Conor Skehan: Why Limerick has the potential to be a game-changing city

Urban planning is all about flowerpots and cycle lanes — but it needs to focus instead on driving economic growth and prosperity as the Treaty City shows With the right planning the Limerick region could become an economic powerhouse We need to change the planning of Irish cities, especially Dublin. These are becoming recognised as a disaster that is starting to harm national prosperity. The future may lie outside Dublin in places such as Limerick.

Ireland needs to develop and embrace pro-urban planning that is about economic success and growth, not limitation and control. The key to modernising Irish urban planning eludes many because they continue to hold on to old-fashioned and irrelevant ideas. They think of urban planning excessively in terms of beautifying the city centre or making more cycling-friendly suburbs.



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