small urbanity looking after the details
urbanism | dublin by paul whelan
investment regeneration grand schemes place attention
Several years ago I was walking through downtown Detroit and musing about the Renaissance Centre’s supposed catalytic impact on downtown rejuvenation. I remember thinking at the time that if the city had taken the same amount of cash and offered it as interest-free loans (or some such incentive) to few remaining downtown small shop keepers, the urban impact would have been significantly more powerful than a hermetic fortress/hotel complex. Of course the naiveté of my thinking is enormous. Political leaders will rarely be convinced by the cumulative power of small things. The allure of the ‘grand projet’ is too compelling. However the cities that people think of as models of positive urbanity are rarely defined by mega-projects. Instead it is the overall tone of life and activity that attracts us to these cities. So what are the small things that cumulatively count? The foremost is love of place. What compels someone to invest in a building or business? Quite simply it is an investment in their personal view of life, in their own idea of what makes a good life for themselves and their families. That represents cultural bedrock for urban and civic life.
I stumbled across a recent example of this love in a small building in Dublin while I was scouting around the recently-completed National Gallery. Behind the gallery is a pastiche of older Dublin buildings. Some of these were in reasonable shape and some were wearing badly. There was one that immediately jumped out. I do not know who owns this building or its proposed use, but clearly someone took care and invested more than the bare minimum. A large opening had been carefully incised into the stone and brick. It seems the the stone had been carefully relaid to turn inward at the new opening. The new window, complete with sun shade, provides enormous amenity to the building and suggests numerous possible uses for what is likely an interior that is immersed in daylight. The quality of our urban life far exceeds the cumulative effect of all these ‘small’ things. Perhaps it is the use of the word ‘small’ that misleads. For the all the individuals who invest in buildings and businesses it is not small. It could well represent all they own. All the more reason to applaud and support the small. Maybe we should forgo the big stuff and sweat over the small. I think our towns and cities would be that much better. v
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On Site review 23
Small Things
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