Academics at a conference on sustainable urban living have said today that the new plans for College Green in Dublin are "old-fashioned" and need more "nature."

Dublin City Council's plans for College Green were heavily criticised by planners and scholars at an EU-supported conference, and contributors said that redeveloping the city with hard concrete and stone surfaces was "old-fashioned thinking."

The council plans include making the area in front on Trinity College a pedestrian plaza, will will stretch down all the way to the House of Parliament.

This means that no mode of transport, including buses and taxis, will be allowed to cross the area.

According to the Irish Times, Dr Collier, who attended the conference said the "grey" space was "old-fashioned thinking which dates from the 1970s when we thought modern cities would be all concrete and steel”. 

When Dr. Collier was asked if he was calling for a “greener” design, he said, “we are demanding it."

We love the irony of all this… College green.