URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

Street Photography That Highlights Urban Life

protest

GRANGEGORMAN GRAFFITI – HIPSTERS OUT

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GRANGEGORMAN GRAFFITI – HIPSTERS

Twenty five years ago when I relocated about a kilometre from Drumcondra to my apartment at Henrietta Place, now effectively within the Grangegorman Campus area, I encountered a similar reaction but I was called a “Yuppie” rather than a “Hipster”

In the 21st century, a hipster is a member of a subculture that is defined by claims to authenticity and uniqueness yet, ironically, is notably lacking in authenticity and conforms to a collective style.

I came across the following when I conducted an online search: “Fifteen years ago it was a no-go area, but now hipsters are buying houses and it’s trendy in parts,” says Pascal Derrien, who runs SPADE Enterprise Centre in Dublin 7. “But it is still dodgy – the Garda station is still one of the busiest in the country.”

There is a genuine concern that Grangegorman could be swamped by 20,000 university students many of whom will become transient residents in the general area. For example the area around Queens in Belfast, 25,000 students, is a good example of what can happen when an area is totally dominated by a college or university.

DOES NOT LIKE GOOGLE

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MAYBE SOMEONE DOES NOT LIKE GOOGLE

Google has an office complex on Grand Canal Quay which is in the Grand Canal Harbour of Dublin Docklands.

The Grand Canal Docks first opened in 1796. At the time they were the world’s largest docks. They fell into decline within just a few decades, due mostly to reduced canal usage with the arrival of the railways. The landscape was overwhelmed by Dublin Gas Company’s mountains of black coal, along with chemical factories, tar pits, bottle factories and iron foundries. However, bakers and millers maintained business along the southern edge of the inner basin. By the 1960s, the Grand Canal Docks were almost completely derelict.

Around 1987 it was decided that Hanover Quay was too toxic to sell. Regeneration began in 1998, when Bord Gáis sold the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) the former gasworks site located in the area between Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Hanover Quay, for €19 million. The DDDA spent €52 million decontaminating the land, even though the likely return was estimated at just €40 million.

The decontamination took place under the supervision of the Environmental Protection Agency, between 2002 and 2006. The process involved constructing an underground wall eight metres deep around the affected area, and the contaminated soil being dug out and removed. By the time the decontamination was finished, an inflated property bubble and increased demand in the area (brought on, in part, by the decision by Google to set up its European headquarters nearby), allowed the authority to sell the land for €300 million. The DDDA injected some of its new funds into the area’s infrastructure including seats, street lighting, and civic spaces.

A number of significant developments have happened since involving the construction of millions of euros worth of real estate, the arrival of several thousand new residents, and the establishment of what is now sometimes known as Silicon Docks.

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EXTINCTION REBELLION POSTER

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EXTINCTION REBELLION POSTERS PHOTOGRAPHED IN DUBLIN CITY CENTRE MARCH 2020

I am now limiting myself to a 60 minute walk every day and I take a very small camera with me.

Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a global environmental movement[ with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse.

Extinction Rebellion was established in the United Kingdom in May 2018 with about one hundred academics signing a call to action in support in October 2018, and launched at the end of October by Roger Hallam and Gail Bradbrook, and other activists from the campaign group Rising Up!. In November 2018, five bridges across the River Thames in London were blockaded. In April 2019, Extinction Rebellion occupied five prominent sites in central London: Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, and the area around Parliament Square.

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