Under-Urbanized

This little two-worder really struck me when I read it recently. It's a wonderful phrase to ensapsulate analysis of urban neighbourhoods. Rather than concentrating on measures such as density, it frees us to think in terms of qualities good neighbourhoods have: the services, social services, employers, attractions/ entertainments, spaces, architecture, street life, education, residential availability (tenure and typologies), cross-sections of society, retailers etc. Pretty soon we come to realize that most urban neighbourhoods are under-urbanized. It is this lack of diversity that affects good neighbourhoods, rather than a magical plot ratio, or even a 'cafe-culture'. The really interesting thing is that is takes a huge number of people, interests, developers and businesses to fill so many gaps. The great thing is that with all these gaps in under-urbanized urban areas, there are multiple opportunities for multiple organisations. The challenge is to create the framework in terms of governance, culture and legally to enable change. This is the true meaning of the smart city, or the entrepreneurial city..... I suggest;-) This post is inspired by an interview with Arturo Mier y Terán, an architect and urban planner in Mexico City, from "Handmade Urbanism: From community initiatives to participatory models" by Rosa and Weiland.

The Gathering - what about diversity, multi-culturalism & pluralism?

"The Gathering" is a marketing campaign aimed at the "Irish Diaspora", and is Failte Ireland's (the Irish Tourist Board's) major initiative for 2013 (http://www.thegatheringireland.com/). Most countries engage in marketing campaigns to promote tourism. This is different in the sense that it seeks to connect Irish communities to a world wide network of Irish descent. So they're spending an awful lot of public money on marketing at home and abroad on this concept. Google images of'The Gathering' and see what you get. Try and get past the bad Arann jumpers and you get a clear message - You're welcome if you're white. It plays to an false-nostalgia image of 1950s Ireland best associated with small-town minds, catholicism, ethnic and cultural homogeneity. You're welcome if you're middle to old aged, got spending money (while at the same time a generation emigrates on the back of the same government's austerity to become the new diaspora!). "The Gathering" is symtomatic of a national blind-spot to the country Ireland has become.. It ignores the large Brazilian, Polish, Pakistani, Chinese and other populations that are now Irish; also the multi-national workforces companies like Facebook and Google who need access to 20+ different languages to be found in a place like Dublin. Who Will Remember Us? Memorialising the Multicultural City is an inciteful chapter by Katrina Goldstone On Ethnic Legagy in Dublin's Future, New Visions for Ireland's Capital City (Ed. Lorcan Sirr). She carefully documents how the Jewish community (Ireland's longest established racialised minority) came to, and played a highly visible and important role in Dublin in C19 and C20. She makes the point that this ethnic group has been largely whitewashed from our history, and our view of what Irishness is. She qutoes Iain Sinclair ... "We excavate the history we need, bend the past to colize the present". "The Gathering" marketing team need to have a good look at their own age and cultural profile. Are they in touch with Ireland as it is now, or as it was then. The Irish diaspora isn't just about Boston or Sydney any more. Its a global network that extends to Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Gdansk and Karachi. It is really important to get the message across home and abroad that Ireland is (or can be) a pluralist, diverve country. Failte Ireland has a lot of good & smart people; its time for "the gathering" to reflect this.