Niamh has made an enormous contribution to the history of the Dublin Docklands but more importantly she has recorded, without bias, the events that surrounded the Regeneration program of the Dublin Docklands, in her book “Dublin Docklands Reinvented. The Post-Industrial Regeneration of a European City Quarter.” In telling the story of the regeneration she recounts the history of Dublin Port from the establishment of its location at Wood Quay as set up by the Vikings to the movement eastwards to its new city location of the inner docklands at the mouth of the river. The history of the change of location of the city port and accompanying movement of people with the building of Sheriff St and surrounding environs on land reclaimed from the sea is fascinating.
She explains the tragic circumstances of the collapse of the Docks in the late 1970’s to 1980’s and the decline in industrial activity and employment which caused a massive economic collapse.
Geography, she told me is not about rivers, lakes and mountains, as I had been taught in school. It is about people. More specifically it is about the movement of people. What makes people move? Changes in their environment, work and standards of living. Although Dublin is not the only city in the world to undergo a regeneration program. Redevelopment programs have happened in other major cities around the world, places like Sidney Harbour Australia, Bristol Harbour, Liverpool, Canary Wharf in England, Boston and South Street Seaport in the USA and the V&A Waterfront in South Africa, to name a few. History tells us that the outcomes for the local communities are all the same. The local communities are inevitably displaced, marginalised and unwanted. The redevelopment program of the Dublin Docklands, of an area previously referred to as the 27 acres, and often regarded to as a brown field site wouldhave a major impact on all of the parties concerned. Tragically, after many broken promises and accompanying disappointments, the biggest impact would be borne by the local community whose families have lived there for generations. Read this fascinating story of the life, death and rebirth of one of the most historical parts of this island.
Niamh is Professor in the School of Geography, Deputy College Principal in the UCD College of Social Sciences and Law, and an Honorary Professor at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London.
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