Screening of ‘The Pipe’ in UCC Wed 19th Oct

We are kicking off a series of Documentary nights in UCC with a screening of The Pipe, a great independent documentary feature film dealing with the Corrib gas controversy and the “Shell to sea” campaign.  This film still remains highly topical as Judicial Review has just begun on planning decisions reached by An Bord Pleanála for the latest pipeline route through a protected area and consents for the pipeline issued by Ministers for the Environment, with An Taisce and two local Mayo residents mounting separate legal challenges.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1011/1224305578129.html

http://www.antaisce.ie/corribjr/CorribJudicialReview.aspx

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/15-years-on-and-still-theres-no-gas-ashore-2611209.html

All are welcome to this viewing on Wednesday 19th of October in WW6
in the West Wing on Main Campus UCC with a start time of 19:30hrs

Iam Lumley and James Nix

The Planning Society is hosting two guest speakers at an evening discussion on Thursday, 27 January. Speakers on the night include Ian Lumley, Heritage Officer at An Taisce and James Nix, co-author of Chaos at the Crossroads and policy advocate with the Irish Environmental Network. “Autopsy of the Celtic Tiger” with Ian Lumley undertakes a postmortem on the 15 years to 2008, reflecting on where we are now. “Chaos at the Crossroads: Where from here?” with James Nix offers some pointers for better planning in coming years. Both speakers are well known in the planning sphere in Ireland and this event offers a unique opportunity to hear their perspective on what went wrong and what we now need to do.

As Heritage Officer at An Taisce, Mr. Lumley has been involved in some of the most high profile planning cases in Ireland and is well known for his views on one-off houses in the countryside, rural and urban development and the protection of historic structures. James Nix is probably best known as the co-author of “Chaos at the Crossroads” with Frank McDonald. Now a policy advocate at the Irish Environmental Network, he has published numerous articles and contributed to many debates on planning policy in Ireland–both from a legal standpoint (as a qualified barrister) and in terms of sustainable transport initiative (see www.planbetter.ie)–and was a guest on RTÉ’s Frontline in November 2010 (see programme here). Indeed some of his articles appear on reading lists in a number of MPlan modules, both in first year and second year.

All are welcome to attend and the guest speakers are looking forward to a robust question and answers session to round off the evening.

The event will take place in G05 at UCC Brookfield Complex on College Road, Thursday, 27 January, starting at 7.30pm sharp and admission is free.

Seminar on the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act, 2010

The guest speaker on the day will be John Martin – the Principal Planning Advisor at the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Prior to joining the Department, John had served as Deputy City Planner with Dublin City Council, Senior Planner with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Co. Council, and as Senior Planning inspector with An Bord Pleanála.

Planning students will appreciate the significant changes that this Act has introduced into the planning process and this seminar will provide information and guidance on the implementation of the Act, as well as offering students the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the implications of the Act with the Principal Planning Advisor at the DoEHLG.

The format of the seminar is currently being finalised, but will involve presentations on the different aspects of the Act, followed by group discussions and a Q&A session.

The event will take place at the Br. Ignatius Connolly Complex, Western Road, UCC on Friday, 28 November. The exact time and room is to be determined shortly. Members are advised to RSVP for the event as spaces will be limited. E-mail the Planning Society at planning@uccsocieties.ie if interested.

David Counsell Book Launch

David Counsell book launch: “The New Spatial Planning: Territorial management with soft spaces and fuzzy boundaries”.

The lecture coincides with the publication of a new book of the same title (Routledge, 2010) by Graham Haughton, Phil Allmendinger, David Counsell and Geoff Vigar. The book includes original research on a number of case studies into spatial planning, regeneration and territorial politics from different parts of Ireland (north and south) and Britain.

One chapter looks in particular at the story of sub-regional planning in the Cork area in particular at the experience of CASP (Cork Area Strategic Plan 2001-2020) and its predecessors LUTS I and II. It should be of interest to people engaged in regional, urban and sub-regional planning, geography, public policy, economic development, regional studies, governance, social science, land use planning, sustainable development and other related subject areas.

David Counsell, a chartered town planner and researcher in spatial planning, sustainable development and environmental planning has held a wide variety of planning practice and research positions throughout his career – the latest as lecturer at Ireland’s newest planning school: the UCC Programme in Planning and Sustainable Development.

When: 10 February 2010 @ 5pm

Venue: UCC Brookfield G01 Lecture Hall

Cost: Free

Frank McDonald Talk

“The Legacy of the Boom” will be an illustrated lecture by Frank McDonald, Environmental Editor for the Irish Times newspaper.

When: 7 February 2010 @ 7pm to 8.30pm

Venue: UCC Brookfield G04 Lecture Hall

Cost: Free

The Power of Community and Kinsale Transition Town

The Society will be showing a short film titled ‘The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil’ followed by a brief discussion of the film by Klaus Harvey co-ordinator of Kinsale Transition Town. Klaus will explain how Kinsale is making the transition from a dependency on fossil fuel to a low carbon future.

When: 12 December 2009 @ 6pm

Venue: UCC Brookfield G04 Lecture Hall

Cost: Free