Uneven development, suburban futures and the urban region: The case of an Irish ‘sustainable new town’

Abstract:

This paper seeks to situate narratives of sustainable urban development within the wider context of political economic urban transformations shaping urban city regions. In drawing upon the development of a master-planned sustainable development called Adamstown, situated on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, the paper will unpack the relationship between ideals of urban and suburban sustainability within the context of Ireland’s recent economic boom and bust, along with its repackaging via national and international actors.

The paper demonstrates the shortcomings of the ideal of sustainability in the context of neoliberal urban development dominated by private actors, and facilitated by state-led governance mechanisms. It argues that while the official invocation of urban sustainable communities attempts to highlight them as ‘different’ and ‘unique’, they remain inextricably intertwined with wider urban regional processes, which are themselves becoming increasingly internationalized in terms of reality.