Neoliberal Urban Policy and the Transformation of the City: Reshaping Dublin

304 Pages·2014·1.677 MB·English

by  Andrew MacLaran, Sinéad Kelly

Neoliberal Urban Policy and the Transformation of the City
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Neoliberal Urban Policy
and the Transformation
of the City
Reshaping Dublin
Editedby
Andrew MacLaran
AssociateProfessor,TrinityCollegeDublin,Ireland
and
Sinéad Kelly
Lecturer,NationalUniversityofIrelandMaynooth
Selectionandeditorialmatter©AndrewMacLaranandSinéadKelly2014
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Firstpublished2014by
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Contents
ListofFiguresandTables vii
Preface viii
Acknowledgements ix
ListofAbbreviationsandAcronyms x
NotesonContributors xii
Part I SettingtheContext
1 Neoliberalism:TheRiseofaBadIdea 3
AndrewMacLaranandSinéadKelly
2 IrishNeoliberalismandNeoliberalUrbanPolicy 20
AndrewMacLaranandSinéadKelly
3 Light-TouchRegulation:TheRiseandFalloftheIrish
BankingSector 37
SinéadKelly
4 ThePoliticalEconomyofLegislativeChange:Neoliberalising
PlanningLegislation 53
EndaMurphy,LindaFox-RogersandBernaGrist
5 TheChangingIdeologyandOperationofPlanning
inDublin 66
AndrewMacLaranandNiallMcCrory
Part II ThePropertyBoomandItsLegacy
6 ReadyMoney:Over-DevelopmentintheOfficesSector 93
AndrewMacLaran
7 ReadyMoney:ResidentialOver-Developmentand
ItsConsequences 107
BrendanWilliamsandDeclanRedmond
8 TheFinancialisationofIrishHomeownershipandtheImpact
oftheGlobalFinancialCrisis 120
DáithíD.Downey
v
vi Contents
9 BailingOuttheBanks:TheRoleoftheNationalAsset
ManagementAgency 139
BrendanWilliams
Part III ReshapingUrbanPolicyandReshapingtheCity
10 ActuallyExistingNeoliberalism:Public–PrivatePartnershipsin
PublicServiceandInfrastructureProvisioninIreland 157
RoryHearne
11 TakingLiberties:GentrificationasNeoliberalUrbanPolicyin
Dublin 174
SinéadKelly
12 NeoliberalisingtheCity‘Creative-Class’Style 189
PhilipLawton,EndaMurphyandDeclanRedmond
13 Neoliberal‘Regeneration’andtheMythofCommunity
Participation 203
PaulaBrudellandKatiaAttuyer
14 TheCollapseofPPPs:ProspectsforSocialHousing
RegenerationaftertheCrash 219
RoryHearneandDeclanRedmond
15 TheRoleofPrivateConsultanciesinNeoliberalUrban
Regeneration 233
PaulaBrudell
Part IV ConsiderationsandConclusions
16 ContestedUrbanEnvironments:CommunityEngagementand
StruggleinCentralDublin 249
MichaelPunch
17 NeoliberalUrbanPolicyandChallengingtheIdeological
Straightjacket 265
AndrewMacLaranandSinéadKelly
Index 277
Figures and Tables
Figures
5.1 Tax-incentiveareasininnerDublin 69
6.1 CompletionofofficespaceinDublin,1980–2011 94
6.2 Averagesizeofdevelopmentsreachingcompletion,
1995–2012 98
6.3 Dublindocklandsdevelopment,2013 101
6.4 Vacantnewlycompletedandoldermodernofficespace 103
6.5 City-widevacancyrates,1992–2010 104
8.1 Euro-areacreditgrowth,June1998–June2012((cid:2)M) 123
8.2 Ireland’shousingboom–bustcyclecomparedwithother
advancedeconomies,2005–12 126
8.3 CapitalswitchingintoandoutofIrishhousing,1994–2008 130
11.1 LocationofIAPsandremitoftheDDDAmasterplan,1999 177
Tables
3.1 Assets,customerloansandprofitsgrowthofIrishbanksand
buildingsocieties,2000and2007 47
7.1 Annualchangeinhousingsupply,GDPandGNP 108
7.2 Financeforpropertydevelopment 109
7.3 Mortgagelendingfornewandsecond-handdwellings 110
7.4 Mortgagelendingforresidentialpurposes 111
7.5 Averageannualhousepricechanges((cid:2)equivalent),
1996–2012 112
8.1 ThevolumeandvalueofIreland’smortgageequityrelease
‘top-up’loans 124
9.1 IncreasingrecapitalisationrequirementsforIrish
banks,2009–11 146
11.1 Agestructureoftheinner40wards,1991,2002,2011 180
14.1 Selectedlocal-authorityestatesinDublin’sinnercity
plannedforPPPregeneration 221
14.2 PlannedprivateandsocialunitsinselectedPPP
projects,2008 221
14.3 OccupancyratesonPPPregenerationestatesinDublincity,
2008and2013 224
14.4 StatusofregenerationplansforselectedDublinPPPestates,
September2013 225
vii
Preface
Neoliberalism, what it involves and how it has been implemented, varies
considerably from place to place. In a context of high rates of unemploy-
ment,sluggisheconomicdevelopmentandlarge-scaleemigration,theIrish
stateenthusiasticallyespousedneoliberalism.Thisbookfocusesonthechar-
acterandimpactsof‘actuallyexisting’neoliberalisminIreland,specifically
in its capital city of Dublin. The city provides a particularly apposite loca-
tion for an investigation into the urban impacts of neoliberal urban policy
becauseDublin,withapopulationofoveramillionpeople,dominatesthe
Irishurbanhierarchyandthenation’seconomyandhasbeenthefocusfor
the‘newurbanpolicy’ofneoliberalthinkinginurbanrenewal.
ThebookshowsthemannerinwhichneoliberalisminfusedIrishgovern-
ment thinking at national and local levels. Thus, market-based approaches
andfacilitatingprivate-sectoroperationsbecameincreasinglyingrainedinto
the ideology of decision makers and established as an essential element of
policy.Takingkeyinternationalthemesfromcontemporaryurbanresearch
andfocusingonDublin,thebookdemonstratesthewayinwhichneoliberal
urban policies brought about a reconfiguration of both social and spatial
relationsinthecitythroughtheimplementationofnewapproachesinIrish
urban planning, notably by facilitating the property-development sector
and through urban-regeneration policies promoting ‘gentrification’. It also
showshowitbecamepossibleforthemuch-lauded‘CelticTigereconomy’,
heralded worldwide as an icon of what might be achieved under ‘light-
touch’neoliberalfinancialregulation,withinafewyears,tobringaboutthe
almosttotalcollapseofitsbankingsystem,the‘nationalisation’ofenormous
private-sector debts, the rapid decline in the Irish economy, the imposi-
tion of an austerity regime involving swingeing cuts to public services,
the imposition of pay-cuts in the public sector, new and increasing taxes
and charges and the effective bail-out of the Irish economy by the ‘troika’
of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International
MonetaryFund.
Thebookcomprisesfourparts,settingthecontextualbackground,exam-
iningtheproperty-developmentboomanditslegacy,reviewingtheimpacts
ofneoliberalurbanpolicyinreshapingDublinand,finally,notingaspectsof
public resistance to the operation of neoliberal urban policy. The conclud-
ing section highlights some salient points which might be drawn from the
continuing Irish experience of neoliberalism and policies of austerity and
stressestheimperativeforstructuralanalysisofwhathappenedandwhy.
viii