hi lads
thanks very much for those links, its interesting to see what other things exist presently or are in the pipeline.
on a sort of similar note i remember a presentation from a new york ark firm that had proposed a golf course through the sky scrapers of lower manhatton, strange indeed, but good to test those ideas

heres basic pics of things at present


i agree with your view alex and it has been a strong part of the scheme, the 18km will be a "pearl necklace" type system with a series of pocket parks along the route with events and buildings of interest existing in the parks. along with this there is a good chance that a metro system will be built in dublin, proposals at present are looking at using the northern half of the spine, and a new tunnel is planned to be dug under the city close to the southern part, so with that there will be massive urban rejuvination. the only fault with their plans is that they concentrate only on the stations as nodes without seeing that there is a superb chance to use the spine as a real means to open new gateways between communities and as a super new resource for the city


as i have stated in the document
"THE BOTANIC SPINE mimics somewhat the structure and function of the human spine. A network of different systems flowing through the spine; plant and animal life, people, water, cycle route, metro line, digital info, hurling fans heading up to Croker for the big game? It connects up to the botanic gardens and this acts as the brain of the scheme, as a node in a global ecological system, greening the city, improving plant and animal life along green corridors, raising awareness and getting citizens involved with exciting eco initiatives.

The masterplan focus’s on just a few specific ideas, regeneration, how housing addresses the canal, creating a lively, safe and well used new urban zone, some feature buildings; canal museum, sport and water centre, digital media centre."


im looking at a refurbishment of Sheriff Street linear park and community centre with new media facilities included in centre. New openings will be made in the recently built schemes to make a more inclusive society.

Sheriff street has the name of one of the toughest neighbourhoods in dublin, i went home that way tonight after football and another car was being burnt out.

thanks for the info and links, the paris ones are very helpful

heres a few more links
Development Proposals to make Auroville, india the most eco-friendly city.
www.auroville.info

WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us.
another world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the pieces together.
www.worldchanging.com

GEN.
The Global Ecovillage Networ
gen.ecovillages.org

Irelands first eco village
www.thevillage.ie

G R E E N C O R R I D O R V I S I O N
The Green Corridor is a groundbreaking initiative for generating a green redevelopment of the international bridge corridor linking Canada to the United States
www.greencorridor.ca

"Sustainable Urbanization" is a dynamic process that includes environmental, socio-economic and political-institutional dimensions.
www.unhabitat.org

IMC dunk talks with liz, clare, krossie, william from DGN, dublin grassroots network in a loose informal setting after RAR, residents against racism, pubquiz. the discussion is about an idea on how best an existing park and community centre could be used @ sheriff street, dublin. the established community is being slowly squashed out as the docklands are being developed and land prices are going skyward. botanic spine is an attempt to create an 18km long circular ecological corridor for the city.
listen to discussion here, @ 28 minutes long


model of the park, walls taken down, park connects to spine and wall at other end is punctured to allow for link from canal to other water docks; new green blue connections


catalyst; a building, social centre, wintergarden, community radio, dublin independant media centre, sports hall, library, cafe, WIFI space, free training, workshops, climbing wall, gym, energy harvest, wind, solar.


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park and building merge as one; walk over building to top so as to be in sun all time- this is reaction to the recent development, 6/7 stories high which blocks out sun from park.


earlier exploration into docklands @ 2000
"how the dublin docklands could be act of PUBLICIZATION: whereby the ground floors and the roof levels of banks 1, 2 and 3 are taken over by the public for the public. stack A, a now derelict warehouse is turned into ARTHOUSE, a place where the public can come and work in all media of art for free. art is displayed in the ground floor galleries and cafes. a huge orange waterslide comes down from the roof into georges dock, a symbol of PLAY. a system like this acts as a catalyst, bringing life into the now dead docks. i showed this to the public in the IFSC centre i am interested in your comments"

from ORAISTE

hi fred
thanks for that info, ive a few friends, 1 in grenada, 1 back here, who were at the barcelona forum, so they might have more on that

i stumbled upon another very big part of the jigsaw lst night when a neighbour told me of a news article in yesterdays paper,,
phoenix park is europes largest city park, and a new inititave "Dublinspirations" wants to give it a massive revamp, so that ties in very nicely
heres other link
www.ireland.com
www.archiseek.com
we handed up the first draft of the research document last thursday,
it has been enjoyable having a life again over the last few days...
umberto eco, tao spots and magic rings
and on another level, the catalyst idea is forming nicely in the real world with the seomra spraoi (play room)
www.indymedia.ie

barrier walls punctured.
energy harvesting in city centre, on nodal points along spine



previously unused land turns into skate park, muralismo wall (and ground) painting, winter garden, energy harvesting, local shit treatment plant for energy and food, as demonstrated in kolding, denmark:

and also
a granda doing some gardening with his family, jimmy sitting out on his favourite seat surfing the net, as the park is a WIFI space, and young maura singh climbing up her ladder to get some fresh fruit.
and jimmy mac and the lads up in the heavens doing some hot air balooning

easa.antville.org
dundalk university in ireland is getting a wind turbine to power the campus in june, heres what it will look like

more on that and other wind energy work here
www.iwea.com

excuse the crude language.

