Peter McVerry Trust

Action research case study that involved collaboration between researchers and subjects through participant observation and experimentation, facilitating direct engagement with problem solving coupled with in-field recording and assessment. The online civic engagement platform, facilitated by the demonstration phase of the TURAS project, was tested and monitored through a ‘learning-by-doing’ and ‘safe-to-fail’ experiment.

The outputs are as follows:

• A web-based interactive mapping platform with associated active social media channels.
• Walking tours as part of Open House Dublin (2015, 2016, 2017).
• A cycling tour.

The outcomes are as follows:

• Reusing Dublin engaged thousands of people with the issue of vacant and underused spaces through the process of mapping and gathered together a database of over 1000 vacant and underused spaces.
• The project was adopted by Peter McVerry Trust in December 2016, who now use it to raise awareness of vacant homes, crowd-source data, and identify potential projects for bringing projects back into use.
• The Reusing Dublin team won a ThinkTech award from Social Innovation Fund Ireland and set up a social enterprise, Space Engagers. Space Engagers has won a place on the Dublin Climate KIC Start-up Accelerator. Space
• Engagers currently employs 4 people. They have developed an interactive mapping system that includes a smartphone app, web app and moderator’s dashboard.
• Interactive mapping projects are being tested for urban regeneration projects in country towns.
• The Space Engagers team is involved in running the civic engagement aspects of research projects in UCD. Space Engagers is now an integral member of a group, led by the National Housing Agency, seeking to bring all datasets on vacant and/or underused spaces together into a central repository.
• Space Engagers launched a revised version of Reusing Dublin in December 2017 for Peter McVerry Trust.

• Economic Policy & Public Service;
• Societal Engagement;
• Health & Wellbeing;
• Professional services;
• Environmental;
• New knowledge;
• Human Capacity.