RE-IMAGINING KILLARNEY

At the centre of MOLA’s 15 year integrated Urban Master Plan for Killarney Town is the concept of ‘re-imagination’. Encompassing four Action Area Plans, it re-establishes the town core as pivotal to the experience of Killarney. Our strategy for the town recognises that Killarney is one of the modern world’s oldest tourist destinations and a town that is positioned in one of Ireland’s most precious landscapes. It is Victorian Killarney, immortalised through travel memoirs and romantic poetry which established the most idealistic vision of the town.

A key objective for Killarney is to attain the dual goals of implementing an ambitious programme for tourism while diversifying its economic base. Central to this is the enhancement of the town for residents and visitors alike, capitalising on its built heritage of such key buildings as the Pugin Cathedral and 19th century mass concrete housing and its natural heritage of the National Park. Separated from its landscape by the walled demesne, a key strategy for Killarney is to reunite the built with the natural environment. The Killarney Urban Master Plan enhances the interface between the town and nature to provide a more legible defined and dramatic transition.

A co-ordinated colour scheme and signage policy for Killarney town centre was developed, this will guide and assimilate new and existing development into the town. The colour strategy examined the three main scales from ‘town’ to ‘street’ to ‘building’ as part of the development of a holistic approach to the town’s unique characteristics.

The Killarney Urban Master Plan was awarded Certificates of Merit in the categories of Planning Achievement and Urban Design at the Irish Planning Institute National Planning Awards, 2005.