Consider the great world cities. Consider how its people gather together. London has Trafalgar where major public events are screened, and on which there are St Patrick’s festivities every March. Time Square, New York; St Mark’s in Venice, Place de la Concorde in Paris and now Tahir Square in Cairo. The list could go on; though Dublin would not be on it.
Dubliners lack a definitive meeting place. Protests, concerts, welcome home parties or political rallies have no one gathering place, with the Garden of Remembrance or Merrion Square usually chosen though they are hardly appropriate. Barack Obama’s visit in May gave us a clue though.
Environment Minister Phil Hogan wants to turn College Green into a pedestrianised plaza with the Bank of Ireland at its centre put to a cultural use. Bank of Ireland still owns the former government building, but now that the government own Bank of Ireland they want it back.
Historically the British are blamed (as ever) for the lack of public squares in Dublin as they sought to prevent public gatherings. Temple Bar Square has been successful on a small scale. While just south of it, the space in front of the Central Bank is often thronged with people. It is the closest thing the city has to a decent urban space but it’s it feels like an afterthought. The Grand Slam homecoming in 2009 was on Dawson Street. O’Connell Street and the Phoenix Park were used for football though neither was appropriate. Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama’s pep talks from College Green were different – though even then there was awkwardness with Obama not quite sure where to look.
Proposals drawn up recently suggest a version of Washington DC’s Smithsonian for the Bank of Ireland’s flagship building. Proposals suggest a “cultural and iconic counterpoint” to the great city squares of the world and a “natural gravitational point”. The document looks to redesign the space as cultural hub promisinglysaying that “effort should be made to re-imagine the entire quarter.”
Architects and urban designers agree that College Green is the best urban space in the city – and they all agree that its current layout is wrong. Taking economics and traffic practicalities out of the equation, it ought to be realised that this should be the centre of Dublin – close to the historical city at Christchurch and not to far the shiny new one in the Docklands. With the trees removed and statues reorganised, Dubliners would be allowed to reclaim the space, tour groups would gather before going to the museum, cafes and art sellers would sprawl from the fringes, crowds would gather to watch big sports matches, and waiting for a friend at the Front Arch would no longer find you clung to the railings of Trinity College as rush hour pushes indignantly by.
Noble visions and bureaucratic realities have a funny way of never coming together in this city however. The hope remains for now though that Phil Hogan keeps badgering the Bank of Ireland to give the government their building back, and if they do he can then start worrying about the inconvenience of logistics and economics.
