Ballymun (Irish: Baile Munna) is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green-field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was state-of-the-art at the time, comprising high-rise tower blocks and flat complexes, residents were moved in years before shops, schools and other infrastructure were fully ready, and the area became well known for both a strong community spirit and considerable social challenges. Ballymun has several sub-districts such as Sillogue, Coultry, Shangan and Poppintree, and is close to both the Republic of Ireland’s only IKEA store and to Dublin Airport. The area is the source of one Dublin river, and parts lie in the floodplain of another, and there are a number of parks.

In 1997, a regeneration plan was announced, which led to demolition of the flats over time and their replacement by new low-rise housing, along with some civic amenities, a number of arts projects, including the participative tree-planting project amaptocare, and an unfinished civic plaza, but also saw the loss of many of the area’s shops, including the demolition of the only shopping centre. The regeneration, originally budgeted at €442 million, had cost at least €1 billion as of 2016, for the public elements. A metro stop on a city-to-airport line was planned but the plans were later shelved.[2]