Horizons

Shaping our cities: The newly established Academy of Urbanism aims to foster public awareness of what makes for good (and bad) urban design throughout Ireland and Britain.

Its chairman, architect John Thompson, is a leading figure in the "community architecture" movement in the UK and believes high-density housing served by good public transport and local services within walking distance is the way forward for our towns, cities and villages.

The academy will lobby for improvements in urban design and provide a forum for public debate about urbanism.

One of its first initiatives is a competition entitled Urbanism Awards 2006 in which members of the public can nominate their favourite urban spot. There are five categories: city of the year, great town, great neighbourhood, great street and great place (from the natural or built environment) and you can make your nominations on www.academyofurbanism.org.uk. The web poll closes at 5pm on April 28th.

Life through a lens: Combating climate change is the theme of this year's Life Through a Lens photographic competition for second-level students, which is run by Sustainable Energy Ireland. It's an opportunity for keen young photographers to capture the problems of global warming in an image. Last year's winner, Rebecca Massey (who highlighted waste of energy with a digital photograph of a light bulb against a blue sky), offered this advice: "The idea is just as important as the picture," she said. The closing date for entries is March 16th. See also www.combatclimatechange.ie.

Beggars Bush expo: What on Earth? is the theme of the current exhibition at the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) offices in Beggars Bush, Dublin. Through a series of colourful panels on flooding, oil drilling, groundwater, caves and diamonds, the exhibition aims to give the public a sense of geology and its impact on society. Following a recent piece in Horizons about the Natural Stone Weathering database in Northern Ireland, GSI informed us that a similar project also exists in the South. Entitled, IreLithos, it will create a working database on Irish buildings of public interest. The overall aim of the database is to provide accurate information so that appropriate conservation and restoration work is carried out on public buildings. See www.gsi.ie for more details or tel 01-6782867.

Donate against waste: Charity shops have in some ways been the pioneers of the re-use and recycle mantra now essential for our so-called race against waste.

Oxfam Ireland has gone farther by developing recycling opportunities. Its textile, clothing, music and book banks are well established, but another scheme that may be of interest to business people is gift banks. So, for example, if your company has more than 80 employees, Oxfam will bring a gift bank to your workplace where people can donate their unwanted goods. Recycling boxes for ink cartridges are also available on request. Contact peter@oxfamni.org.uk or tel: 01-6727662.