The future of green space in D8

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a project called Mapping Green Dublin (MGD) to see what can be done about the lack of green space in the Dublin 8 area.  

According to MGD’s research team, the collaborative project “aims to create a greening strategy from the bottom up. One led by community concerns and ideas for the future.” 

MGD hopes to map the trees and green space in Dublin 8 and co-create a greening strategy with the community. 

MGD is led by Prof. Gerald Mills, Prof. Niamh Moore Cherry and Dr Alma Clavin at UCD’s School of Geography. The project was developed along with artist Seoidín O’Sullivan, arts organisation Common Ground, and event stakeholder engagement specialists Connect the Dots. 

“We want to recognise and make visible the greening deficits in the city and use this mapped data to engage communities in co-creating a greening plan for their area,” MGD’s research team said. 

The research began when Prof. Gerald Mills’ previous work showed that “the distribution of trees is very uneven” across Dublin City. Leaving aside the large number of trees in Phoenix Park, most are located on private lands on the north and south side of the city. 

Once the green deficits are recognised, MGD, working with the community, hope to “come up with ideas to enhance the quality and provision of trees, greenspace and associated green amenities in the area.” 

MGD also are looking at other “green infrastructure” such as spaces for walking, cycling, playing sports and food growing. 

In the future, Dublin’s urban trees and greenspace will “provide locally generated ecosystem services that can have a substantial impact on the quality-of-life of urban residents.”