What Strong Villages Do — and What We Can Do Here
Five real examples of communities that improved local places — and what Coolock Village can learn from them.
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Five real examples of communities that improved local places — and what Coolock Village can learn from them.
Making Coolock Village a stronger village centre is practical work. Other communities have improved local places by organising, raising funds, and using the legal tools available to them.
These communities used tools such as Community Land Trusts, Shared Space street design, and Community Shares.
Here are five real examples of specific behaviors we can adopt in Coolock Village.
Poynton Town Centre (Cheshire, UK)
What they used: Shared space and less street clutter
Poynton’s main junction was a gridlock nightmare, with 26,000 cars a day choking the town. Instead of adding more barriers, the council removed traffic lights, railings, signs, and curbs.
What changed: They treated drivers like adults. By removing the “rules,” they forced drivers to engage socially with pedestrians. Average speeds dropped, accidents vanished, and local shop footfall increased.
Granby Four Streets (Liverpool)
What they used: Community Land Trust (CLT)
Residents of these Victorian terraces stopped waiting for a “master plan.” They formed a Community Land Trust to take legal ownership of derelict houses themselves. They partnered with architects Assemble to rebuild the street on their own terms.
What changed: They didn’t just renovate; they improvised. They crushed construction rubble to make tiles and garden furniture. They turned a roofless house into a public Winter Garden. Their work was so impactful it won the Turner Prize in 2015.
Bellfield (Edinburgh)
What they used: Community share offer
When the Old Parish Church in Portobello went up for sale, the community didn’t just sign a petition—they raised the cash. They launched a “Community Share Offer,” allowing locals to buy shares in the project.
What changed: Over 1,600 people invested, raising enough to buy the building debt-free. It is now Bellfield, a busy community centre run by the shareholders, ensuring it serves the actual needs of the village.
Govanhill Housing Association (Glasgow)
What they used: Strategic acquisition and repair
Govanhill faced a crisis of “slum landlords” and crumbling tenements. The local Housing Association took a militant approach: they started buying the bad landlords out under their South-West Govanhill Property Acquisition and Repair Programme.
What changed: They purchased and renovated over 370 flats, stopping the rot from the inside out. They focused on “placemending”—repairing the historic fabric rather than demolishing it.
Superkilen (Copenhagen)
What they used: Deep resident participation
When designing this park in Nørrebro, the architects didn’t pick the benches from a catalogue. They asked residents to nominate specific objects from their home cultures.
What changed: The park is now a collection of 108 objects from 62 countries: Moroccan fountains, Iraqi swings, Japanese octopus slides. It isn’t a “generic” park; it is a museum of the specific people who live there.
From Examples to Local Work
These are not abstract ideas. Cooperatives, approved housing bodies, community finance, and section 38 road trials all have Irish equivalents or nearby routes worth examining carefully.
The Coolock Village Forum is currently looking at the Bellfield model to see if it would work here.
Go deeper:
- Check out the Granby Four Streets story online—it’s worth your time.
- Come to the next Forum meeting. Details are on our Get Involved page.
Coolock Village Regeneration Project
Community Initiative
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