Design the City

Shakti

Sorry if there has been a thread like this before,
Simply suggests ways to improve the City in your eyes with no budget restraints,

For starters I'd knock down the shopping centers and multi story car parks in the centre of the city, establish smaller owner operated retail units and an everyday market in their place at the centre, car parks and shopping centres/chain stores to go underground.

squonk

What course are you doing? This sounds like a college project!

the keen edge

A Hooters on every street corner.

"But there's hundreds if not a thousand street corners in Galway".

Quit yakking and start building more Hooters.

Shakti

squonk wrote: »

What course are you doing? This sounds like a college project!

Nothing as serious as that just thought there might be some interesting comments/ideas,
But I did do a course of anti-biotics not so long ago if that counts,

antoobrien

Shakti wrote: »

Sorry if there has been a thread like this before,
Simply suggests ways to improve the City in your eyes with no budget restraints,

For starters I'd knock down the shopping centers and multi story car parks in the centre of the city, establish smaller owner operated retail units and an everyday market in their place at the centre, car parks and shopping centres/chain stores to go underground.

Am the "go underground" bit is a non runner (unless you want the EU crawling up your rear) - the limestone in this area is too rare to allow that kind of thing to happen.

Anyhow enough with the realism, here's some real fantasy stuff:

BART style light rail around Galway going from Oranmore to Bearna (running alongside a certain unmentionable road), with another line to run from Bearna into the current station.

Roof the Shop Street area to create a Liverpool One style shopping & leisure area.

Move/build at least two more second level schools East of Eyre Square (the Moneen is the only major one east of Eyre Sq I can think of).

Buy Galway Clinic/The Bons and sell Merlin Park to have proper hospital facilities either side of the Corrib (especially if the consolidation of hospital services to Galway continues).

Shakti

antoobrien wrote: »

Am the "go underground" bit is a non runner (unless you want the EU crawling up your rear) - the limestone in this area is too rare to allow that kind of thing to happen.

I dont think I'd like an eu cavity search,
It would be an interesting aesthetic though if you could somehow expose the limestone and incorporate it into the city,

Mrs OBumble

antoobrien wrote: »

Roof the Shop Street area to create a Liverpool One style shopping & leisure area.

Fantastic idea.

How about a Galway Eye, like the London one, but down on the docks where the funfair is right now.

A large concert hall, with fantastic acoustics, available for community groups to rent for performances at reasonable rates

Ten minute frequency and dedicated bus lanes on all routes. Shelters at every bus stop. And permanent shop-canopy style covers over all footpaths in the city centre, and key suburban streets.

antoobrien wrote: »

Move/build at least two more second level schools East of Eyre Square (the Moneen is the only major one east of Eyre Sq I can think of).

The objections in Doughiska were sorted, a secondary school is due to open there Sept 2013.

Shakti

Airship ferry service for the Islands and across the Corrib

citycentre

antoobrien wrote: »

Roof the Shop Street area to create a Liverpool One style shopping & leisure area.

The place for a Liverpool One covered street / mall style expansion of the historic city core isnt smack in the Mediaeval heart of the city, its either on the Ceannt Station lands or along the Headford Road where the shopping centre and retail park is currently. Either loation (particularly at Ceannt) would extend the commercial core of the city thus easing the pressure on the Shop St area to become more and more UK High Street-ified. This would allow it to gradually change to more characterful cafe / restaurant / bar type uses, basically extending the Quay Street "vibe"up to Eyre Square with plenty of opportunities for local and independent retail. It definitely does not need to be roofed!

My own dream project for the city is for the old chemical factory and engineering buildings on Nuns Island to become permanent galleries and studios, linked to the Market Street area by a new footbridge. The ridiculous waste of space that is St Patrick's Primary School (a low density suburban primary school plonked in perhaps the best site in the entire city centre) would be replaced by a landmark new municipal theatre / concert hall of the scale and calibre of Wexford Opera House. The school could relocate to the Market Street Carpark with a more compact and efficient building (rooftop playground etc.) more suitable for a city centre school.

Galway needs a strong vision for its future and along with developing its maritime facilities it needs to develop venues and facilities that actually allow it to be the year round "city of culture" that it wants to be.

JupiterKid

I would do something about the dire traffic congestion to the north and east of the city centre. It is choking the city badly. A light rail or frequent bus service running just to the North of the city centre and connecting Salthill, the NUI, the GMIT to the East and Merlin Park would be handy, with a big P+R facility at either end.

More use made of the islands and riverbank areas of the Corrib.

