Mannix Flynn Writer, Playwright and Politician
It’s never what you find in the future, it’s what you bring there. Material advancement will be present anyway, but it will be as nothing without the human touch. The future of Dublin is us and the compassion we show to each other. This is the only true sustainability in the built urban environment. Love is the future. Be there.
Prof. Noel O’Connor School of Electronic Engineering, DCU
Dublin, like all modern cities, is equipped with a state of the art CCTV infrastructure that is used for both public safety and security and city management. However, this is a ‘dumb’ network of cameras that is really only useful in a forensic capacity, after an incident or event of interest has occurred. The city of the future will feature a ‘smart’ CCTV infrastructure that can automatically detect and monitor events in real-time and alert the relevant stake holders. By extending current visual sensing capability with new modalities and linking to other city systems, the infrastructure will be capable of monitoring city activity and trigger a reaction to the benefit of citizens. Includes monitoring pedestrian activity and routing public transport accordingly increasing efficiency and pedestrian safety or detecting anti-social activity and alerting the Gardaí as they take place.
John Moynes Writer and Comedian
Dublin, as we all know, was invented by Vikings in 988AD because they needed somewhere to have their bicycles stolen. It’s been going downhill ever since. By the end of next year Dublin will be so bad that the Vikings will return from the grave to slay us all. They shall rampage across Wicklow Street and Temple Bar, slaying the hordes of comedians who lurk in these dark streets. The undead Scandinavians will destroy us all and reform our Welfare State. Social democracy will arrive, but at what cost?
Conor Creighton Ex Deputy Editor, Freelance Journalist
Gentlemen skanger fashion evolving from hands down skivvies to dangling the pudenda out front; canal swans spring head-mounted lasers to make them more vicious and pub opening hours pruned to 45 minutes a day – distillers invent an alcohol measurement smaller than a shot glass. It expands to a full pint on contact with the back of your throat. A la semolina. I would go on but I’ve just been informed that Trinity and UCD dropped out of the top 100 universities in the world this year. So, on reflection, in Dublin, in the future, people will be too busy eating each other to worry about fashion, swans or pints.
Carlin Doran Flat Iron Hairdressers
For me Dublin lost its soul during the Celtic Tiger era but now it feels like a city recovering its charm again. There is a different energy around. A lot of vibrant, passionate and streetwise businesses are opening now and I think these will help shape the look and feel of the city for the coming years. In my industry we will see a move away from the traditional ‘salon’ and a return to a more boutique experience. ‘Independent’ is the name of the game in both retail and in the service industries for the future of Dublin.
Padriac E. Moore Contemporary Art Curator
Following the Greatest Global War, the continent known as Europe became fully integrated into what we now consider to be the second most powerful of the intercontinental superstates. The perpetual war commenced in 2062 over the disputed ownership of oil fields deep in the Atlantic Ocean. The result was that the capital of the island Ireland (Dublin) was subsumed into one massive militarised complex. By 2088 the civilian population of Ireland was transplanted entirely to several major settlements located in what was once called central Europe. Ireland is now little more than an aircraft carrier with a fascinating history.
Dairine Keogh Tea Expert and Cafe Owner, Clement and Pekoe
I am delighted to see loose leaf tea begin to enter the mass market, appearing on our supermarket shelves and delighted at the trend of quality establishments opening around the city centre serving coffee to the highest of standards. I also predict that the flourishing Fine Dining Dublin will surely address ‘The Final Frontier’ – The Tea & Coffee experience at the end of your meal. In general, it continues to be, how shall I put it mildly: poor, even in the most lauded establishments. It will finally be given the attention it deserves.
Tom Lowe Newswhip
Given that everyone in Ireland is currently too busy paying off debt to spend any money here, I think we’ll see economic activity in Dublin increasingly taking advantage of the internet to serve worldwide markets. The first generation of employees of the tech giants operating here will graduate from employees to entrepreneurs, building companies with the global outlook they learned at Dublin’s various EMEA HQs. The crisis will leave its mark however, in the form of a hollowed-out hinterland blighted by low employment, land value and diminished education and opportunities for those worst hit by our spectacular boom-bust cycle.
Vincent Dermody Promoter and Musician, The Jimmy Cake
Facebook (now known as Likeland) have acquired the spire where citizens of Dublin must assemble every morning to receive their feelings for the day and their daily owl drawing from virtual Don Conroy. Owl drawings must be liked and shared even though it is the same owl drawing every single day. All human interaction must take place in slow motion and as if you were watching your favourite rock band at a festival while anthemic rock generated by indie software is pumped directly into the bloodstream. Blood must be liked and shared. The Spire likes this.
Vincent Browne Journalist, Print and Broadcast
Parts of the city will be prettified, there will be a few more posh restaurants and posh shops. The SUVs will be bigger and more Mercedes and BMWs back on the streets once the recession ends (c 2030). The Troika (under another guise) will be in residence in the Merrion Hotel permanently under the new EU fiscal-economic-monetary-
David Parle Promoter and Booker
From a creative perspective, and more specifically in terms of music, I think Dublin is ready to hit a real purple patch. Despite emigration being so high and the fact young creatives are usually the first to go, that has probably been offset by people having less money, less work to do and therefore more time and more hunger. I believe that for the first time in a while Irish musicians are working together to create a scene that’s becoming unique to Dublin rather than the begrudgery and bitchiness that I felt has been so prominent in the past.
