Smarter services

Investing in ‘smarter’ ways of doing things will be crucial to solving future problems, such as the use of real time information to improve connections and transport links. Our cities need to plan what “smart” means for them, identify which technologies they already have and bring resources and people together.

The All Ireland Smart Cities Forum is a great cross-border initiative bringing together city officials from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Derry-Londonderry to share, learn about and advance smart city programmes. Meanwhile, Belfast’s 20 ‘Smart Hubs’ rolled out across the capital city in October 2018, created by London company Pulse, provide free Wi-Fi, mobile phone charging and public information messages, as well as data-capture services monitoring footfall and pollution levels. They’re the first such hubs in the UK and also provide an instant link to emergency services and a defibrillator.

Faster, more innovative housing construction

The draft Belfast Local Development Plan includes plans to create new neighbourhoods, setting aside land for 31,600 homes between 2020–2035. ROI meanwhile aims to provide 40 per cent of its future housing needs by building and renewing existing stock in built-up areas, including its cities. So how do we hit these targets affordably and sustainably?

We need to deliver homes faster and cheaper through innovations such as off-site manufacturing, where components are built in factories to excellent design standards with programmes delivered in around half the time of traditional construction, significantly reducing costs and materials waste while increasing energy efficiency.

We also need to make housing more accessible. Innovations in flexible housing present an opportunity for policymakers to progress important urban policy priorities. Housing units with smaller footprints inherently lead to increased density and may promote more efficient and sustainable use of resources. While per-square-foot rents in many existing micro-units exceed that of their larger counterparts, per-unit rents can be lower, providing more housing within ranges that more people can afford.

There’s also the potential for more efficient use of existing city centre buildings such as converting upper floors into apartments, helping to bolster city centre economics and sustainability of the high street. Finally, good integrated design should ensure the interface between living space and city infrastructure is complimentary, with the transition between public and private space carefully considered. 

Resilience to shocks

With all of the island of Ireland's major cities being coastal, designing for resilience against flooding is fundamental, but we must ensure that engineering solutions are well integrated with high quality public realm design. Placing greater emphasis on introducing sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) such as green roofs and permeable paving into new developments will not only improve flood resilience but also an area’s visual appeal.

Cork, a city built within the River Lee, has a street structure that reflects the river that flows beneath it. Our work in the South Docks reimagines this 250-acre zone as a sustainable resilient city district that has inbuilt flood resilience through a network of open spaces that positively act as flood water storage while also defining the character of the district.