Over 10 years ago I wrote a blog post (now deleted and only available on archive.org) musing about how we could improve Dublin city centre by fully pedestrianising the north and south quays.
It was a radical suggestion, I know, which goes far beyond the current plans to remove cars – but still allow taxis, buses and bicycles – on the quays around O’Connell Street.
My thoughts at the time were that the city centre felt very disconnected. We have two shopping areas centred around Henry Street on the north side and Dame Street/Grafton Street on the south side – and between them, along the River Liffey, is a relative wasteland.
There are a few pubs and an occasional shop that survive on the quays today, but there are far too many empty units and semi-derelict buildings. It’s generally not a very inviting area to hang around – mostly because of all the noise and pollution from multiple lanes of traffic on both sides of the river.
If all vehicles were removed, and we pedestrianised both the north and south quays, then the area around the River Liffey would suddenly become prime real estate. Pavement cafes and restaurants would spring up, and walking along the river would become a lot more appealing for locals and tourists. And we would fill in the gap between the two shopping areas, and make the city centre one cohesive unit.
One of my inspirations came from visiting the city of Copenhagen. It has this much-photographed area (photo below) in its centre with loads of outdoor cafes and bars along the waterfront.
I’m not necessarily saying we need to paint all the buildings in such bright colours, but wouldn’t it be nice if the Dublin quays looked a bit more like this?