Dublin Institute of Technology | Community Links Programme: LIFELINE

LIFELINE

Lecturers: Varied

Community Partner: Kaethe Burt O’Dea (desireland & founder of LIFELINE)

The LIFELINE, is a community lead demonstration project exploring the potential for transitional and use in Dublin Ireland.

Context and transparency form the core of sustainable development. For this reason the Lifeline research is site based, focusing on a disused industrial heritage site (the Broadstone railway cutting) as a living laboratory to stimulate public awareness and catalyst for the development of a strategic network of green infrastructure in the central north-west area of the city. The project engages in collaborative action inquiry to explore new models of inner-city living, preventative healthcare strategies, urban agriculture, zero waste strategies, enhanced levels of biodiversity and eco-literacy. As a study of transitional strategies the LIFELINE is process driven and has 3 key objectives:

1. Expand civil capacity through collaborative community based action research that explores local context, culture and heritage and the proactive use EU environmental policy.

2. Develop citizen lead demonstration projects, practical, relevant, and of immediate value to Dublin and other European cities.

3. Establish a foundation to support interdisciplinary healthcare design and community based participative research focused on behavioural economics, public health and the impact of environmental design on quality of life.

Since 2009 the Programme for Students Learning With Communities has been supporting DIT staff and students interested in particpating in LIFELINE research (see examples below).

For 2010-11 academic year projects that can contribute to a layered and broad social, economic, environmental and health ‘mapping’ of the railway and surrounding neighbourhoods are particularly welcome. So this could mean contributing to a healthcare provision study, heritage studies, geographical mapping, property economics, nutrition issues such as access to fresh food, studies of public places, study of the built environment and community cohesion, behavioral economics ect. So whether you are a staff member interested in getting your students involved in LIFELINE or if you are a student looking for a final year/postgraduate project please do get in touch and we can discuss any ideas you might have.

Examples of students' contribtions to LIFELINE:

MSc Sustainable Development (lecturer Ken Boyle)

The students have a brief to maximise the biodiversity of the study area - the Royal Canal and Old Broadstone Line - while developing recreation and transport potential. The study area is the canal, the towpath and old agricultural lands from Drumcondra east to Ashtown. The lands along the rail line from Broadstone to the Royal canal are part of the study area also.

One group of students will identify current biodiversity values of the study area and suggest ways to maintain or increase biodiversity. A second group are looking at transport functions of the study area and a third the recreation/amenity potential of the area. A key issue in the current study is to identify access to the area and obstacles to access for surrounding communities.

Students of this course in 2009 participating in a similar study invited local community members to a presentation and walk along the Royal Canal, animating a community management plan which was drawn up on the basis of their findings. The intention of the 2009 plan was to capitalise on a unique urban green asset, without recourse to large scale government and local government funding. The emphasis was on rehabilitation and revitalisation projects which would be community relevant and community led so that what is now an under used asset with antisocial behaviour issues, would be managed for better community ownership and usage.

See the results in poster format he

Also in 2009 Robert Moss, a student of the MSc Sustainable Development course, focused his MSc Dissertation on community gardening within Dublin. The full title is: The opportunities and constraints on community gardening, as a catalyst for urban quality of life, in Dublin. A copy of the abstract for his dissertation can be accessed here and the dissertation itself here.

BSc Spatial Planning and Environmental Management (lecturer David O’Connor)

As part of the module on Data Collection and Analysis, 2^nd year students must undertake one of three elective survey assignments. Elective A requires that during weeks 4 and 5 a group of 10-15 students must carry out an ethnographic survey. Using a mixture of questionnaire survey and observational data, students measure usage levels, behavioural patterns and user opinions about the public domain in a selected area.

For the purposes of the project in question, students can select 2-4 key public spaces within the vicinity and design / execute appropriate surveys. A briefing on the project will help them contextualise the study and target the types of data being sought. Results from the survey should be available post the Easter break which can then be made available to other groups, e.g. the Sustainable Development students who are examining biodiversity / access / amenity aspects of the study area.

For results of projects from 2010 please click on the following links:

BSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Science (lecturer Barry Foley, Claire McDonnell)

Two 3rd (final) year students each year will conduct a long-term study of soil quality on the Grangegorman site as their final year project. This study proposes to examine a number of soil quality indicators and typical soil contaminants over an extended period of time on the arable portion of the Grangegorman site, and/or other relevant areas such as community gardens. The study will commence in February 2010 by determining baseline (current) levels of all the above on surface and depth profiles from selected areas on the site. It will then continue on an annual basis throughout the development phase of the site and beyond. The accumulated data from the study will track the impact on soil quality over the course of the development and indicate, on completion of the development, if any remedial actions are required.

The quality indicators to be evaluated will be: available nitrogen; available phosphorus; pH; available trace metals e.g. iron, copper, manganese, zinc; potassium and sodium. Typical contaminants to be investigated will be: heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic); Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) – products of fossil fuel combustion; fuel hydrocarbons – from spillage or dumping.

MSc in Spatial Planning (lecturer Paraic Fallon)

The MSc Spatial Planning programme is a 2.5 year part-time masters programme aimed at experienced professionals wishing to reskill into the planning profession. Over the course of the programme the students, from multi-disciplinary backgrounds, will undertake a number of practical real-life planning projects. One of these is a Local Area Plan, where the students are presented with a challenging environment, usually in the Dublin City area, for which they must come up with an integrated spatial plan. In 2010 the Masters students will produce a local area plan for Broadstone. As part of this they have been asked to consider synergy and connections between Broadstone and the Lifeline project. The project should provide an holistic framework for the development of the area. This in turn should help to place the Lifeline in a valid spatial context, socially, economically and environmentally.

B Arch in Architecture (lecturers include Jim Roche, Noel Brady, Paul Kelly)

In 2010, 50 4^th year students created a 3-dimensional model of the railway cutting, each creating a section of the line, all of which links together like a puzzle to create the whole line. Each student then designed plans for their section of the line.

Examples of architecture students work:

PhD in School of Social Science and Law (supervisors Nóirín Hayes and Brian O’Neill)

Jackie Bourke, PhD student, is investigating how children perceive their independent spatial mobility in an urban context. This study seeks to shed some light on how children living in a contemporary, recently regenerated urban area perceive their independent spatial mobility in order to make recommendations on how future urban development might more effectively meet the needs of children.

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On May 12th LIFELINE was introduced to the larger community through a series of talks at the Lighthouse and an exhibition in Space 54, in Smithfield.

The intention was to stimulate future community engagement and share the research that had been done by the DIT students in 2009–10 to support the project. The event was very well attended with representation from the local community, local government, and DIT staff and students. Speakers included Kaethe Burt-O’Dea, desireland & founder of LIFELINE, Dr. ing. Hein Van Bohemen from Delft Institute of Technology as well as several past and present DIT students from various disciplines - Aileen Opelt, BSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jackie Bourke, PhD in Social Science and Media, Seamus Hanrahan, MSc in Sustainable Development, Gavin Kenny, MSc in Sustainable Development and Robert Moss, MSc in Sustainable Development

Below are some photos of the Introducing the LifeLine event (12 May '10)