page_title: History of Dublin
section_title: Regeneration of Dublin
hierarchical_section_title: History of Dublin / Independence / Regeneration of Dublin
caption_attribution_description: English: large image of Spire of Dublin - my image. no c/r
context_page_description: The City of Dublin can trace its origin back more than 1,000 years, and for much of this time it has been Ireland's principal city and the cultural, educational and industrial centre of the island.
context_section_description: Since the 1980s, there has been a greater awareness among Dublin's planners of the need to preserve Dublin's architectural heritage. Preservation orders have been put on most of Dublin's Georgian neighbourhoods. The new awareness was also reflected in the development of Temple Bar, the last surviving part of Dublin that contained its original medieval street plan. In the 1970s, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), the state transport company, bought up many of the buildings in this area, with a view to building a large modern central bus station on the site with a shopping centre attached. However, most of the buildings had been rented by artists, producing a sudden and unexpected appearance of a 'cultural quarter' that earned comparisons with Paris's Left Bank. The vibrancy of the Temple Bar area led to demands for its preservation. By the late 1980s, the bus station plans were abandoned and a master plan was put in place to maintain Temple Bar's position as Dublin's cultural heartland, with large-scale government support. That process has been a mixed success. While the medieval street plan has survived, rents have rocketed, forcing the artists elsewhere. They have been replaced by restaurants and bars which draw thousands of tourists but which has been criticised for over commercialisation and excessive alcohol consumption. Also, in the late 1980s the Grafton and Henry street areas were pedestrianised.
  However, the real transformation of Dublin has occurred since the late 1990s, when the so-called 'Celtic Tiger' economic boom took effect. The city, previously full of derelict sites, has seen a building boom – especially the construction of new office blocks and apartments. The most visually spectacular of these developments is the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC)- a financial district almost a kilometre long situated along the North quays. While the former tramways had been torn up in the 1950s in favour of buses, the new Luas tram service started in 2004. Though slow to develop, Dublin Airport had become the 16th busiest international airport by 2007.
caption: The Spire of Dublin, the world's tallest street sculpture
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