Limerick: A Smart City
For this project we were asked to consider the following question and to then design a solution: ‘How might we enable an Irish city to become a smart city in order to grow, operate, meet population demands and enhance climate resilience over the coming decades?’
We focused on Limerick as our Irish city and the themes we chose were Smart Living, Smart Environment, Smart Mobility, and Smart People.
Through out this project we used tools such as stakeholder mapping, power-interest matrix, interviews, immersion exercises, empathy maps, POVs and personas to gather information about our users and to develop our solution based on their experiences.
The Green Heart of Limerick
We created a multifunctional ‘smart’ space. This space be a disused building in the heart of Limerick city, with access to the River Shannon, that is currently in the ownership of the University of Limerick.
The ground floor will comprise of a food production centre utilising aeroponics and the latest in urban farming technology to create a highly localised food supply for Limerick City and County
The upper floor will house an education centre which educates children and adults on urban farming, vertical gardening and other aspects of the circular economy and cafe which offers a 'two-mile menu'.
The rooftop space will house a public green space for connection, place-making and leisure activities.
In a vision for future development, the adjacent rooftop spaces will also be converted into public green spaces, and will be connected by elevated greenways for pedestrian travel around the city.