherent across sensory modalities. Multimodal integration also deals with how different sensory modalities interact with one another and alter each other’s processing.

Mobile schoolsGoa : currentIn the state of Goa in India, Danish couple Anders Linnet and Mette Lange have set up a project they have called MovingSchools. Their mobile classrooms can be moved to wherever Indian migrant workers and their families live and work. This enables their children to get a free education no matter where their parents have to work. The school is built from cheap, local materials, its wheels allowing a tractor to pull it to wherever the children need it. The children are taught in their own language, giving them a unique opportunity to attend school, even if they do not speak the local language.

CloughjordanIreland: currentThe Cloughjordan Ecovillage is a not-for-profit organisation developing an alternative model for sustainable living. The ecovillage aims to provide a healthy, satisfying and socially-rich lifestyle while minimising ecological impacts. The 67-acre site includes beautiful and fertile land for growing food and trees to promote local food production and biodiversity.

Sustainable Urban CommunitiesMontreal: currentIn 2003, students from the McGill University of Montreal, Canada, began the Montreal Urban Community Sustainment collective (MUCS). A non-profit student organization, the MUCS was founded on the principles of green design, cooperative living, and education on sustainable livelihoods. The organisation’s mission is to create and promote sustainable urban communities. One of the keys to the successful presence of the MUCS as a community group was the creation of a dining co-op, which was born in July 2007. Thanks to this initiative, anyone can stop by four nights a week to find healthy, delicious food and a warm, welcoming environment in which to share it. At the present time, several working groups are active within the MUCS community

The GAAIreland: current

An Age-Friendly CityNew York: currentLong emblematic of youth, energy, and fast-paced life, New York City has embraced the challenge of becoming more ‘age-friendly.’ The collaborative efforts of a variety of municipal departments will help the city to address the needs of its growing elderly population in ways that will physically transform the city.

Respect for Learning and TeachersSingapore: currentEducation is Singapore’s most important form of capital, and the government considers money spent on education as a necessary investment - not as an expense. Teachers are highly educated and highly respected in Singapore, where politicians would never dream of criticising the job done by teachers. However, respect for the school system is not based on a blind belief in authority and the three Rs. Singaporeans do not simply manage well in tests and learning things by heart, they are also making tremendous headway in design and innovation. Less homework and more creativity and group work are part of the recipe.

Face the ClimateCopenhagen: currentFreely accessible teaching material about the climate and human living conditions provide meditative insight into the environment and support the idea of knowledge sharing and green learning as prerequisites for the sustainable cities of the future.

Multimedia teaching material is extremely suitable when it comes to accommodating individual pupils’ learning styles and it can also be used in remedial teaching.

Journalistic reports from the real world together with involving teaching methods, issues and knowledge relevant to, and appropriate for, the students.

Life beneath the asphaltSeoulWhat was built in Seoul, Korea, in the 1960s as the road to efficiency, became a health and safety hazard for the people of the city. The decision to dismantle an elevated highway and a buried polluted sewer was based on the expense of adding reinforcement and ongoing maintenance. What began as a question of cost evolved into a question of value. Cheonggyecheon River has been transformed from traffic corridor into people-friendly destination. Seoul has been reunited with its past history, its present culture and its future market.

Drainage scheme makes for peace of mind in urban extensionUpton: current In Northampton in England, a landscape-based drainage scheme has helped achieve sustainable urban development in an area previously plagued by flooding. The new community of Upton handles rainwater at source by means of a system of ditches and green areas and focuses on vulnerable road users and proximity to everyday necessities.

Spirit

DreamScape by Attainable UtopiasWeb-based: 2006

What they say ‘Dreamscape’ is:‘A mutual process of realizing dreamsArguably, a Utopia without participation, subscription and ownership is not really a utopia! If Attainable Utopia (AU) works it will be one part of a joined-up network of utopias. The ‘DreamScape’ is simply the website’s whole approach to the support of Dreaming?. Making this work for a (our) whole Network entails designing an eco-mimetic system. This will allow individuals to contribute to their own ‘individual utopia’ whilst also helping to evolve joined-up, and ‘collective utopias’’.

Walk on the beach in SandymountDublin: current

An authentic Dublin experience.

Forty FootDublin: current

An authentic Dublin experience.

