Dublin's Not So Fair Suburbs

The Lonely Planet guide reports in its latest issue that Ireland is losing the battle to remain green. The culprit, of course, is the car. Ireland has taken admirable measures, says the hipster guidebook's 8th edition, to encourage recycling with its tax on plastic grocery bags and is a leader in organic farming and eating. But the sustained economic boom from the 1980s onward drove housing prices in Dublin out of reach while putting the price of a new car into workers' pockets. That's the recipe for suburban development, which in turn deepens the car culture. Lonely Planet also bemoans the collateral decline in public transportation in a country where the bus and train networks were top notch.

It's not like the Irish didn't try; one of the most depressing conclusions to be taken from their experience is that the boom-to-burb cycle is almost unavoidable. In the early '80s, efforts were made to contain Ireland's economic rave-up by redeveloping inner-city areas of Dublin and restricting growth to the "western towns." But the profits to be had in building low-density sprawl made sure the urban renewal programs largely failed. But restrictions, it seems are not enough. Commuters and other landscape despoilers need positive reinforcement to stay in town and build and ride smart outside it.