The future of towns and their communities of small businesses are inextricably linked with digital, says Digital Dun Laoghaire project director Eoin Costello ahead of the Dargan Forum 2023.
The Dargan Forum 2023 is a free event taking place as part of Dlr Coastival from 9am to 1pm on Thursday 6 July in County Hall, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire.
The Forum is supported by Connected Hubs, Dlr County Council and Failte Ireland.
“To strengthen both local traditional and knowledge-led businesses the first step localities can take is to set themselves the goal of becoming a Digital First Community”
What is the Dargan Forum all about?
Our century will see major changes due to the digital and green transitions, changes that will have considerable socio-economic impacts on localities. Like the transition to electric power in the 20th century, places that organise themselves around the power of digital most enthusiastically stand to gain the most by increasing their capabilities, collaborating effectively and making the economic base of their locality sustainable in the long term.
The DARGAN Forum, an initiative of Digital Dun Laoghaire, will share the latest ideas and technologies that can help empower people and places to make the most of digital in all its forms. The Forum is based on the past 7 years of work by Digital Dun Laoghaire in our town on how to best leverage digital growth for all stakeholders in the town. This work has helped shape a framework that we call ‘Digital First Communities’, a model which has been endorsed by the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, Connected Hubs and Placemaking Europe. It has also received a .IE Digital Town Awards.
Without the support of Bank of Ireland, Dún Laoghaire, there would be no ‘Digital First Communities’ framework, the provision of a base for our hub by the Bank in the town since 2017 has been essential to our progress.
How can technology help our communities strengthen local commerce?
The future of towns and their communities of small businesses are inextricably linked. It is not so much what technology can do as how we can change the mindsets of a locality’s stakeholders to use technology to work collaboratively to make the most of what they’ve got. New ways of building resilience and adaptability in the face of rapid social and technological change need to be instilled at the grassroots level of each high street. The Dargan Forum will highlight the potential of the local Connected Hub to be the focal point for supporting that transition.
To strengthen both local traditional and knowledge-led businesses the first step localities can take is to set themselves the goal of becoming a Digital First Community, one that works collaboratively to attract investment, knowledge workers, home buyers, shoppers and visitors by constantly improving the three pillars underpinning a vibrant, sustainable locality, namely the physical environment, digital empowerment and smart solutions.
“We face a personal choice in this; on a beach strewn with drying out starfish do we take the time to bend down and throw one back into the sea?”
At the same time localities need to use digital tools and techniques to help retain the knowledge workers that are already there and the next generation, many of whom leave their town once they’ve completed their leaving cert.
The proven model we have developed in Dun Laoghaire will be made available nationally through the book ‘Digital First Communities, a step by step guide to growth and sustainability for localities in the 21st century’ which was created with support from the Western Development Commission’s Digital AEC Programme and will be officially launched at the Dargan Forum by our Honorary Patron, Minister of State Jennifer Carroll MacNeill T.D.
Is there a missed opportunity in terms of how we are utilising our local areas and especially our town centres?
Yes, there is. As technological change accelerates the scale of Ireland’s previous transition from an agricultural economy in the 70s and 80s now faces our country. The next generation faces the likelihood that the reassurance of jobs for life will no longer be available – mobility and increased competition for rolling short term contracts may lead to an existential crisis for our younger generation. Equally our older generation face a bewildering rate of change in their day to day lives. Can localities become the equivalent of the economic GAA, a community rallying point enabling people to support each other in multiple ways?
Retail is having a hard time at the moment and, for many reasons, may never return to the volume of retail businesses that thrived in our towns in the past. If retail ceases to be the largest occupier of town centres there may be an opportunity for multi-function hubs (a model we call Digital Growth Hubs) to become the focal point of the High Street as drivers of collaboration, meaning and belonging, potential filling the role that the local post office, bank and Carnegie Library provided to rural localities in the last century.
Why should people be motivated by what they can do themselves?
Digital has the potential to be a great leveller and lever for those that use it effectively. While we face many challenges in the years ahead, we all have access to the tools and collaboration that can enable us to make a difference at the individual and group level. In the online discourse on social media platforms about Dun Laoghaire there can be a lot of negativity, criticism of how things are. This negativity drains energy, creates conflict and leads to the inertia that many localities experience, vacant buildings, low footfall etc.
The Dargan Forum will focus on ‘doing what you can with what you’ve got’. Just as the electrification of rural Ireland was fundamentally empowering, rather than waiting for top down action or someone else to do something, we can use the new tools and technologies not just to change the narrative of our towns but to change mindsets on the ground to a belief that we can create a better future together.
We face a personal choice in this; on a beach strewn with drying out starfish do we take the time to bend down and throw one back into the sea?
