Ruth McManus on the vision behind Drumcondra and social housing in Dublin City
“If we had the will today, we could do great things”
Ruth McManus
Dr Ruth McManus, urban geographer DCU, takes Helen Shaw on a walk through Drumcondra and its social housing, between Griffith Park and Home Farm Road, built between 1920s -60s, creating a social village from the library at the park to Corpus Christi Church and primary school on Home Farm Road.
Ruth talks about the English and Netherlands influences on the cul de sacs and tidy estates and asks why we're not building public communities like these in 2018-2019? What are the lessons we can learn from the 1920s approach to public housing today?
To find out more about Ruth's work:
Ruth McManus (2018) Dublin's Lodger Phenomenon in the early Twentieth Century, Irish Economic and Social History (online first) doi.org/10.1177/0332489318801622
Ruth McManus (2018) Tackling the Housing Problem in the Irish Free State, 1922-1940, Urban History (FirstView online) doi.org/10.1017/S0963926818000214
Joseph Brady & Ruth McManus (2018) Marino at 100: a garden suburb of lasting influence, Irish Geography Vol 51 (1), pp. 1-24. dx.doi.org/10.2014/igj.v51i1.1346
Ruth's book "The Making of Dublin City series: Dublin 1910-1940 Shaping The City & Suburbs" www.makingofdublincity.com/dublin/the-…n-1910-1940