Thesis

In March 2020, Dublin City experienced a mass exodus, a forced emptying of its public spaces. Buildings were abandoned and squares were vacated. Even ducks in the park had to fend for themselves. This obligatory retreat from the public arena into our private dwellings amplified the opposition between outside and inside.
In a post-pandemic Dublin, the need for thriving outdoor public spaces is more essential than ever. Entitled ‘A View from the Ground: An Exploration of Public Space in Dublin City’, my research uses the works of thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Marc Augé, Gaston Bachelard and Henri Lefebvre to demonstrate how the architecture of public spaces impacts our behaviour. The result of this research is a theoretical mapping of social patterns with a focus on the local community and the County Council in Temple Bar Square and Bridgefoot Street Park.