Imagining 2050 Athlone

Brief of community-led visions for low carbon and climate-resilient futures

Athlone town is situated in County Westmeath, Ireland. It was built around the banks of the river Shannon and is a hub of activity in the Irish midlands

Steps and tools involved

  • 1 Online Community Survey (257 participants)
  • 2 Weekend Long Workshops (20 participants) carried between June and November 2019
  • Participants included local residents, representatives of local community organisations and citizens with an interest in the region.
  • Process involved deliberative communication and decision-making
  • Use of several interactive visualisation tools such as visioning and sense making, empathy mapping and community mapping
  • Final recommendations through a Ballot process

    Toward a collective vision of change

    'Getting the basics right'

    Preferences and beliefs regarding future life in Athlone in the face of climate change focused largely on wellbeing.

    With few futuristic or technology centered visions of Athlone, the focus was on getting the basics right in terms of housing and health.

    The uncertainty and unpredictability associated with climate change stressed the need to maintain and invest on social infrastructure and enhance community bonds.

    Online survey results voting on top three areas of action to tackle for a sustainable future in Athlone.

    Making sense of climate change

    A key theme framing local understanding of climate change is a shared sense of uncertainity around social and environmental factors. This uncertainty also makes it difficult to plan for the future.

    Associations between climate change and flooding are dominant . These include concerns over recurring extreme flood events, the need to adapt the urban environment to the growing risk of floods and a problematic legacy derived from building on flood plains.

    A community map toward sustainability in Athlone

    Three key areas of focus toward a low carbon, climate resilient future are transport and mobility (linked to wellbeing), housing and renewable energy.

    Visions of change for Athlone focus on actions to 'fix communities' rather than 'fixing the climate'. Sustainability/unsustainability was seen to be deeply connected to community empowerment and wellbeing, housing and mobility options. Engaging communities in climate action is essential but should be promoted through regular meetings, that are inclusive and diverse. Social clubs, the local PPN and other existing local groups are seen to have potential to faciliate greater engagement with local climate action issues.

    Transport is highlighted a key area to promote sustainability in Athlone. Actions include the roll out of transport programmes such as supporting the provision of a rural bus scheme to ensure access to health services, shops, etc. Adequate service levels is key to improving trust in public service transport. Alternative mobility options include expanding cycling infrastructure and making it 'family friendly', building more walkways and cycle lanes in the town and expanding the greenway.

    Air quality in Athlone is highlighted as an issue and seen to be aggravated by high volumes of traffic and congestion. To counter this a Park & Ride system in both ends of the town is required, as is the need to tackle commuter patterns associated with lack of housing.

    Siting of new developments is seen as critical issue. A problematic legacy of flooding related to building on flood plains is an ongoing concern. While housing is a key issue for people, there is little support for the development of high rise buildings.

    Long term solutions with a view to 2050 include:

    • Investment in renewable energy following inclusive community process in siting and developing projects;
    • Reconsidering settlement patterns and one-off housing type builds;
    • Changing farming practices through knowledge sharing and development of supportive peer-to-peer networks;
    • Providing greater incentives for forestry in a manner that includes farmers;
    • Exploring re-establishment of older practices toward more sustainable lifesyles such as shopping local and reclaiming the market square;
    • Development of an actionable flood management plan with clear steps and milestones.

    Current assets and current issues in Athlone

    Identifying assets and issues in the community

    Key assets identified in Athlone

    • Greenway Corridor;
    • Athlone IT;
    • Motorway Interchange.

    Key Issues Identified in Athlone

    • Flooding;
    • Traffic Congestion;
    • Environmental Degradation;
    • Industrial Pollution
    • Inadequate walking/cycling infrastructure

    Looking Beyond ourselves

    'Empathy mapping' was used to identify how different citizens would be affected by climate change. We also aimed to identify climate impacts specific to each citizen. This included their hopes, fears, priorities, interests and behaviours.

    Citizens of the future in Athlone

    Impacts of climate chage for the future older citizen in Athlone

    The Older Person

    Some of the distinguishing challenges for the older citizen in the future include poor health, isolation and diminished financial capacity. These issues were all seen to be exarcebated by the impacts of climate change and were identified as concerns in terms of access to healthy food, warm and energy efficient housing, mantaining connections in the community and mobility.

    Impacts of climate chage for the future farmer citizen in Athlone

    The farmer

    The “Farmer Citizen’ was portrayed as struggling to cope with harsher weather conditions, unfavourable supply chain dynamics and stricter environmental regulations. Growing isolation and lack of mobility choices was a key issue for the future farmer, reflecting a growing divide in rural areas around mobility and transport services and family income.

    Impacts of climate chage for the future younger citizen in Athlone

    The younger person

    The young citizen was portrayed as being more motivated and active in mobilizing for climate change strategies. Interactions include strikes and social unrest. Uncertainty and undefined life paths due to climate disruption are perceived as a main challenge and ongoing issues with housing are expected to impact young people, more than other cohorts into the future. Mental health is identified as a concern for this age group.

    Five key Recommendations

    1. Public Transport and Research & Innovation should be key priorities toward decarbonisation of the energy system and to build resilience. 70% of participants propose a focus on public transport initative would be the most impacful strategy in the short-term;
    2. 70% of participants align with an increased overall renewable energy supply from current 10% to 70% by 2030 in accordance with current energy targets (inclu. electricty, transport, heat). However 50% of these participants think that more modest increases are more realist for a number of political and economic reasons;
    3. Priority areas to target in terms of increased regulation by the government include Public Transport, Food Packaging and Private transport;
    4. Community ownership and subsidized rates are identified as preferred options to minimise local impact of renewable energy generation;
    5. Future funding of flood alleviation, recovery and prevention should come from innovative shared cost arrangements.

    Who are we

    Imagining2050 is a research project led by University College Cork and Queens University Belfast

    Main objective

    To explore collaborative processes of engagement, with a focus on inclusive visions and pathways for climate resilience and environmental sustainability

    Thank you for viewing our brief of Imagining2050 Athlone.

    For further information please visit our website

    https://www.ucc.ie / en/imagining2050/

    Online survey results voting on top three areas of action to tackle for a sustainable future in Athlone.

    Three key areas of focus toward a low carbon, climate resilient future are transport and mobility (linked to wellbeing), housing and renewable energy.

    Identifying assets and issues in the community

    Impacts of climate chage for the future older citizen in Athlone

    Impacts of climate chage for the future farmer citizen in Athlone

    Impacts of climate chage for the future younger citizen in Athlone