The Case of Dublin
The functional urban area (FUA) of the Case Study in Dublin.
Dublin is the capital city of Ireland and is a bustling transport hub, with Dublin Port, Dublin Airport and a network of motorways moving goods and people in, out and round the country, mostly in carbon-intensive ways. It is the centre of Ireland’s economy, (in)famous for acting as a low-tax EU base for multinational corporations, and is growing steadily as Ireland continues to urbanise. Many of the city’s sustainability challenges stem from its position on the coast and its status as the nation’s capital. Dublin is threatened by rising sea levels and coastal storms caused and exacerbated by climate change. The city also threatens the sea – sustainability challenges include managing sewage and other pollutants in the rivers and streams that drain into the bay, as well as preventing plastic waste from getting into the marine ecosystem. Dublin thus faces multiple social and environmental sustainability challenges as the city continues to grow both physically and economically, all whilst attempting to meet climate and biodiversity goals.
Nature-based Solutions (NBS) have become a popular approach to tackling some of these challenges. For example, in the two most recent iterations of Climate Action Plans (2019–2024, 2025–2029), all four Dublin councils have included NBS, and NBS are being planned and constructed/planted across the Dublin FUA. Nature-based solutions also feature in the climate strategies of the relevant national and supranational governments (Ireland and the EU). NBS across the city often focus on improving urban biodiversity and human knowledge about and emotional connection with nature, rather than sequestering carbon—this is, perhaps, in response to the growing awareness (among environmentalists, at least) that carbon offsetting is no substitution for emissions reduction. In addition, many NBS in Dublin have evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, often times bringing people closer to their local natural spaces and spurring them to take action. The pandemic created a set of circumstances in which people were more open to nature-based solutions – more aware of nature in their local area, and valuing its presence more. Many of Dublin’s NBS initiatives operate with a unique religious, spiritual or emotional connection to nature. Rather than being strictly utilitarian interventions to solve predefined problems, these nature projects, perhaps spurred on by the pandemic, often promote the meaning and joy people find in their connections with nature.
I grew up on a small farm in the southeast of Ireland, and I always loved nature. I found it a source of life, really. And the birds and the bees and the butterflies and the flowers and the trees just gave me energy.
Three examples of nature-based solutions in Dublin
Pocket Forests emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to a lack of green space in local neighbourhoods, especially in poorer, inner-city areas. The NBS is a mini-forest planting initiative that began in central Dublin. The founders of the initiative planted their first Pocket Forest in their own back gardens before going on to plant their now longest-established tiny forest at Mercy Secondary School in Inchicore. This was in the winter of 2020/21, and since then, Pocket Forests have planted over 100 tiny forests, spreading out from the south inner city of Dublin to the north side and then to towns and villages across the country. The NBS has expanded its reach to more rural areas as partnerships developed with the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) Green Clubs Programme to plant tiny forests around the edges of their pitches. Pocket Forests is based at the Digital Hub in Dublin, a state-supported start-up incubator with a campus in the Liberties, a historically working class inner-city neighbourhood which has been undergoing gentrification for the past 20 years.
The Airfield Estate is a visitor attraction with an organic farm, market garden, nature walks, café and stately home in Dundrum, south Dublin. Its mission is to turn Dublin into a ‘sustainable food city’, and it hosts school and university groups as well as environmental events. The Airfield Estate NBS is a registered charity with a focus on education and sustainable food. Since 2014, the estate has increased its educational offerings and its focus on sustainable food systems. Today, the NBS operates across a 38-acre organic farm (in process of full certification) with cows (dairy and beef), sheep, pigs, chickens and donkeys, a market garden (certified organic), a community garden, fruit cages and greenhouses. Its sustainability focus is a fairly recent development – the food gardens started organic certification in 2016, and the rest of the estate stopped using any form of pesticides in 2018/19. As with many NBS projects, Airfield likes to present “win-win” solutions, where doing what’s best for nature is also what’s best for humans, and vice-versa. Here, food is the central concern and is used to bridge the gap between nature and culture. The initiative promotes a pastoral vision of nature-as-farm/farm-as-nature, but with a recent injection of NBS and wilderness-positive influences. The ultimate aim is to connect people with nature and the land, and, through initiatives like the community garden, enable them to tend their own patches of nature/culture.
North Bull Island is a barrier island that stretches across the northern half of Dublin Bay, from Clontarf to Sutton. Responsibility for the island rests largely with Dublin City Council, specifically its Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services Department, which manages the nature reserve. Bull Island is young, first appearing on official maps around 1800 as a small dry area slowly emerging from the North Bull sandbank. From a small area of dry sand 200 years ago, it has developed into a vibrant mixed environment of beach, sand dunes, salt marsh and mudflats. It is a richly biodiverse environment, supporting 180 different bird species and 300 plants, including several rare and protected species. While not formally recognized as an NBS, the island is nonetheless functioning and talked about as a nature-based solution. This is because the island fulfils many of the same functions that define NBS initiatives. It protects the coast from storm surges, and provides a place to exercise and escape from the city, providing benefits for human physical and mental health. While Bull Island may not be considered an NBS in the strictest sense of the term, it is understood as one by the people who manage it. This makes Bull Island an interesting case to help understand how the term and concept of ‘nature-based solution’ may reconfigure how and why a natural area is valued and managed.
Figure 1: Citizen science projects at Airfield Estate. Photo source: Holly Marriott Webb.
Figure 2: Visitor Access Management Plan for Bull Island, Dublin City Council, 2023-
Figure 3: Pocket Forest community sign. Photo Source: Holly Marriott Webb