City of the Sacred Heart

Instinct would tell you that it is pointless to build an artificial city in a place that everyone appears to want to leave – unless you can channel all your inward investment factories like Dell computers, etc, there, so providing real employment.

Even that might not be enough. In the UK, the reasonable success of Milton Keynes is due to the fact that it is on existing fast rail and road links between London and Birmingham, and soaked up the overspill populations from both cities. Far from being in the back of beyond, it was planned to be right in the centre of things.

Even Telford new town in Shropshire – pretty remote by English standards – rose from the remains of the area’s once-great iron and coal industries. Which makes you think: cities are where they are because there is some existing reason for them to develop. If there is no existing demand, it’s hopeless.

Unless yours is to be a new administrative capital like Canberra or Brasilia, this one is surely a non-starter. Great publicity scam by the architect, however.

Do you remember all the pilgrimage traffic that Knock Airport was supposed to generate when it was built, mainly at the expense of the plain people of Ireland? Well they never came because there was nowhere for them to live. Now we have to build a city for them all to retire to within easy reach of the devotions.

Um, surely pilgrims aren’t meant to live at the holy place? Isn’t the point of being a pilgrim that you have to travel to get there?
You’ll be telling me next that hermits all want to live together.

This will never happen, this was be the biggest single disaster for the environment to date for Ireland.

as a south african irishman lookin in i found this ‘sacred heart’ city very interesting!
the name has to go, but the idea is interesting. reader comment on building a city where no demand appears to exist is valid… brasilia is an excellent example of huge expense with shockingly awfull results… surely a lot of credible research is required… before any further consideration is given.
it may be far more logical to concentrate on improving existing towns/cities. the english model of row houses interspersed with ‘affordable’ tower housing complexes seems not only wastefull space wise but negative experientially. the dutch seem to have the edge on good urban models.

Its insane, with social problems on nearly every large housing estate in Ireland, how do they expect to engineer a cohesive sommunity from scratch.

would the private and public homes in sacred heart city all have chapel rooms/ prayer spaces? If this is true, the idea should be forgotten about quickly, and if it is not true, it should still be forgotten about too.

What’s wrong with prayer spaces? Shouldn’t our cities reflect more than the consumption of fast food, consumer knick-knacks? What do we do when we’re not on the treadmill?

The city proposal is a lovely example of the classic Irish mentality – don’t bother fixing up the places you have, just wander off into the countryside and build a new thing. Why do we have some much bungalow bliss along so many collapsing cottages?

prayer spaces in every new house!!! i.e. catholicism infiltrates planning now. as if their wasn’t enough corruption. “Sacred Heart City” scares me because a bishop backed it……suddenly it must be a good idea.. ..genuflect please. Ireland’s Salt Lake City. NO THANKS

I didn’t say anything about specifically Catholic spaces – just any sort of spaces which aren’t dependent making money.

Never mind prayer spaces, what about a city properly designed from scratch for people working from home? Now that would be an idea worth pursuing. Not just talking about the home office here, but also the necessary social spaces: it gets lonely stuck in your cell all day.

Just realised I’ve solved my own conundrum of August 2: a city for homeworkers could indeed be a place where hermits could live together.

Lobb, how else would they be anything other than Catholic oriented, it is “Sacred heart City”, backed by a Bishop, in the W of Ireland. A room not dependent on money- making… an extra bedroom, a lounge, sitting room,kitchen,store room, whatever. One can pray anywhere. People should determine how their homes develop and are experienced, not vice-versa

This idea reeks of religious opportunism for the sterile bachelor priesthood. Maybe it would have worked over two hundred years ago when architecture was frilly and god was alive but now in this age of secularism it’s a definite no-no. Sacred Heart City……… …….doh! I’d suppose they’d have a huge statuette figure of the ‘Child of Prague’ overlooking the place just like the one representing Christ in Rio de Janeiro.Will someone please tell them that god is dead as Neitzche said.

……..come to think of it maybe it would be a good idea, because we could move all those morons and gombeens who happened to experience the ‘moving statue phenomenon’ in the eighties into the place and build a wall around it. Then they could celebrate their ‘perpetual mother of sorrows’ and ‘miraculous medals’ all they like. Cheers!

Please, let’s stop calling it Sacred Heart City – if we keep on doing so, it’ll start to catch on and before you know it….
I propose we now call it Mayo City Central, he he. Whatever happens, I bet they won’t allow any skyscrapers – what with it being a 21st century city & all…
Down with Downsizing!

the thought of a ‘sacred heart city’ in the middle of mayo makes me want to …

[This message has been edited by mht (edited 09 September 2000).]

http://www.newcityforthewest.com/

This proposal seems like a very, very badly misconceived idea.
It takes hundreds of years for a city to develop properly, you can’t just build one overnight in any old place.

