Model Housing/Urban Horticulture – an incremental approach unlocking latent landscapes for re-inhabitation.

This proposal will study a defined inner city neighbourhood with a view to demonstrating how new opportunities may be found for (re-)inhabitation and enriched living environments within the grain of Irish towns and cities. The neighbourhood situated on the fringes of the historic core of Dublin has been selected for its varied pattern of settlement and evolving use and demographics, the consequent layering of infrastructure and variety of living environments and housing/building types within a relatively low-rise but densely occupied urban context; a range of conditions and opportunities that may be seen as typical of Irish urban situations of different scales. Through a process of forensic examination of historic occupancies and a close reading of existing city fabric we will reveal a range of typical conditions that are currently untapped, and develop proposals to expand existing living and working infrastructures and thereby contribute to the long-term resilience of communities.

This proposal will study a defined inner city neighbourhood with a view to demonstrating how new opportunities may be found for (re-)inhabitation and enriched living environments within the grain of Irish towns and cities.

The neighbourhood situated on the fringes of the historic core of Dublin has been selected for its varied pattern of settlement and evolving use and demographics, the consequent layering of infrastructure and variety of living environments and housing/building types within a relatively low-rise but densely occupied urban context; a range of conditions and opportunities that may be seen as typical of Irish urban situations of different scales.

Through a process of forensic examination of historic occupancies and a close reading of existing city fabric we will reveal a range of typical conditions that are currently untapped, and develop proposals to expand existing living and working infrastructures and thereby contribute to the long-term resilience of communities.