Kilkenny John Street & John’s Quay
Integrated Urban Strategy
KILKENNY, IRELAND
Pre-planning and planning 2024
CLIENT:
Kilkenny Count Council
TYPOLOGY:
Integrated Urban Strategy and Design
SIZE:
c.4.4 HA
DENSITY:
NA – mix use urban regeneration
Connected Public Realm
The strategy unlocks direct, accessible pathways between John Street, John’s Quay and County Hall, linking them to the riverside park, Butler Gallery and Carnegie Library. A connected sequence of upgraded streets, lanes and plazas—including a potential boardwalk and jetty—forms a coherent public realm network that supports walking, cycling and social life.
Mix-use approach
The strategy consolidates a mix of civic, cultural, and community functions across strategic sites, particularly the former Carnegie Library, County Hall and 75–76 John Street, creating a daytime and evening destination. These uses are interwoven with existing retail and residential fabric, supporting a 10-minute neighbourhood and reinforcing John Street’s evolving role beyond hospitality and night-time economy.
Urban Design Concept
This strategy focuses on Kilkenny’s riverside potential to be a better connected, inclusive and culturally rich urban quarter—honouring heritage, enhancing the public realm and activating civic assets. Developed as an integrated strategy with multilevel governance, it aligns with EU ERDF funding requirements, the Irish THRIVE programme or the New European Bauhaus embedding sustainability, community participation and adaptive reuse at the heart of Kilkenny’s urban core.
Honouring John’s Quay and Street through climate-resilient placemaking, vibrant public realm, and local culture
This strategy sets out a vision for Kilkenny’s eastern riverside as a better connected and more vibrant urban quarter which integrates the rich cultural assets of the Butler Gallery and the Carnegie Library. As a part of this exercise MCORM prepared a Part 8 application to repurpose the Library as the Kilkenny Local Studies Hub. The Urban Design Strategy envisages key projects to enhance the public realm through climate-responsive and pedestrian-first design, including John Street and John’s Quay, and unlocking the potential of publicly owned buildings to support community life, local identity and a liveable, 10-minute neighbourhood for all.
