Dublin's identity is defined by its pattern of streets and urban spaces, the River Liffey, the canals and the bay. This identity helps attract people to the city to live, work, shop and exchange ideas.

In recent years new quarters and clusters have emerged such as at Heuston and the Docklands, creating a more extensive inner city. New civic spaces such as O'Connell Street and Grand Canal Dock have enhanced the attractiveness of the City Centre. And new mixed-use neighbourhoods such as Pelletstown and the North Fringe have provided new homes and communities for Dubliners.

In the years ahead, our challenge is to manage change within the canals sensitively and creatively, to cultivate the inner suburbs and provide neighbourhoods with a choice of homes, and to extend the form and structure of the city to new developing areas.

Shaping the City is about retaining and building on Dublin's identity and developing new city neighbourhoods that connect the wider region back to the heart of the city.