As most of you may not be aware, my background is in urban and regional development, I have also worked in heritage related posts and in rural development. I am a qualified planner and did some teaching too. I am also a farmers wife, may I add. So today I would like to introduce to you, The Urban Nexus Initiative. This initiative was initiated by two of my  friends whom I met when we pursued a Masters Degree in University College Dublin. While we have gone our own ways career wise since, we are still in contact and enjoy meeting up every so often.

For those of you who are not from Ireland or are not aware of the Initiative, it is a design and research based programme developed in 2010. It's main aim is to explore cities using alternative techniques and methods in order to inspire creativity and originality in the city design. It is all about more holistic approaches to how the urban realm is designed in the modern day city.

In order to put this into practice, they have developed the XXI Century Liffey Project (The Liffey being the main river which flows through Dublin City). This is an urban design project to re-vision and re-imagine the Liffey Quays for the XXI Century. It is basically about the River Liffey and its quays- an iconic space in Dublin City, but a space that seems to have been left behind. Through the project they aim to re-imagine the role the quays play in the XXI Century Dublin by considering design as the vital element in the creation of dynamic and interconnected spaces. They have began to stimulate discussions and debates through various methods including a number of exhibitions, lunch time talks and seminars prior to any proposed plans for the area. Ultimately they hope to initiate new ways of thinking which can be applied to the wider urban areas of Dublin and other cities alike.

{All images from Urban Nexus Initiative}

It's Saturday- Welcome to the Weekend :) I didn't get up to much creative crafty things today :( Last night I went through some of my University course work from years gone by. Here are some of my sketches from university which I like and enjoyed doing, yes you may have gathered I'm a nerd! I love study, study and more study! The nearest University to me is over 70 mile away  though so when I was in University I had to live away for a number of years, I attended two universities and also completed a distance learning diploma course from another of our universities. In Ireland we have around seven universities. I have considered doing a PhD only I really don't want to move away again and work in the city, I'm a country girl at heart and home is where the heart is! I'm hoping to stay all my life in a rural area as I don't like all the rushing around, the traffic, alarms, crowds etc.. I know some people love life in the city, all the shops, the cultures, the hustle and bustle but it ain't for me. I like small rural village life. I love to wake up in the morning and hear nothing only bird song, look out the window and see nice green fields, hedges and the lake. Go for a walk in the peaceful countryside.Oh yeah sorry back to some of my college work/notes...

This wee sketch was part of a Space Place and Quality of Life assignment.

It involved selecting an individual human being and identifying the space occupied by that individual in a typical week of their life. The individual componenents of this space had to be analysed as well as the interactions between the space and the life. It then had to presented on a presentation board. I decided to base my assignment on a close friend who is confined to her home as she is limited in terms of her mobility. This is a wee sketch of her tiny living room which she keeps so pretty with all her personal items.

 

This is a view out of her window from her living space

As she lives at the end of a T junction she has a clear view out her window to the village square with market house as shown in the sketch above, sorry the photograph is abit sideways.

Another view of the market square

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 Last night was a cold one , the fog fell over the hills in the distance and it was very frosty out so I made sure I wrapped up warm, had lots of supplies in for the weekend and drank lots of tea at the warm fire :) The weather is very cold here in Ireland again today, it started to snow this morning and now the water mains pipe is frozen and all the people along our lane have no water! :( Hopefully it will be sorted soon. Here is a photograph of yesterday evening.