I just visited Dungarvan for the first time. I know we are far from having beautiful European style town squares but Dungarvan can do better than just having a giant car park in the middle of their town. Such a beautiful town square feels wasted by the car park.
by ParaMike46
11 comments
Dungarvan is a lovely spot alight. Not really any public transport though. It’s ugly but what’s the realistic alternative?
Just looking at those photos, you’re absolutely right. Great place for market stalls or bar and restaurant terraces. If they really want parking in the town centre they could put it underground and still have a continental style square above; it’d be costly but they’d recoup the cost with parking fees over the years.
Waterford council is especially shit at planning in my opinion. The city itself can’t think of anything better to do with the riverfront in the city than a giant, long carpark either. You have beautiful little villages like Ardmore with no central plan and with a bizarre housing estate breaking the line of the hills above it (was prosecuted for corruption).
Off topic a little bit but still butthurt by the ignorance of the shop and bar owners in Lucan. There was plans from the SDCC to make a town square open area. To remove this ridiculous road that sits in the middle of the village. They had planned to provide more parking elsewhere.
On the ridiculous straw man that the doctor’s surgery wouldn’t have parking close by the business owners banded together to shoot down the idea with a massive petition. Never is there any parking for anyone to access the surgery anyway.
Every design study shows that these type of open areas actually increases customer footfall of done properly. Absolutely ridiculous. They had a chance to restore a lovely village on the Liffey.
No only that but it had to have a good few bits redone, as they made a balls of it first time
looks like an American town square lol
Not sure how many of ye are from here or not, but what you’re looking at in the photo is a revamped version of the square. It’s kind of secretly pedestrianised but it was done so badly that pedestrians have been put in more danger than before because of the parked cars and the silly fried-egg roundabout before the hill. It’s a lovely town and the square looks really well of a festival weekend or a sunny day but overall we’re waiting for an accident to happen.
On one hand I agree with you. On the other, having lived in the town for a couple of years. It needs all the parking space it can get.
One thing I always love about Italy is the huge pedestrianized town squares with lovely water fountains at the center. They are such fantastic meeting points and interactive areas for markets, shops, entertainers, festivals, displays, the list is endless. It’s hugely annoying they’re not a thing here and I just don’t get how town planners seem to absolutely hate them so much.
European style?
This is Ireland. Cars are more important than stupid food markets. The more cars the better. Double yellows? Footpath? Looks like a fine place to park! Speed limits? Pffft, I know how to drive safely and it’s not at 50km/h. Zebra crossing? Ambers with plenty of distance to stop safely at the junction before the red lights? Fuck that! Pedal to the metal fuckers! Disabled parking spot? Yoink! I’m only popping into the shop for a few minutes.
All jokes aside, that photo makes me sad.