Sir, – In response to the debate on the restoration of Mountjoy Square, there is no question but that the square needs renewal: the question is for whom and by whom.
Mountjoy Square has the potential to attract lots of people and drive social and economic renewal of the north inner city. New approaches in public space renewal have proven to be highly successful at Times Square in New York, the People’s Park in Malmo in Sweden and the Granby pop-up park experiment in Dublin.
Problems in public spaces often occur when they are dominated by single interests (be it heritage values or drug dealing).For a small fraction of the €8.1m and some creative local energy, Mountjoy Square could become the next placemaking success story. – Yours, etc,
WILLIAM COOGAN,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16