Shopfront race to the bottom

An interesting article from Kevin Duff of An Taisce in The Village Magazine on the dismal quality of everything from shopfronts to public realm in Dublin city centre.

http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2013/12/dublindictment-dublin-city-centre-is-a-mess/

Such a difficult subject to get across. Its impossible not to get lost in planner jargon and to have commentators latch on to phrases such as ‘lower order’ as if the writer is making some wacky snob laden point.

Perhaps no one in the city (or at least the vast majority) could care less about its quality. Or perhaps they care on a very abstract level but once its brought down to the nitty gritty of individual actions and decisions they then lose interest. Its a puzzle to me… the “obedient citizenry” of the city motto and their lack of aspiration for their city and lack of demand for better.

Perhaps all the interested people have left for nicer places to live.

The problems now are so pervasive and so entrenched. Its simply impossible to reverse the trends in my view. A few pockets of quality here and there but the whole is a dismal and uninviting mess as the article says.

So many of the players, from DCC staff to DCBA (on a recent radio show) to retailers and interest groups parrot this mantra that the city centre is a ‘world class destination’ on a par with our European contemporaries. Its really really not.

@StephenC wrote:

Dublin’s Little Shops of Horror

Passing through Moore Street on Friday it appears there’s been something of a crackdown or cleanup of the signage mess shown about. Many shopfronts have been cleaned up.