High Density - A complete rethink.

Riverireland

poker--addict wrote: »

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If you are proposing developments that you yourself are prepared to live in then I see no problem with it. For far too long politicians have been happy to pass housing standards for others in the full knowledge that they and their family's will still live in nice detached houses in Dublin or the country. "Would I be happy living there with my family?" That's the question that should be asked before the building begins on long term homes.

Ray Palmer

I really think there is a really simple solution to this. Increase he use of existing buildings. There are lots of retired people living in very big houses close to centres of employment, schools, shops etc...
Very easy to convert these larger houses into two households or convert some for the elderly so those who want to stay in the area have an option.

usernamegoes

What may also help would be getting a CBD for Dublin. Stick a whole lot of high rise purpose built offices then free up the rest of the city for living and socialising. So much wasted space around merrion sq ect at night.

Eric Cartman

usernamegoes wrote: »

What may also help would be getting a CBD for Dublin. Stick a whole lot of high rise purpose built offices then free up the rest of the city for living and socialising. So much wasted space around merrion sq ect at night.

we have that at the likes of park west etc… those apartments are ghost towns day and night, local services like shops aren't viable as everyone works during the day and socialises in the city at weekends. Would be perfectly fine if we had 24 hour rapid transit, but we don't, so its far from ideal.

Mrs OBumble

H3llR4iser wrote: »

You sound exactly like me, before I got a car; I was simply not realizing how limited my options were when doing just about anything

As long as you are working in the city centre and living nearby, you are gonna be fine. You'll walk to work and the supermarket, use the coaches or what little rail network there is to go to other cities, and the occasional cab. You'll be missing some of what your city has to offer, as you have no way of really getting around bar for the few areas served by buses (many if not most in Dublin, feck all in Cork), but you just won't know it.

However, unless you live in a city with a very advanced public transport network (and here, not one has it - not even Dublin), if you want to change jobs you'll have to constantly consider "how am I gonna get there?", especially with many companies being in industrial complexes outside of the cities. When moving apartments, your choice will be limited based on where you work - and depending on location it could be a bad area, bad/old/poorly maintained properties or just too expensive.

Maybe being in a smaller city helps.

In my first year I rented a car every 2-3 weekends.

When the recession arrived the real jobs dried up and I was temping, had to figure out how to get to all sorts of industrial estates using public transport. I ended up making a website describing public transport in the city and county ('cos at the time the NTA weren't doing it, and the council were saying they were going to do it but not delivering).

I'm quite confident that I've been everywhere in the city. County is a bit different - there were some regional jobs I didn't even try for But not many.

Overall, car-free living in Galway is quite possible, and a lot more stress free than car-laden living.