Putting people back at the centre of placemaking in Ireland

When our CEO Stephen O’Malley took to the stage at the Irish Landscape Institute Conference 2025, his message was clear, optimistic and human – great places don’t start with infrastructure, they start with people. 

A proud Dubliner, Stephen shared his perspectives on Ireland and why placemaking must be empathetic, emotionally intelligent and deeply attuned to how people actually live their lives.  

Stephen described cities as living systems, where urban vitality and circularity must work together rather than compete. 

“Too often, these ideas have been treated as separate ambitions. The real magic happens when they converge – a principle neatly captured in the idea of the 15-minute neighbourhood. Everything you need, close at hand. Simple in theory, transformative in practice and still far from business as usual.”

Reflecting on recent years, Stephen noted how the need for this kind of thinking has only intensified. The Covid pandemic, he argued, didn’t just change where we worked, it rewired our daily rhythms entirely.

“Days became more fragmented, journeys shorter, and neighbourhoods more important,” he explained. “In the UK, this shift helped spark vibrant local café cultures and a renewed buzz on the high street.”

Technology has reshaped how people engage with place too. 

“With the world now accessible from the kitchen table, more people can participate in society without constant travel. Add climate change into the mix and the case for people-friendly, climate-responsive places becomes impossible to ignore.”

 Bringing these ideas closer to home, Stephen highlighted Grow College Green, a project Civic is working on to transform a traffic-dominated junction into an inclusive, safe and vibrant pedestrian-friendly place connected with nature. 

“Our vision is to rebalance the space in favour of people, layering in character and culture all while respecting its historic fabric.”

With the project currently in public consultation, the conversation about College Green’s future is very much alive.

Stephen also looked across the Irish Sea, drawing lessons from Manchester, where Civic was founded. 

“Once home to just 600 city-centre residents, the city now supports a population of over 100,000. Neighbourhoods like the Ancoats, where the Cardroom Estate once stood derelict, disconnected and shaped by failed 1970s social housing, have been transformed through long-term system thinking, patience and belief in place. Today, they hum with life: cafés, bakeries, breweries and streets people actually want to spend time in.”

These transformations, Stephen reminded the audience, don’t happen overnight. They require strategic vision, system thinking and a commitment to people at every stage. 

The future of our towns and cities lies in designing with empathy, embracing change and remembering that places succeed not because of what we build, but because of how they make people feel.