Accessible Planning Consultation in Fingal

📐 Urban Planning

📍 Fingal, Ireland

About

Status:

✅ Finalized

Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is a leading European tech and innovation hub. Home to major global companies and a thriving startup ecosystem, the city combines historical heritage with forward-looking urban policies. Dublin prioritizes smart mobility, housing development, climate action, and digital infrastructure. Its strong university presence and international connectivity make it a key gateway between Europe and North America.

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Fingal is consulting residents on large public realm schemes that will reshape its town centres. Technical drawings and one-off public meetings leave many people unable to picture the changes or take part at all. The Council needs consultation that every resident can access, understand and respond to.

Description of the Challenge

Context

Fingal County Council is the largest of Dublin’s four local authorities, with about 330,000 residents across North Dublin and towns including Swords, Balbriggan and Malahide. Its public realm programme includes the Our Balbriggan 2019–2025 Town Rejuvenation Plan, the Quay Street and harbour redevelopment in Balbriggan, and the Swords Cultural Quarter with a new civic building. Fingal is part of the Smart Dublin regional initiative.

Specific problem

Statutory planning consultation depends on plans, elevations and CGI stills that are hard for non-specialists to interpret, and on events residents must attend at a fixed time and place. Balbriggan is Ireland’s youngest and most culturally diverse town — the average age is 33 and almost a third of residents were born outside Ireland — and both groups are traditionally hard to reach through conventional engagement.

Current situation and gap

Two-dimensional materials struggle to show the scale, massing and environmental impact of a scheme, or how it will change sightlines, daylight and the feel of a street. When COVID-19 ruled out in-person sessions, the gap widened: the Council needed a way to engage residents remotely, and a way to offer immersive access that did not depend on people owning the right device.

Expected Outcomes

Specific need

The Council needs consultation materials that residents can explore from their own point of view, at any time, and a supported option for people who cannot or prefer not to take part online.

Expected outcome

– Proposals shown in their real urban context, not in isolation
– Always-on public access from any device, with nothing to install
– Supported immersive access in public spaces for residents without suitable devices
– Clearer understanding of scale, massing and environmental impact
– Higher and more representative participation in consultations
– A consultation model the Council can reuse across towns and projects

Space for Solutions and Experimentation

Fingal offers live regeneration schemes moving from consultation through planning to construction, so solutions can be tested on real decisions rather than demonstrators. Its Digital Services Department runs a network of branch libraries that can host supported, in-person sessions, and the Council’s digital twins of Balbriggan and Swords give a base to build on.

As part of Smart Dublin, Fingal also sits within a regional ecosystem for trialling new urban technologies, making it a good place to test approaches that could be adopted by other Irish and European local authorities.