Tracings Volume 2

Sinead Bourke

This is the second of a series which has emerged from the need felt by The School of Architecture UCD to create a forum to discuss and examine the built environment of Ireland today. It focuses on the relationship between the citizen and the city and takes the form of a gathering of viewpoints from various fields ranging from the analytical to the poetic.

The main reservation I have about this issue of Tracings is that its backdrop is primarily Dublin. The discussion touches on matters of urban sprawl and dispersed edge conditions, issues that have manifested themselves more drastically in regional cities like Galway. Unfortunately, no article has addressed either the complex dialogue between city and citizen or the physical manifestation of marginalisation, as are both evident in Belfast, for example. This, I feel represents an unrealised potential for the discussion, which I hope will be addressed in subsequent volumes. However, since almost all of the analytical contributions concentrate on Dublin, they collectively provide a thorough examination of its urban fabric. Andrew McLaren's article, 'Technology and Urban Transformation' is particularly insightful and goes close to the core of the discussion. He unravels the (economic and technologically driven) course of events that have shaped the urban environment of American cities in general, and Dublin in particular, and in so doing reveals the (often) over-familiar face of Dublin.

Another insight is provided by Michael Cregan and Gerry Mitchell. This time the focus is on the spaces between the city's buildings. Their article highlights the erosion of the public domain caught, as it is, between collective and individual agendas. This article is central to the theme of 'the citizen and the city'. Its relevance appears to be firmly rooted in the realities of Dublin's contemporary fabric. They attempt to disclose the myths and realities of the suburban dream and search for a language of place to transform the (resultant) sprawl and the remaining urban voids.

The tendency to get bogged down in the over-familiar has been avoided by interspersing more lateral observations such as Aoibheann N� Mhear�in's analysis of Toni Morrison's novel 'Paradise'. At first glance this may not seem immediately relevant to the issue in hand. However this article does prove to be a very good springboard for this discussion as it gives a deeper understanding of the complexities of identity and place. She highlights the system of exclusion and deceit used to form an Afro/American community thereby requiring us to re-evaluate the thought processes shaping our own. These observations are eerily echoed by Gary Boyd in his interesting account of the history of the Monto, an area associated with vice and therefore isolated within Dublin's urban fabric. He traces this areas abandon and re-emergence and highlights the intense relationship that emerged between this area and it's inhabitants, whilst drawing parallels with modern-day Temple Bar.

In a similar vein Dr Mark Sheils provides an interesting contribution to the discussion by offering us a glimpse of the city as a stranger when he discusses the grafting of past cityscapes onto the modern city through the process of filming on location. Dr Sheils looks to the city's marginal sites for indicators of its true character. This strikes a chord with Grainne Hassett's article 'Edge City' where she views the city's margins as an indicator in a different sense. She looks at the city's dispersed edge as an accurate expression of the relationship between today's city and today's citizen through her seemingly distant, yet astute, observations.

A lateral perspective is provided by the inclusion of articles from both Elizabeth Hatz and Yvonne Scott. These articles review the work of artists Wilhelm Hammershoi and Michael Kane respectively. As with Aoibheann N� Mhear�in's analysis of 'Paradise' these articles may not initially seem relevant to the relationship between the citizen and the city. However these articles call into question our perception of space from the very still moments as demonstrated by Elizabeth Hatz to the hectic world of Michael Kane as outlined by Yvonne Scott.

Many of the remaining articles offer further insights and observations. They are in general open observations, no school of thought is implied and no hidden agendas are apparent. Only one or two could be accused of being self serving, providing only the author's own work as examples of urban cohesion without any thorough discussion of the theories behind these solutions. One could be forgiven for initially assuming that this volume would be an in-house affair as it has been published by the School of Architecture UCD, however over half the contributions are provided by those from outside UCD. There has clearly been an attempt on the part of the editorial board to maintain a wide scope in the discussion- the articles are varied, ranging from the contemporary idealistic to the traditional, however a small number of contributions do seem to be peripheral to the discussion.

This volume is a forum for discussion and the overall impression is one of seeking. This volume does not profess to provide answers and none are provided. What it does give the reader however are fresh viewpoints and insights. No doubt, the aim of this series is to expand our sense of awareness of the built environment to hopefully inform and bring about a better quality environment. This series has started a much needed process, one which needs to be extended however to make its presence more felt outside the realm of architecture. Should contributions be included from sectors of the community actually building the built environment, as well as from those affected by it, a more palpable and no doubt valid discussion would ensue.