12.5.1 A Good Urban Neighbourhood
A Good Urban Neighbourhood
The urban neighbourhood in Dublin should be big enough to support a range of services and small enough to foster a sense of belonging and community; it should be sufficiently dense to enable all of its essential facilities to be within easy walking distance of the urban centre.
The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government has produced a suite of planning guidelines to promote sustainable neighbourhoods and communities, including ‘Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas’, 2009, Local Area Plans Guidelines (2013) along with its accompanying Manual, 2013, and the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets, 2013 (DMURS).
The guidelines on ‘Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas’ set out the criteria on planning for sustainable neighbourhoods under four main themes, namely, provision of community facilities, efficient use of resources, amenity or quality of life issues and conservation of the built and natural environment.
The local area plans guidelines provide guidance on identifying and meeting the needs of local communities, smarter travel patterns through more compact urban areas, and delivering high-quality design that improves people’s lives. The guidelines also advocate participative approaches to plan preparation.
The Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets aligns spatial planning and transport policy, focusing on streets as attractive places to create secure connected places that work for all members of the community. It offers guidance to ensure compact, connected neighbourhoods based on street patterns and forms of development that make walking and cycling more attractive.