It is perhaps surprising that a city such as Galway which was built on the water and is mostly surrounded by it, should have taken this long to realise that perhaps for centuries, we have been looking the wrong way. There are not many cities that have the proximity of its port so close to the city centre and yet have it so underutilised. Perhaps now, comes the vision that will change that.
The Galway Harbour Project which proposes a transformation of 17 acres of land surrounding the Inner Dock, represents a once-in-a generation opportunity to develop a new and sustainable urban quarter in Galway city.
Together with the proposed port extension which is at an advanced stage of planning, the backers say this represents an opportunity to expand the city to the water’s edge, future proof the port as a transport and renewable energy hub and support employment in the short, medium and long term.
Ports the world over have been last in the queue for development because the necessity for them has remained steadfast for centuries. However, if Galway is to get an impressive outer port, the inner dock becomes the preserve of the public again, and becomes a place for culture, dining and business.
Now, this is not a project that will happen today or tomorrow, as there are planning considerations to be reckoned with for the Outer Dock Project before you can even think about developing the Inner Dock, but what is refreshing about it, is the vision to create new spaces for us to work, live and experience at the start of the next decade.
I have often felt that what plans we put in place to realign Galway in this decade will influence how functional the city is for the entirety of this century. That it can be a place where we no longer play second fiddle to the car, where we are not slaves to restriction and where we are able to live a life which is health inducing and sustainable.
If we have learned anything in the last year, it is that we are not the Kryptonite superhumans we thought we were, impermeable to anything that science or nature could throw at us. That in the post-lockdown world that awaits us, we will be more demanding of our hygiene and behaviour from ourselves and others; that we will be more cognisant of the need for modern health care with single hospital rooms and the liberty to allow new more mental-health promoting ways of working and living.
Many projects for the city such as Augustine Hill, Nun’s Island, Bonham Quay and now the Galway Harbour Project, have at their heart, a desire to increase the amount of open space that we humans will need to interact safely for this century. The congested laneways denying people space and dignity and access will no longer be the norm. New plazas and cultural spaces such as that proposed for the middle pier at the dock will give us spectacular locations to create visions that alas were denied us this past year.
It is high time that we turned to the sea and breathed in the fresh air that lashes in at us from our gusty neighbour, the Atlantic. Soon that wind will be powering us, and this new industry and a thousand other clean industries like it will need a space like Galway to flourish.
So I welcome the visionary plans of the Galway Harbour Company, and on the weekend we pass back the baton of the European Capital of Culture, my hope is that this reimagined Galway can energise and inspire a new generation of workers and artists to greater feats in the decades to come.
