What if Ireland's cities were planned with the same vision and coherence as Barcelona, Copenhagen, or Helsinki? Tony Reddy, Director of Reddy Architecture and Urbanism, reveals how our planning system has trapped us in a development model where uncertainty reigns supreme and city-building happens in fragmented, piecemeal fashion.

Drawing from over four decades of architectural experience across Dublin, New York, and London, Reddy takes us through the stark differences between European urban planning and Ireland's discretionary system. While Helsinki's planners are designing street infrastructure for neighborhoods that don't yet exist—planning crossroads for 2030—Ireland's planners are drowning in 1,200-page text documents that few people ever read completely. This systemic failure has turned development into a high-stakes gamble where projects typically take 2-3 years just to secure planning permission before construction can even begin.

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Housing shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all proposition. Yet in a decision that stands alone in Europe, Ireland banned an entire category of housing with a ministerial pen stroke. Why?

Peter Horgan, co-founder of Lucas Capital and Grayling Properties, takes us inside the world of co-living - professionally managed, community-focused accommodations that serve as landing pads for young professionals relocating to Dublin. With 70% of residents being newcomers to the city, these developments fulfil a critical need in the housing ecosystem, yet they were banned in an act of self-sabotage that is an all too common move by policy makers.

Show notes:

• Rathmines House - https://rathmineshouse.com/#building
• Liberties House - https://libertieshouse.com/
• Portaferry choosing article - https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/approved-communal-housing-plan-for-co-down-will-be-first-of-its-kind-in-ireland-MMAYV7OSEVE4RDOZQDGRILFLI4/
• Portaferry website - https://www.portaferrycohousing.org/
• An article about co-living in Germany - https://cohabitas.com/communal-living-in-germany/?utm_source
• Grayling Properties wrote an article about co-living

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Tom Phillips is a town planner and an art history buff. We sat down to discuss his somewhat unusual road to becoming a town planner, why so many planning applications get invalidated, what all the acronyms mean, why Children can lobby local councils, podiatry (yes, really!) and why Ireland had, until recently, more than 80 separate planning authorities.

Some notes from the episode:

• TPA report on LRDs: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:1e6b9094-8b42-3e71-abc1-47380d71cc93
• Article about Gavin Newson suspending laws to allow rebuilding https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2025/01/12/california-governor-suspends-environmental-laws-to-allow-rebuilding-in-fire-zones/
• Lichfields https://lichfields.uk
• Start With Why – Simon Sinek https://www.easons.com/start-with-why-simon-sinek-9780241958223
• The Incredulity of Saint Thomas https://www.artchive.com/artwork/the-incredulity-of-saint-thomas-michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-1601-02/

Disclosure:
Though Tom is a great guy and extremely knowledgeable, I hadn't until now had the pleasure of meeting him. Neither he, nor his firm, has carried out any work for me or for any of my companies in the past.

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