THERE'S a lot of criticism that planning in Ireland has no real vision of the future, and in many instances that is regrettably the case. But as an architect for Belmayne on the Malahide Road, however, I think we are starting to see change.

Most people think of individual buildings when they think of architects, but the trend now is to design new communities. We're becoming urban designers, but this isn't a new discipline . . .

Westport, is a "ne example of a well-planned town. Urban design is really a forgotten art. It's something that got lost when we started building suburban estates which are essentially designed for the car. The cost of this luxury has been the sprawl and all the related problems. There's now a realisation that that's not the way to go.

Ireland is one of the worst offenders in the EU in terms of urban sprawl and Dublin is one of the most spread-out cities in the EU.

We've only started to wake up to the concept of compact living since 1999. Now, to bring it to the next level, we need to increase our skill base and encourage schools of architecture to learn more.

Instead of building more commuter towns further and further out, we're starting to plan more compact communities with higher density housing closer to the city centres and, most importantly, we're including transport infrastructure as a prerequisite.

For example, Belmayne, in the northern fringe, is between "ve to eight miles from the city. This is much closer than is traditional for commuter towns like Naas or Gorey, which are 20 and 40 miles away. It's also on an existing railway line, the Dublin-Belfast route with a stop at Baldoyle. As a result, all the developments are created around a regular bus service to the train station. This means everybody is within walking distance of public transport. It sounds simple, but getting away from our reliance on the car is a challenge.

When it's completed, Belmayne will be a new town with about 7,000 dwellings. Some people might consider this too big, but these are the kind of numbers needed to sustain new communities. It's another aspect of the new thinking required for good urban design.

For example, you need around 1,000-1,500 dwellings to sustain a corner shop and this is why many suburban estates with low densities often don't have the necessary facilities.

We all know the low-density/low-rise suburbs had to change, but there is a lot of misperception about what high-density means. It doesn't necessarily mean high rise, it can also mean increased occupancy rates in existing low-density suburbs. We have large numbers living in accommodation that is too big for their needs, the so-called empty nesters. Stamp duty is one of the biggest dissuaders for empty nesters to move on from under occupancy.

Adamstown is another good example of urban design. It was based on a proper Local Area Plan. This means that before building started all the elements necessary for sustainable community living were included. Unfortunately there are still thousands of housing developments being built around the country without master plans.

As a result, there are many people who are left living in the wilderness. So as well as more education, we also really need more local authorities to think on a much larger scale in terms of planning.