Kevin Breathnach Literary Review
Internet shopping forces all Dublin bookshops out of business. Franchise coffee-shops move quickly to reoccupy the newly vacant premises. In the week the story is considered newsworthy, public opinion is pacified by the coffee-shops’ promise to keep the books on the shelves. (“Nothing,” say spokespersons, “compliments the taste of coffee so well as the smell of old books.”) Complaints about their no-lending policies are dismissed as typical Ivory Tower-begrudgery. Elsewhere, Darts are full of Kindles on which, unbeknownst to all, everyone is engrossed in the latest autobiographical volume by Roy Keane’s dead dog. “Reading,” say the headlines, “reaches all-time high.”
Aoife McElwain Food Writer and Eating Enthusiast
I believe that our lingering food inferiority complex will dissipate in the coming years, as we grab hold of our home-grown ingredients and use them to the absolute best of our abilities and to their full potential. The emphasis on knowing what you’re eating and where it came from will strengthen as we realise how crucial our own food industry is to the economics of Ireland. I’m hoping that eating out will continue to be democratised, so that everyone can eat out and eat well without scraping under sofas for the extra pennies. The craft beer movement will continue to thrive and it’s my belief that the 8 Degrees Brewing company will be deserving millionaires by the next decade.
Olan O’Brien Record Label Boss, All City Records
Gazing into my crystal ball I forsee a Dublin with a web of record stores, cannibalising every NAMA-fied derelict building across Dublin, North and South. Properly enforced EU competition legislation prohibiting cartels and ensuring prices for UK bass 12’’s are kept affordable for all, with MP3s – even free download codes – being but a distant memory.
Sonya Kelly Comedian
I predict a giant haze over the city from the all the smog as its citizens burn their empty cornflakes boxes because they can’t afford the €9 recycling bag charge. I predict some actors will use their empty cornflakes boxes to perform shows in as work dries up due to further budget cuts. I predict that in order to reduce cast sizes some actors will actually be sawn in half. It’s not all bad. I predict we will always be the type of citizens who will put bad men in prison for throwing bunnies in the Liffey. Every cloud, hey?
Madeleine Lyes Co-ordinator, City Intersections
I see this strange moment of possibility. There’s a self-awareness emerging in Dublin, as the city begins to take itself seriously. Lots of different factions recognise that, and are starting to wrestle for control over how this newly-awakened city is going to be defined. There’s going to be a struggle for ownership of Dublin’s identity, because there’s power and profit in that affiliation. I don’t know who’ll win, but I predict interesting times as Dubliners realise they’ve a fight on their hands. What will it mean to be urban in Dublin? Our new battleground will be the right to decide.
Alan Taylor Fashion Designer
I think Dublin is on a great path creatively. I believe the recession has really served as a catalyst for raising the standard in all Irish creatives, we thrive when we work on a budget. From places like Indigo & Cloth pushing men’s retail, Designgoat which has become a powerhouse in both industrial and graphic design, Thread Magazine which constantly raises the bar in magazine editorial and fashion designers like Simone Rocha and Sorcha O’Raghallaigh which elevate Irish talent on an international level. All of these inspiring people confirm the potential hidden within the capital’s cobbled streets.
Olaf Tyransen Author and Journalist
In the wake of cataclysmic climate change and the melting of the polar ice caps, Dublin city will be fully submerged within 200 years, a drowned world with only the very tip of the Spire visible above water. However, down below, the big fish will continue to feed off the little fish. And the Phil Lynott statue will still be standing outside Bruxelles.
Neiler Rooney Country Manager, Movember
Ireland continuously punches above its weight when it comes to charitable giving; indeed, we’re currently ranked second on the World Giving Index. Dublin will see more creative, community based initiatives, crowd sourcing a greater number of small donations through social channels and word of mouth rather than maintaining traditional fundraising mechanics – balls to charities chasing the big buck pay-out at the drop of a hammer. Expect it to get silly.
Daniel Gray Editor
Issues 73-85 of TD were a bore. Why? Because there was no competition. With the Mongrel, the Event Guide, InDublin, and the Dubliner all either stone dead or catatonic, we had a monopoly on the (oh-so lucrative) culture mag market. Now some cheeky upstarts (Thread, Le Cool and the soon-to-be Vice Ireland) have cut in on our game – and we’re ecstatic. New blood not only augurs well for the future of the magazine format (whether in print or on screen), but reflects a thriving cultural ecology which we have the pleasure to present to an audience increasingly willing to engage with the fringe.
James O’Neill Bitches With Wolves
If the past few years have given us anything it is an incredible sense of community that had been really missing before. There is a real vibrancy about Dublin, with little shops, bars and restaurants opening all over the city. People are once again venturing outdoors and it is amazing. We’ve had our fair share of hard times, but that has resulted in Dublin getting her edge back. It’s an awesome place to live and I think 2013 will see things only getting better. In tough times you have to work harder to keep positive and it’s important that we focus on what’s great about our fair city.
