Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?

My point is that the centre of Limerick is extremely unfriendly to pedestrians whereas Galway, through effective pedestrianisation, has managed to create a city centre which is completely free from through traffic. As a result it is a much more pleasant place to be. I’d be amazed if anyone disagreed. Granted the shannon tunnel will provide some relief for Limerick city centre but It will still have the wide-open, windswept aspect that it currently has. I know that limerick has small pockets of medieval character but they are very secondary to the dominant grid pattern.
I would contend that Galway’s success as a place to be is actually due to it’s compact and comfortable core. This small area encompasses everything from very high rates of residential occupancy right in the centre of the city, a huge variety of bars and nightlife, eating places, offices and public buildings. This adds to the sense of Galway as being a vibrant and exciting place to live and to be. Limerick simply does not have that benefit.

Yes, the Headford road is a disaster zone, but, like other areas of the city centre in Galway, plans are afoot to transform the area. A huge application has been lodged to transform the awful shopping centre, creating new external streets, a much expanded Dundrum-style shopping and entertainment centre and a gateway building at the ring-road side which will contain a new municipal gallery. From what I have seen it’s not a bad scheme and will have the effect of properly extending the city centre out along the Headford road. It’ll be a matter of time before similar developments are proposed for the retail park side of the road.
I have to laugh at those dismissing Galway as being “full of roundabouts”. As I seem to recall Limerick has a fair amount of them as well…. As well as plenty of crappy retail parks. In fact didn’t they just build the new county offices (fantastic building but bloody awful context) as an extention of the nearby retail park?

Anyway, I realize that all these arguments are pretty pointless! Its the case that both cities have positives and negatives. Its only my opinion that Galway has more going for it as a place to live, work, study, socialise etc…

By the way just to be really really pedantic, Galway is still officially the third largest city in Ireland with a population of 65,832. Limerick city contains 54,023 people. Of course Limerick’s actual population whan the county areas are taken into consideration is closer to 87,000. However were areas such as Barna and Oranmore, which are just outside Galway’s city boundary taken into account in a similar way the Galway figure would be closer to 80,000. Add to that the very rapid increase in Galway’s population which is ongoing and there isn’t really too much to call when it comes to population.