The Irish Times

When French transport executives came to Ireland some years ago to discuss the proposed Luas, they were surprised at the consultation process here, remembers architect Alan Mee. "They'd say: 'Okay, first we go and meet the planning officer in one building. Then we go over to the other side of the city and meet the guy who runs the big fat trains. "Then we go to the office where we meet the guys who run the wee trains. Then we've got to go and meet the roads authority because they control bits of the road, although not other bits. Then we've got to go to meet the Minister of Transport.' "They asked, 'how can we possibly be expected, in the three days we are spending in Dublin per week, to get through all these people who all think they're running the thing?'," says Mee, who is the director of the Urban Design Masters programme at University College Dublin. Mee, who runs an architect's practice, is passionate about urban design or, as he prefers "spatial organisation", and his mission is to gather people together to improve the situation in Ireland.