I would get rid of the 40 year old Galway Shopping Centre and the 1990s retail park opposite on the Headford Road as they do nothing but add to the traffic congestion and are, quite frankly, an eyesore.

I would also do more to encourage enterprises and businenesses to set up in the city centre. Currently Galway must have one of the most suburbanised employment pattern of any Irish city and this doesn't help the traffic problems.

connemara man

:cool:

Wompa1

connemara man wrote: »

:cool:

I've sold E-Voting Machines to Portgual, Spain and Greece and by gum it put them on the map. There's nothing on earth like a genuine, bonofide, electrified touchscreen voting machine...What I say? E-Voting What's it called? E-Voting..That's right E-Voting!

Doc Ruby

antoobrien wrote: »

Am the "go underground" bit is a non runner (unless you want the EU crawling up your rear) - the limestone in this area is too rare to allow that kind of thing to happen.

What? Its limestone, its not like its going to go off, they can pile it up with the other ten thousand miles of stone walls all over the west of Ireland. Or are they thinking of preserving it for future generations to walk over obliviously? I can't imagine a way people might appreciate the natural beauty of subterranean boulders unless they build a sonar appreciation museum or something.

antoobrien wrote: »

Roof the Shop Street area to create a Liverpool One style shopping & leisure area.

I prefer the sheltered galleries in La Rochelle, at least anywhere there's traffic.

antoobrien

Doc Ruby wrote: »

What? Its limestone, its not like its going to go off, they can pile it up with the other ten thousand miles of stone walls all over the west of Ireland. Or are they thinking of preserving it for future generations to walk over obliviously?

It appears that they do want to do exactly that. The small rocks and bounders that come up are fair game but the limestone slab under certain parts of Galway are protected by the EU.

Rob A. Bank

antoobrien wrote: »

It appears that they do want to do exactly that. The small rocks and bounders that come up are fair game but the limestone slab under certain parts of Galway are protected by the EU.

Source ???

I can see the karst limestone pavements of the Burren or the Aran Islands being protected by the EU, but surely not the bedrock or glacial till under the city !

antoobrien

Rob A. Bank wrote: »

Source ???

The limestone slab under the Corrib is the source of the environmental objection to the eastern section of the GCOB.

I would rename loads of things after myself.

pg633 Square (formerly Eyre Square)
pg633 Station (formerly Ceannt Station)
pg633 Bridge (all the bridges in the city would be renamed with no distinction between them)
pg633 Promenade (formerly Salthill prom)
pg633 Street (formerly Williamsgate, Williams, Shop, High and Quay streets)
pg633 Arch (formerly Spanish Arch)
pg633 Bay
etc.

Besides that I would widen many of the roads in and around the city using the extra lanes as bus lanes.

I would also fill in Lough Atalia and create an urban park (pg633 Park)

I am already looking forward to the release of the new SimCity early next year.

aido179

Not a light rail, but an electric bus sytem. It works remarkably well in cities similar to galway. Instead of the rail, you just need the wires on the main roads wich the busses can connect to, and the busses have batteries to maneuver in the city center. silent, economical and very (realtively) easy to set up.

I would take the land by the docks where the oil tanks were (now the fair ground) and build an amphetheater for concerts/shows/plays and possibility of a drive in movie theater.

The the docks would be given a second lock gate to allow consant moving of boats in and out, but prevent the ships from coming in. Build the new qauy outside as planned for them. the dock area can then be turned into a cafe/restaurante area.

HardyEustace

Cycle lanes from all the major suburbs into the city.

A secure bicycle lock up area.

A 5,000 fine for people that sneak down the inside line by the docks and then squeeze in by the traffic lights and the half built cinema.

Favourable rates to small, local retailers on the high street to stop the Boots/mcDonalds/Accessorize march across the city.

Don't know where but an off road cycling lane that people can bring their kids 10k or so.

10,000 fine for muppets that cycle on the pavement... particulary when there are all those cycle lane (see point 1). If you're on your second set of teeth, you shouldn't be on the pavement.

biko

Please don't use this thread to get around the general traffic discussion ban.

galwaycyclist

Rob A. Bank wrote: »

Source ???

I can see the karst limestone pavements of the Burren or the Aran Islands being protected by the EU, but surely not the bedrock or glacial till under the city !

This is true and there is a similar concern to preserve similar karst habitats on the outskirts of the city. Attempts to conflate these concerns for a surface habitat with an attempt to preserve the bedrock are, in my view, wholly mischevious and disingenuous.

jkforde

antoobrien wrote: »

It appears that they do want to do exactly that. The small rocks and bounders that come up are fair game but the limestone slab under certain parts of Galway are protected by the EU.

