Between 1957 and 1973, Dublin changed dramatically. In the central area, Georgian terraces were demolished to make way for modern office blocks. New roads were driven through inner-city neighbourhoods. A large proportion of the city's population was relocated to rapidly expanding suburbs on the urban periphery. At first, these changes were broadly welcomed, but critical voices gathered force and by the mid-1960s urban modernization faced a substantial challenge from a range of positions. In the early 1970s, the pace of change slowed and redevelopment was subjected to new forms of state regulation.
Modern Dublin is a thoroughly researched and finely nuanced study of the debate over urban change in Dublin in this period and the impact of that debate on later development. Hanna shows that modern Dublin was shaped by a variety of actors. The agents of change ranged from property speculators, Fianna Fail politicians and Dublin Corporation officials to preservation groups, architecture students and working-class housing activists. Hanna demonstrates that debates over urban change were inextricably linked to debates over Irish history and culture, national renewal and the achievements of the state since independence. There was no consensus over the value of the eighteenth-century urban fabric and its function in the modern city. Was Georgian architecture truly Irish? Was it a part of the city's heritage or an obstacle to progress and prosperity? Similarly, the city was divided over the merits of modern architecture and redevelopment projects. Did they benefit all Dubliners or were they undermining the social and cultural fabric of the city? Issues of culture, identity and tradition animated these debates and as the period progressed activists began to connect preservation campaigns to issues of class, community and economic justice.
The book begins by examining the intellectual and political context to the period of urban modernization before exploring five different preservationist campaigns. Chapter 1 gives an overview of urban development in Dublin from the eighteenth century to the 1960s with a particular focus on urban re-structuring in the mid-twentieth century. Chapter 2 analyses the impact of the modern movement on Irish architects in the 1950s and discusses their approach to urban change and Georgian buildings. Chapter 3 examines the organized attempt to preserve two Georgian houses on Kildare Place and the formation of the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) in 1958. Chapter 4 explores the conflict between the IGS and the Irish government over plans to redevelop part of Georgian Fitzwilliam Street as modern offices. Chapter 5 investigates campaigns to preserve working-class housing in central Dublin throughout the 1960s, focusing on the work of the Housing Action Committee. Chapter 6 examines the three-sided conflict between property speculators, the IGS and housing activists over Mountjoy Square in north Dublin. It also explores why various dissident communities settled in Dublin's north inner city in this period. Chapter 7 studies the efforts of a coalition of activists to save a part of Hume Street in central Dublin from redevelopment by property speculators seeking to build modern offices. The conclusion considers the legacy of this era of activism on planning and conservation policy, before investigating how ideas about the city changed in the 1970s and beyond.
The book is informed by the work of John Pendlebury, John Gold and Simon Gunn on modernism and the modern city. Hanna builds on scholarship on Irish modernity by Enda Delany, Patrick O’Mahoney and Gerald Delanty. This is a theoretically rich work. Hanna possesses a formidable command of ideas drawn from the fields of sociology, cultural geography and urban studies, as well as planning and architectural theory. Her immersion in urban historiography allows her to situate the narrative in the wider context of urban modernization in Europe and North America in the twentieth century. Like Dublin, cities across the west were shaped by property speculation, urban renewal, gentrification, property speculation, slum clearance and squatting in this period. Hanna shows that activists and architects in Dublin were connected to transnational networks. However, Hanna is sensitive to the specificity of the Dublin experience. She highlights those areas where Dublin did not follow global trends and emphasizes that local political culture informed the way urban development was understood in Dublin.
The book draws upon an impressive range of primary sources. Hanna makes extensive use of the mainstream press and the records of national and local government. She has also consulted the papers of leading activists and a wide range of specialist journals and activist periodicals, and conducted interviews with several key actors. This enables her to construct a detailed narrative of each preservationist case-study and to analyse a wide range of voices in the debate on urban change. The argument is also enriched by a close reading of contemporary photographs, journalistic writings and sociological studies. The book is consistently engaging and well structured. The narrative shifts seamlessly between urban theory and the material progress of conservation battles. Rigorous analysis is punctuated by skilfully reconstructed accounts of particularly dramatic moments in the campaigns, such as the climax to the ‘Battle of Hume Street’ in June 1970 when student squatters were evicted by bailiffs. Dublin's built environment – both Georgian and modern – is vividly described and Hanna's keen attention to detail lends the book a clear sense of place. A selection of well-chosen images and maps not only help the reader to visualize this urban landscape, they also support certain key components of the argument.
Modern Dublin makes a significant contribution to scholarship on urban modernization in this period and it deepens our understanding of social, political and cultural change in the twentieth-century city.