The experience of Britain is that their ‘new towns’are very sterile and boring places (i have heard the same said about Canberra).

In Britain they have a very large population that can make (strategicly placed!) ‘new towns’ viable. Many of them have become expanded commuter areas.
We are only flatering ourselves if we think we have a ‘big’ population.

At the most, the ‘City of the Sacred Heart’ could only hope to become an expanded residential area. That will mean lots of commuters traveling by car to Sligo and Galway city etc. What would that mean for the governments’ sustainable development strategies (1997)?

It would be very hard to make this ‘city’ self-sufficient – look at Shannon Airport and the ‘Shannon Free Enterprise Zone'(?). At least there they had a magnet (the airport) but it hasn’t exactly been a roaring success has it?

The way the development of the built environment continues apace in Ireland today, i think the ‘city’ has no chance of developing EVER , (never mind the somewhat idillic pictures shown on their website).

Why not try to develop Galway and Sligo etc. in the best possible way and, make the rail links to the East coast very good as opposed to the mediocre efforts so far, (and planned for future).

Build on what we have today. People AND buisness prefer to move to established areas.
For example, today international investors look for ‘quality of life’ features of cities/areas for possible investment and are far less interested in financial incentives popular in the past. What will a half – arsed new town.. Sorry, ‘city’ have to offer in the way of culture, education, entertainment etc.???

There’s a very good description of the soullessness of Canberra by Bill Bryson in “Down Under”

I think the man behind the idea has some sort of religious agenda behind the whole project. I mean who in their right mind would seriously consider “City of the Sacred Heart” as a possible name? Plus I don’t like the look of that constant blue sky over Mayo in the conceptual illustrations.. people might start smiling….

I think the man behind the idea has some sort of religious agenda behind the whole project. I mean who in their right mind would seriously consider “City of the Sacred Heart” as a possible name? And is it just me, or is there something a little sinister about that constant blue Mayo sky in the conceptual illustrations…..?

I received an email from them today, with the name in the from field as “From: “Rockwell Defence Systems”, its did seem to be them, but this kind of approach makes them look like idiots.

Nietzsche may have written that god was dead but that was only one of his hypothises in a sea of ideas. Philosophy is like maths in that it can prove by deduction in a rational fashion that, let us say, -1 = 0.This would lead us to see that although something can be rationally explained, it may not be true.

To deny Catholics the right to belive in their church and all its dogma is also undemocratic. Nazism, as some of you might say. Out of basic moral decency (lets not have an argument on the origins of morality please), we are obliged to respect the beliefs and cultures of all denominations. The Catholic church may refuse to accept the beliefs of others but that is not a day-to-day decision on the part of the Catholic individual. However, we still must respect their beliefs, and wrong as they may be (May be, I did not say that their beliefs ARE wrong), it is wrong of others to belittle their religous beliefs. Religion is very important and a source of inspiration and courage to many people. I find it in very bad taste Saint Jerome to knock the beliefs of others.

Apart from that, Catholic church & Co., get a grip, ‘Sacred Heart City’, for what purpose & to what end. If the faith is dying, do you seriously consider that an Urban Shrine is the solution? Believe what you may, but build with your own cash(no shortage their, 2001 years in business and still rolling), but dont destroy our countryside

This is so funny.

The press section is a scream. The bloke behind it is saying that if the West does not help him, he is moving the project to Kildare and starting a political party with 35 TDs elected.

http://www.newcityforthewest.com/

Only in Ireland – exit visas at your nearest An Post office.

What is so funny?

A large city in the west would balance the the overly centralised state we live in already, nor is it unique in world history for cities to be founded by fiat, after a conquest or revolution , or for administration to be moved to a once small city to avoid over centralization. Unfortunately Galway – a prime target – has no room to grow.

Think of Constantinople, Washington, Alexandria, Melbourne, Bonn ( as was) , and Brasila.

There are plenty more.

Do you have any real intellectual points to make, besides Dublin centralism, or an aversion to the admitedly silly name of the City as suggested on that site?

I have nothing against building a city in the west of Ireland. But this is just so weird and a bunch of religious headbangers is behind the idea. It’s just so odd and so American-centric. Nothing Irish about it. Aside from the fact it’s a nutcase project, what would be so great about building an Atlanta in Mayo? A soul car-based American bland sprawl of total nothingness except a base for exporting wealth and developing little Irish preists and nuns.

This is simply a fruitcake, “be like the Yanks boyo and all our problems will be solved!” idea taken to the extreme by people who want to move the religious orders into the City of the Sacred Heart and then think about everything else.

Tallaght meets Knock is not my idea of heaven.

WOW – funny stuff alright.
‘City of the sacred Heart’??????
‘Houses with chapels’??????
‘The city will be paid for by gas found off the Mayo coast’?????
Weird and bizarre but above all scary!!!!!