AFAIK, this isn't correct. The Habitats Directive says nothing about sub-surface bedrock as a habitat. The surface limestone is only unique due to its karstic erosion texture and the diverse ecology that this sustains (some nice exposures out in Menlo). The limestone bedrock that's under the eastern part of the city is present under over 80% of the country and is not unique or protected, except in the case of critical water source aquifers but that's a different matter. There's also protection for geologically unique surface type sites or old mines but again that's not the case here.

aaanyways, back on topic.... would love to see the canals\tailraces\watercourses in the city recognised as the unique features in Ireland that they are, eg would love the swing bridges over the Eglington canal reinstated to allow barge traffic up into the lake, maybe boardwalks along some currently inaccessible sections (yeah, yeah, bush drinking vandalism concerns aside...), maybe get in a Dutch planner for a few years!

oh, and would love if they enact the current Development Pan objective of a greenway along the old Clifden line, if the land legal issues could be reasonably negotiated :eek:

...and a footpath\cycleway out from the city to Barna and beyond...

...and a hovercraft over to Clare!

HardyEustace

biko wrote: »

Please don't use this thread to get around the general traffic discussion ban.

Erm, I genuinely wasn't aiming for that, the post genuinely outlines a couple of things that I think would bring a very positive change to the city. But I know the topics have been done to death!

antoobrien

jkforde wrote: »

AFAIK, this isn't correct. The Habitats Directive says nothing about sub-surface bedrock as a habitat.

It's part (not all) of the issue and is mentioned in the ABP report on the road plan.

Edit - take a look at page 14 of the ABP inspectors report, the "limestone pavement" is clearly mentioned as being of concern.

fishy fishy

take down the plastic and glass, and stick to the authentic stone of the area.

antoobrien

fishy fishy wrote: »

take down the plastic and glass, and stick to the authentic stone of the area.

And use more traditional hand made wood signage.

fishy fishy

also, send the bright spark who decided to head to china for paving into the shame slammer, and instead get some authentic Irish paving for the buckled up shop street roadways.

galwaycyclist

antoobrien wrote: »

It's part (not all) of the issue and is mentioned in the ABP report on the road plan.

Edit - take a look at page 14 of the ABP inspectors report, the "limestone pavement" is clearly mentioned as being of concern.

The limestone pavement is the bit on the top with the plants growing on it. The bedrock is the layers of rock underneath the surface.

aido179

jkforde wrote: »

would love to see the canals\tailraces\watercourses in the city recognised as the unique features in Ireland that they are, eg would love the swing bridges over the Eglington canal reinstated to allow barge traffic up into the lake

I would love this. Unfortunately, we are going in the wrong direction especially with the new bridge on fisheries field being built.

galwaycyclist

fishy fishy wrote: »

also, send the bright spark who decided to head to china for paving into the shame slammer, and instead get some authentic Irish paving for the buckled up shop street roadways.

Yep same theme undo the messing at Eyre Square - restore the cast iron railings etc.

fishy fishy

fix up the little footbridge at wolfe tone bridge and the little building there also. Everyone who drives or walks through the city sees this eyesore. Its shameful that this is left in such disrepair - I don't for one second believe the "we have no money" excuse. they can find money for other things. GET IT FIXED.

antoobrien

fishy fishy wrote: »

fix up the little footbridge at wolfe tone bridge and the little building there also. Everyone who drives or walks through the city sees this eyesore. Its shameful that this is left in such disrepair - I don't for one second believe the "we have no money" excuse. they can find money for other things. GET IT FIXED.

You might be getting your wish there:

ICONIC CITY FISHERIES TOWER TO BE REPAIRED
May 2, 2012 - 9:12am

One of the city's best known landmarks is to be restored to its former glory.

The Lough Corrib Board of trustees has agreed to allocate 50 thousand euro towards a replacement bridge to the watchtower at Wolfe Tone Bridge.

The iconic building has been closed for over three years after the bridge became unsafe.

The estimated cost of the project is 160 thousand euro.

Inland fisheries Ireland has already pledged 60 thousand and Galway City Council is expected to support the development.

Chairperson of the Lough Corrib board of trustees, Councillor Padraig Conneely says he expects construction to start this year

antoobrien

galwaycyclist wrote: »

The limestone pavement is the bit on the top with the plants growing on it. The bedrock is the layers of rock underneath the surface.

If you'd driven through the start of the dc/motorway in Doughiska since it opened (and seen the marks left by the blasting) you'd know that in most parts of Galway they are one and the same.

dilallio

This ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwe6lzpYBLk