Attractive residential areas are a fundamental part of any successful city. 'Providing quality homes in a compact city' means creating neighbourhoods with a range of housing types - apartments, bungalows, larger houses, etc. - so people can stay in the same area as their lives and circumstances change.

Neighbourhoods with a mix of apartments and houses have another key benefit: they're environmentally sustainable. Unlike large estates of one-size-fits-all houses they use space and energy efficiently, with much less waste.

In the last City Development Plan, new policies and standards were created to ensure better apartment complexes were built. With this Plan, the Council is looking to improve the wider communities in which people live.

Between 2005 and 2008, 26,796 housing units were created in the city. Demand for housing was met in developing areas such as Pelletstown and the North Fringe. In Fatima Mansions, a range of high quality social, affordable and private dwellings replaced the local authority housing complex. In Ballymun, a combination of social, educational and economic initiatives led to substantial progress in regenerating and building a sustainable community.

In the years ahead, Dublin must be able to provide attractive and affordable housing to all who want to live in the city.

That means creating high quality spacious housing units with good levels of green space, daylight and sunlight. It means creating adaptable and flexible units that provide for changing needs over time, including the needs of families with children. And it means monitoring developments to ensure that well-designed communal areas and social infrastructure like schools and transport facilities are built early in the construction process, rather than afterwards.

'Providing quality homes in a compact city' includes a socially-inclusive Housing Strategy that details the zoned land in the city and addresses these issues.