Galway 2023: Making plans now to build the city of the future for everyone

“We have a unique culture, a unique way of looking at the world, a unique way of doing things that isn’t necessarily the most obvious,” said Gary McMahon, head of Economic Development, Tourism & Culture for Galway City Council.

The core of every city is its people, and Galway, Ireland’s third-largest city, has a sizeable impact on the country’s culture, education and business.

The city has a substantial enterprise footprint with FDI investment, domestic business growth, a medtech cluster and four of the top five ICT companies globally based there.

Not to mention a well-educated base, with 55 per cent of the city’s population having third-level education and over 40,000 students in the city. There is a thriving innovation and enterprise development ecosystem in Galway.

Success brings challenges, and none of these is more apparent than in population growth. Galway has a current population of 83,456, projected to rise to 120,000 by 2040. With that increase, the work is cut out for the city council in dealing with a population with diverse needs, ranging from families to university students to tourists from Ireland and abroad.

“Our city’s population will grow by 50 per cent over the next 20 years, making Galway a city of scale and a key driver of growth for the west of Ireland,” said Caitriona Morgan, economic development officer.

“This journey has begun and Galway City Council is developing a range of policies and projects that will prepare the city for this future, building on what has made it such an attractive place to work, study, visit and live.”

“Galway city relishes this opportunity. Through continued collaborative relationships with various stakeholders in the city, strategic partners and the private sector, we’re looking to develop the city and get it ready for that.”

Meeting these requirements will involve creating 16,500 residential units, an additional 18,500 jobs, providing an additional 7,000 third-level student places and creating the capacity to handle an extra 2.7 million visitors per year.

Not to mention providing 150,000 square metres of commercial office space and increasing commercial retail space.

To help achieve this, the council has earmarked over €4 billion of capital investment to support these ambitions, which include investment in infrastructure for public transport, health, housing, education and commercial.

“We’re a very close city, with those engagements and partnerships we build up over time,” said Morgan. “None of these projects are done in isolation, and then as a result of that, they’re of the widest benefit.”

At the end of October alone, a significant number of festivals and events were in full flow, covering arts and culture, education, and tourism.

These included Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, which took place over ten days, the Macnas Halloween Parade 2023 which has returned for the first time in four years, and the Galway Comedy Festival, closed out the month.

“[For the Galway Comedy Festival] one-third of its audience will be from Galway city,” said McMahon.

“Another 20 per cent are from the hinterland of Galway, and then 50 per cent are from outside of Galway. We support the festival not as an arts and culture event but as a tourism event. It’s all integrated, and it’s not just about adding to the gaiety of the city.”

“For the Baboró festival, there’s also an educational element to it and it’s about how strongly we’re engaging with our kids.”

Morgan added that no matter what areas these festival events and initiatives fall into, they always exist in collaboration. The reality is that all of the city’s happenings are intertwined and not just for one stakeholder or authority. They’re for the whole city and region to benefit from.

As with all cities, there are challenges, some universal and others unique. The biggest is that the growing demand for housing and transport capacity.

The city council has many initiatives and ambitious plans under way in the city covering all the major areas like residential, commercial, enterprise, tourism and community, to regenerate parts of the city, prepare it for future situations or bring further life.

One such initiative is the Sandy Quarter. In partnership with the Land Development Agency (LDA), the plan is to transform land surrounding Galway’s Sandy Road into a new urban quarter to include 650-750 new homes at a medium-scale density, a new urban park 12,490 square metres in size, a mixed-used neighbourhood, a focus on biodiversity, and areas for commercial, enterprise and community activity.

Others include Bonham Quay, located on an industrial site overlooking Galway Docks and costing €104 million – a zero-carbon mixed-used project of office, retail and restaurant space and student accommodation creating a working community of 2,600; and Crown Square, which involves a €200 million office, hotel and housing development, bringing together mixed-use projects in one place.

Similarly, Irish Rail has plans to expand Ceannt Station from two platforms to five. That, combined with other improvements in places like Oranmore station, will better serve the city.

As McMahon mentions, the important part is that these projects are already under way. Contractors have started working on them, and all will have a significant impact on the area. “This isn’t medium to long-term projects, it’s now,” he said. “More work will begin in the next couple of months.”

One prominent factor is sustainability and becoming a net zero city. This isn’t just supported in the new projects developed but adjusting to greener alternatives like the use of electric vehicles and greater accessibility through public transport, cycle lanes and more.

There is significant investment in play, with the intention being to further improve Galway city as a destination for living, working, and playing.

“Between ourselves and other institutional partners, urban regeneration development funds, and private sectors, over €4 billion of development is planned over the next ten years in Galway city.

“These aren’t binary choices; it’s not develop or don’t develop,” said McMahon. “It’s about making choices and then sustainable decisions. It’s ‘can we do this and later change that?’, and those decisions are more complicated and integrated.”

With so many projects under way, it’s easy to forget that all these decisions come back to the people; each inhabitant makes the city what it is and gives it personality.

Probably the initiative that best represents this ethos is the city council’s ‘Galway City – Your Council’ podcast series, sharing insights on the range of services, projects and people working on these.

“This series introduces some of the people delivering these services, the valuable work they do everyday, and the difference that they make,” said Morgan.

With economic growth and the characteristics that define Galway city set to continue, the people, the place, the excellent quality of life make it magnetic to visit and hard to leave.