today = cock only
tomorow = cock and cunt


today dublins monument or symbol is the spire or spike, a 120 metre high strucure, a giant phallus.
im referring to it as the cock

many feel this is appropriate, as it is felt we do live in an unbalanced age; a dangerously onesided, masculine, patriarchial age where the characteristics of greed, competition are prevelant.
ie; the age of the cock

things are begining to change though
a rebalance is happening in all aspects of society.
the female characteristics of cooperation, communication, understanding .....are begining to be seen and felt.

so in addressing the unbalance, the botanic spine or simply, the spine, is seen as a mechanism which addresss this
it is the cunt, the vagina,
it is off the earth, it fosters growth, it is womblike, it nourishes, it feeds

together balance is again achieved

this is not a new concept,
on this island we have thought, felt and constructed like this for thousands of years, as demonstrated in newgrange (3200BC)



more info on that
easa.antville.org

history of the pillar and the spike

on February 15, 1808, the foundation stone of Nelson's Pillar was laid, marking the centre of dublin city. it became the symbol of the city, an attraction people could climb up and view the city from.
it was named after the famous british admiral lord nelson. it was erected as a symbol of the british empire, which ireland had been forced to be part of for 700 years.

in 1966, to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1916 rebellion which led to irelands independance the pillar was blown up by the IRA, irish republican army, as it was seen as a reminder of the imperialist occupation.

from that time the street it had occupied, o`connell street, slipped into decline; a street of life, people, cafes, hotels, cinemas to one of crime, drugs, fast food joints.
in 1998 the government ran a competition to replace the pillar and the winner was the millenium spire or the spike as it is more familiarly called. its quite ironic that it looks very similar to a needle of an injection seeing as the spot it occupies was one of the main places to get heroin, dublin had a terrible heroin problem in the 80's and still has bad drug problems.


but things are changing
the story progress's..............



* excuse the language, but thats what this idea has been named
story repeated on DIT site
www.ailtireacht.com

sheriff street park, third of a kilometre long

concept = stuff to do




buildings:
community centre and music/ drama venue
wintergarden and public library
sports centre, pool, baths

ground:
planted community gardens
greenfield
playground
sunken plaza



review 3 tmrw, another allnighter probably required, model made soon

I'd like to get involved in the community gardening in this area. Is work still going on? How do I link up with you?

aog

“Greening the City, Connecting Communities": Ideas and attempts to move Dublin toward being a more healthy, safe and ecological city.

Botanic Spine: A theoretical proposal for an 18km long orbital eco corridor/ greenway for Dublin city which threads through and connects many of the cities inner city communities and pocket parks, new organic food gardens, the entire inner city waterway network and a proposed new city underground metro route.

The CATALYST: A detailed exploration, analysis and architectural response to one of the areas that the greenway weaves through, Sheriff Street. This site was specifically chosen as it is one of Dublin’s inner city dockland communities that has seen huge social exclusion and neglect over the years but whose very existence is today being threatened due to its physical position in the heart of Ireland’s Celtic tiger boom area for commercial development. I supported the communities resistance to “ethnic cleansing by economic means" and proposed the idea that in this ever growing city quarter, their park and the surrounding derelict and no-go areas should become a new catalyst for living: An initiave to integrate both the new and old communities of the changing area through a redesign of the 330 metre park with a series of radical new buildings, outdoor spaces, amenities, routes to roam and a new connection from it to the canal which had been previously off limits to the community.

Real world activism: Unlike other architectural thesi in my university, I tried to turn the architectural idea i was exploring into a physical reality with groups both inside and outside Sheriff Street. A bottom up approach was always followed with direct engagement with the local communities but information was also sent to the officials at the top to inform them of what we were working toward. We did a week long tree planting walk along the spine, giving out young native Irish species trees to community centres, homeless hostels, womens centres and schools. The walk began in Sheriff street and that started a dialogue with the community. We submitted the thesis idea to some of the other local communities on the spine, to local media and on community radio, to local council authorities and the head city architect and head city planner. We set up 2 community organic gardens on the spine as initial attempts to turn it into a CPUL (continous productive urban landscape), with the first of these, Dolphins Barn garden in Dublin 8, being another of the most socially excluded parts of the city. In an ongoing process to push the idea of the greenway as a new city walking and bike route we submitted the idea to the Heritage council and an Taisce, as well as setting up monthly bike rides along the loop and invited people to join us.