What if Ireland's cities were planned with the same vision and coherence as Barcelona, Copenhagen, or Helsinki? Tony Reddy, Director of Reddy Architecture and Urbanism, reveals how our planning system has trapped us in a development model where uncertainty reigns supreme and city-building happens in fragmented, piecemeal fashion.

Drawing from over four decades of architectural experience across Dublin, New York, and London, Reddy takes us through the stark differences between European urban planning and Ireland's discretionary system. While Helsinki's planners are designing street infrastructure for neighborhoods that don't yet exist—planning crossroads for 2030—Ireland's planners are drowning in 1,200-page text documents that few people ever read completely. This systemic failure has turned development into a high-stakes gamble where projects typically take 2-3 years just to secure planning permission before construction can even begin.

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