Quote from site:

“The Winds of Change are truly blowing, it’s time we all begin to realize that, most urgently. False promises are no longer acceptable, the whitewashing of reality is also unacceptable, and the electorate will let all the elected officials know when that day of reckoning comes and it will come very soon. And that is why we are anxious to have this proposal of a New City high on the political agenda for those already elected, and who represent those who voted them in. If they cannot deliver, then they must step aside, and allow a whole new political idealism to grow and take over.”

Wasn’t this speech made in Munich in the late 1920s?

Given that the people of the west tend to be more religious I imagine that the city might reflect that – however the name is indeed naff. As for the quote about “The winds of change” – that could have been made by any reformist, or any socialist, and not just a fascist.

Nor do they seem to want an Atlanta, because they make clear their commitment to public transport throughout, and not to the car. However there is this :
“
A pleasant city to live and work in. It will be a “green city” with extensive parks, tree-lined boulevards, playing fields, forest walks, orchards, public gardens, river walks, wildlife parks, lake and river facilities, and plenty of open space for people._This will complement the beautiful scenery of the west of Ireland. The new city will be_a pleasant working environment and an ideal venue for conferences, seminars and business meeting”

Sounds like too much parks and not enough city – which is what they say about Melbourne. Its not clear if surrounding these parks will be high density housing ( why would they need gardens with so many parks?).

Anyway I was merely agreeing , in theory, with the idea of a city in the west – I think any real attempts to build it may be a disaster, will overrun it costs enormously, and cost the revenue massively in building costs and the cost of transferring public servants. And may well fail.

So we stuck with Dublin sprawl – the Atlanta of the east.

Dublin is nothing like Atlanta. I lived in Atlanta for a while and it is truly the most boring and car-orientated city on the planet (more that LA at this point)

Dublin, despite it’s shortcommings and sprawl, is still far more European that the Frank McDoanlds of this world would have you believe.

The City of the Sacred Heart strikes more like Camberra, which is a terible, souless spread of nothing built by people with more money than taste.

The west of Ireland does not need a second large city. The National Spatial Strategy is the ideal solution if the present government and CIE were not trying to destroy it.

Personally, I’m suspicious of any proposal for the west that can’t spell Co “Roscomon”. But I was greatly amused at the semi-literate authors’ fondness for Unecessary Capital Letters and throwing around dodge-y syntax like Snuff at a Wake.

That proposed city is Bonkers.
Anything like that with religious overtones smacks of religious fundamentalism and bigotry. Enough of such out-dated dross.
At least if it had been proposed 400 years ago and had we been a wealthy state, we would have today a city like Rome no doubt.
But this is the secular age today.

“All religious orders will be invited to be part of the design stage (as will others) so that monasteries, such as Benedictines, Cistercians, and Carmelites would be an essential part of this New City, and indeed help to form the new spirit of this city.”

They say all relious orders, but do they actually only mean Christian orders? Thats what it looks like to me. Sounds a bit fundamentalist to me.

.. a bit! I love these types of articles….. they make me so proud to be from the Land of Saints and Scholars.

And Dana for Mayor I say

You know, if someone had proposed such a plan only 40 or 50 years ago they would have had a real chance of finding people and money to back them.

If a bishop supported this scheme it would have gotten priority. The wrong people were in control then but now we know better.

I don’t live in Ireland but I can see images of gaudy Marian shrines in housing estates, blue and white and yellow Vatican flags,DeValera
kneeling before a bishop, eucharistic congresses, Mary queen of Ireland etc.etc……

Didn’t we not leave that kind of thing behind us years ago ???

Do you think it is a good idea to email them a link to this thread?

Let them see what people think.

This seems to have well and truly died?

please God 😀

Perhaps the Western Rail Corridor will be just what the doctor ordered to get this imaginative scheme back up and running?

The WRC should happen as designed by James Nix in 2003 as a link between Cork and Galway via Shannon airport and Limerick. The idea of the ‘clockfaced timetable’ as based on the Swiss model detailed in Chaos at the Crossroads would connect Galway with Waterford, Limerick & Cork with one small re-opening from Athenry to Ennis and cost roughly €55m.

Tuam is to get a dual carriageway on a direct route which will be faster than a diverted rail service via Athenry; if rail is to be selected it has to be viable which the WRC north of Athenry clearly is not.

Like this proposal it is well intentioned but the numbers do not stack up.

@Thomond Park wrote:

Like this proposal it is well intentioned but the numbers do not stack up.

That’s pretty much what I was getting at, TP. Should have made it clearer that my tongue was firmly in my cheek. Sorry. But I thought ‘this imaginative scheme’ might have given a clue.;)