Letterkenny is an ambition fuelled town in the northwest of Ireland. Its location, far from the country’s capital, has resulted in a strong entrepreneurial spirit and collective belief that now ‘it’s our time’. The largest town in County Donegal, Letterkenny has an appetite to become a city, to blaze its own path and to reinvent itself with authenticity and attitude.
Letterkenny 2040 is a process to develop a Regeneration Strategy for Letterkenny town centre, which builds on ambition and vision for the town to realise its full potential as a magnet that draws and keeps people here. The Strategy aims to guide development of the town centre, putting people at the very heart of regeneration and change. It prioritises design, place-making and climate action, challenging all involved to think critically and creatively to enable a transition to a more effective, resilient and fully functioning Regional Centre, where people will find their perfect mix of familiarity and possibility.
Letterkenny has been identified as highly vulnerable to climate change requiring a bold approach to both mitigation and adaption. A flagship proposal of the plan is a major new urban wetland located in the heart of the town. This will embed long term climate resilience into town centre infrastructure, by protecting surrounding built form and creating an enhanced wildlife habitat, while providing major new public space and stimulating development potential.
Alongside this, the strategy focused on the creation of a more resilient town centre, proposing changing key routes into boulevards and enhancing green infrastructure. Together with the identification of a new centrally located transport hub, the aim is to move away from a vehicle dominated town centre to a comfortable space for people to walk, cycle and spend time.
Letterkenny 2040 is an excellent example of progressive and innovative project commissioning with a multi-disciplinary team including place branding specialists and academia. The unique element and inclusion of a branding and communication strategy was developed alongside the Regeneration Strategy as a mechanism to engage and communicate with the community, raise awareness of the process, and create a positive and inspiring tone of voice for the town, its people and its ambitions.
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