land

Emer O’Siochru – Proximity Principle in Rural Planning and Development; integrating energy, food, soil fertility, carbon mitigation and shelter.

Emer O'Siochru believes that the proximity principle has to be turned on its head if communities are to become sustainable. She argued that, instead of bringing similar activities closer together to reap the benefits of scale and agglomeration, different activities should be beside each other to be more energy- and carbon-efficient. She wants new, low-carbon food, energy and shelter production systems to be integrated locally to transform and invigorate rural communities.

Converging Crises, Policy Responses – Feasta seminar series

Converging Crises, Policy Responses – Feasta Seminar Series

Date and Time: 12 noon, 1 Friday followed by 4 Thursdays in June and July 2008
Venue: Irish Architectural Archive building, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin 2
This series of seminars was aimed primarily at policymakers, however Feasta members were most welcome too.

The five seminars are as follows:

The Future’s Not What it Used to Be, Friday 13th June
David Korowicz


Many of our civilisation’s key resources have become more tightly coupled and are under increasing strain. We look at the systemic interactions of energy, greenhouse gasses, food, and the macroeconomy; …

Submission on sustainable residential developments in urban areas

Feasta recently made a submission to the Irish Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government on their guidelines for Sustainable Residential Developments in Urban Areas.

In general, we welcome these Guidelines and Urban Design Manual as they comprise a good outline of current best practice, an improvement on the current situation. But we fear that the Guidelines are too late; they address an economic reality that is rapidly changing; they largely ignore pressures in rural areas and they are not ambitious enough to properly address the energy, climate and social challenges currently facing Ireland.

Download the submission…

Submission to the Irish Commission on Taxation

This submission covers a range of topics related to taxation. It includes an outline of the reasoning behind Feasta’s advocacy of a shift from taxes on work to taxes on rent (such as a land value tax) and the need for a quota system to control carbon emissions.

This submission can be downloaded as a PDF Version.…

Beating the Bust: Free Public Lecture and Discussion – Dave Wetzel

Property prices have fallen by 6% and tax receipts are down €600 million in the first quarter. Panic is beginning to take hold. Expectations of soft landings are fading as developers slash selling prices and buyers hold off till things settle. Architects-the canaries of the building industry-are being handed their P45s as developers close up shop, bank their land and migrate to London to build the Olympics. The banks meanwhile are frightened to lend to each other as their security and assets are revalued in an atmosphere of suspicion and uncertainty. All these factors are leading to a credit squeeze and recession. Whether this recession will be short, a simple overdue correction of an overheated property market, or whether it deepens into a serious economic depression, depends on how the government reacts.