Church, state, and the building of Ireland's south coast cities: Cork and Waterford, c. 1935-1965

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This project will analyse how state and religious groups interacted in the planning and governing of Cork and Waterford in the mid-20th century. It will propose a theoretically rich understanding of Ireland's distinctive engagement with urban modernity and Ireland's central importance in the analysis of religion in modern European urban history. In focusing on town planning schemes, the project will shed new light on how international trends - garden cities, slum clearances, road schemes - found roots in Ireland. Both cities in turn were transformed with new suburbs, churches, and schools - including in the case of Cork the most intense period of church building since Emancipation. The project begins with the 1940s town planning schemes, where planners proposed substantial - unexecuted - demolition in both cities. It ends with the major housing schemes and new churches of the mid-1960s.Both cities are currently undergoing rapid urban expansion and are earmarked in the recent government report, 'Project Ireland 2040', for population growths of 60% over the next 20 years. Yet this document is remarkably light on historical reflections. This project will address this gap in our knowledge. It will proceed with three separate themes. First, it will explore mid-twentieth century town planning. Second, it will investigate the urban governance of both cities, focusing in particular on the actions of city managers, elected councillors, and engineers. It will study their decision-making processes in the building of new housing estates and their interactions with Catholic leaders in the provision of new churches and schools. Third, it will consider the perspective of these leading religious figures - bishops, priests, orders - by a study of their published literature, negotiations with city officials, fund-raising, and land purchases.The five research questions will be:a. How were provincial Irish cities imagined by town planners in the mid-twentieth century?The extensive town plans for Cork and Waterford will be examined, alongside correspondence from secular and religious leaders. This will include recently catalogued Department of Local Government papers for Cork, the rich material in the Cork and Waterford local archives, and Catholic diocesan papers.b. What was the relationship between state and religious power in the governing of these cities?The balance of urban power between sacred and secular groups was never uncontested or unidirectional, and this will be explored through an analysis of archival correspondence. It will explore the church's perspective on town planning in publications such as The Furrow, Muintir na Tire, Christus Rex, and newspapers. It will question who was writing about cities, what ideas they had, and how they saw the Irish urban future.c. How were decisions made about the building of new housing estates, churches and schools?We will use council and diocesan archives to explore the process by which new housing estates, churches and schools were planned and built. We will research material in the archives of the Presentation Sisters order, who built schools in both cities, and will use oral interviews with residents, former planners and city officials.d. How can Irish urban history explain Ireland's distinctive engagement with modernity?e. How can religion be (re)integrated into the history of modern European town planning?We will situate the Irish urban experience of the mid-20th century within European scholarship, with a particular focus on religion in the city. We will also argue the importance of studying Irish cities in seeking to understand the complexity of religious history within modern European urban history.In collaboration with the Waterford Museum of Treasures we will create a public exhibition and workshop on Waterford's urban development. We will also host a workshop as part of the Cork City Council 'Cork Conversations' series of public events.