SouthwallDublin: current

An authentic Dublin experience.

Twinkling Bells on BoatsDun Laoghaire: current

An authentic Dublin experience.

GreenmapsWorldwide: current

Maps of all things ‘green’ in cities, from organic food stores to green spaces.

KissesFilm: 2008

Evocative portrayal of the spirit of the city of Dublin.

About AdamFilm: 2000

One of the first films to depict an image of the of modern Dublin.

Santa Caterina Market Building, by Enric MirallesBarcelona: 1997-2004

Refurbishment and redevelopment of the market building in Barcelona.

Grogan’s PubDublin: current

An authentic Dublin experience

Hardware ShopsDublin: current

An authentic Dublin experience

Unbranded CuritibaBrazil: currentThe inhabitants of the megapolis of Curitiba in Brazil have 16 parks, 14 forests and more than 1000 green public spaces as their immediate neighbours. As a whole, the green urban areas in Curitiba are among the largest in the world and every inhabitant of the city has approximately 52 m² of nature to romp about in. Brazil’s green capital makes a tremendous effort to preserve the city’s natural environment and is regarded by many as one of the world’s best examples of green urban planning.

Random OccurancesDublin: all the time

Urban acupuncture creates new life in the suburbsAmsterdam: currentThe Dutch capital Amsterdam is running out of space. The city centre has no more room for housing and entertainment activities, for which reason urban planners are now trying to create new urban centres on the outskirts of the city to comply with the population’s increasing need for space. In Zuidost, in the south of Amsterdam, architects have optimised conditions in the socially deprived area of Bijlmermeer by means of Urban Acupuncture, turning the area into a new entertainment mecca.

Witty NamesDublin: currentE.g. - ‘the Stiletto in the Ghetto, ‘the floozy in the jacuzzi’, ‘the tart with the cart’, ‘the wart by the dorsh’, ‘the tube in the cube’

Witty CharactersDublin: all the time

My ForestfarmThe Philippines: all the timeWhat happens when real life interrupts your fantasy life? This must happen particularly often for the online community of Second Life (SL); a virtual 3D world inhabited by ‘avatars’ of millions of real individuals from around the world. Dirk Fleischmann’s Flex Dix on Second LifeArtist Dirk Fleischmann was an active user of the virtual world, so we com-missioned him to make some work about ecology that would address the online com-munity. Then, in 2008 real life interrupted Fleischmann when he went to the Philippines and he stopped using SL for a year. Now, for the month of June 2009, his avatar Flex Dix is live in SL[2] and has a one-avatar cam-paign to share with the online community. He tells the tale of the reforestation work that Fleischmann and others have been carry-ing out in real life with a community living in the mountains near Antipolo City, about two hours from Manila. Myforrestfarm centres on the idea of how activities in one place affect another.

Open CityChile: In progressA designed city still in formation that has no master plan, no imposed ordering devices, and no hierarchical networks of infrastruc-ture. The strange buildings placed among dunes and grasslands reflect instead the mind’s translation of urban phenomena and natural phenomena relative to the construc-tion of memory, and a process of composition that is not dependent on stylistic precedents, drawing boards, or academic discourse. Teaching takes place on site and employs poetic methods to activate the design pro-cess; the endeavor is considered more im-portant than the result. More than 100 pho-tographs are included, capturing the mystical spirit of the place and of its architecture.

DARTDublin: current

Moving DublinCleary and Conolly: 2009“A million everyday journeys course through the veins of Dublin, giving it life (or poison-ing it?). These journeys range in scale and rhythm from the incessant flow of motorway traffic through the familiar trundling of a local bus journey right down to an early morning stroll around the block with the dog. This pro-fusion of intersecting paths give the places its form, carving roads, highways and public spaces. The impact of these journeys trans-forms lives, changes the face of the city, and resonates on a planetary level. For two years we moved around Dublin in every way pos-sible: by car, taxi, bus or train, tram, bicycle and on foot. We met score of Dubliners, and recorded dozens of personal accounts of moving through the city. We amassed a trea-sure trove of documents: video, photographs, interviews, sounds, stories. The result is Moving Dublin; a road movie, a picture book, and many other things. Above all Moving Dublin is a homage to the city that Lady Mor-gan once called her dear dirty Dublin.”