Urban Environment Project, UCD Urban Institute Ireland
Abstract
The increasing concerns across Europe for the likely future urban environments of its
major city regions are often modelled within a set of planning and sustainable development
frameworks (European Commission, 2006). In Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has taken a lead in considering urban environmental futures through a range of funded
research projects. One core project, the Urban Environment Project (UEP) has involved the
development of a multi-disciplinary model of the future Dublin city-region based around the
spatial modelling tool, “Monitoring Land Use/Cover Dynamics” (MOLAND) (Williams and
Convery, 2010). Though the principal objective of the project was to incorporate and embed
current indicators into a predictive model of the future urban environmental fingerprint,
there was considerable interest in the ways in which existing planning policy also critically
informed the likely future shape of the city (Walsh, 2008). As a summary of the work of the
UEP project, the team, in conjunction with the Forum for Irish Urban Studies, organised a
one-day workshop on Friday, November 13th 2009 in Trinity College Dublin to disseminate
its findings and discuss a range of key themes that might shape the urban environment of the
Dublin city region in 2026. The outcomes of the presentations and discussions that took place
in that workshop form the basis of this special issue. The presenters and invited audience
represented a range of academics, planners, community organisations and local authorities,
all of who had an interest in the future of the city
