A Little History of the Future of Dublin

We were proud to host an important new exhibition about Dublin’s past, present and future. Curated by Frank McDonald, the exhibition text is also published as a book by Martello. Ireland’s most respected commentator on the urban landscape, Frank McDonald is the man who Bob Geldof described as “a permanent thorn in the fat arse of municipal pretension”.

In the exhibition and the accompanying book, Frank explored visions of the future, from the work of the Duke of Ormonde to Abercrombie’s Dublin of the Future. 

Frank also spoke to some of the most prominent Dubliners today. Together they reflected on where we are going – and how we are going to get there. What is the future of Dublin? And how has the answer to the question changed in the last 400 years? 

Sponsored by Dublin Port, and produced with the help of Dublin Port Archive, A Little History of the Future of Dublin informed public debate about the future of the capital in the context of competing visions of the good life. Suddenly made more urgent by events such as Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, that conversation – and this project – could not be more timely. 

A Little History of the Future of Dublin closed on February 6, 2022. To get your signed copy of the book, click here.

“I don’t want this city randomly destroyed any more, and I’m prepared to stand up and fight for it.”

Frank McDonald