Kilkenny along with Dublin's O'Connell Street and Temple Bar were last night chosen as finalists for the 2007 Academy of Urbanism awards, in the best town, best street and best neighbourhood categories respectively.
Eyre Square in Galway and Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, which had both been nominated for the academy's great place award, failed to make the final shortlists, while Armagh and Belfast's Donegall Place/Royal Avenue also missed out.
The finalists, announced at a dinner in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, include Amsterdam, Barcelona and Berlin for the European City of the Year award. Kilkenny is now pitted against Winchester in England and St Andrew's in Scotland for the great town award, while Temple Bar is facing stiff competition from London's Soho and Graingertown, in Newcastle, for the great neighbourhood award.
O'Connell Street is head-to-head with Buchanan Street, in Glasgow, and Regent Street/Portland Place, in London, for the great street award. Finalists for the great place award are London's South Bank, Newcastle's Quayside and the Peace Gardens in Sheffield.
Earlier, a conference in Dublin Castle on the academy's theme of "Space, Place, Life" heard Henk van der Kamp, president of the Irish Planning Institute, call on whoever forms the next government to establish a department of urbanism.
"We're pouring a lot of concrete in this country and this is going to have a big impact on future generations, so we have to be very careful what we build," he said. "At the very least, there should be a high-level minister to deal with urbanism."
His call was endorsed by architect Seán O'Laoire, who said he was "profoundly ashamed about the lack of political vision in Ireland about where we're going". He feared we were "going to hell in a handcart" in failing to deal with spatial planning.
"Politicians talking about 'the economy', and you realise that we've borrowed the Thatcherite idea of there being no such thing as society.
"We need new ideas about the issues this country is facing in healthcare, childcare, long-distance commuting and fatigue." Mr O'Laoire complained that a substantial amount of urban development in Ireland was being driven by the "insidious gospel" being put forward by a "new priesthood of retail experts", and it was these "experts" who had the ear of property developers.
Dublin city manager John Tierney said planners would have to find new ways of communicating with people, especially in overcoming their fears about higher density housing.
One of his priorities was to make the inner city more attractive for family living.
• Frank McDonald is a founder member of the Academy of Urbanism
