Culture and Identity
Lucan is generally considered in two parts - old Lucan, and new Lucan, with old Lucan being more settled and considered to be a more upper-middle class region as opposed to new Lucan which is considered to be a lower-middle class / working class area. Old Lucan consists of the main town of Lucan, containing smaller roads and shops, the local CBS, national schools, St. Mary's Church and housing estates such as Esker Lawns, Lucan Heights and Beech Park resting in the Liffey Valley. New Lucan is considered to be the majority of the newer housing developments, built South of the main town, out of the valley, and stretching as far as Clondalkin.
Lucan has undergone enormous change since the early-1990s. It is road after road of identical houses occupied by the new aspiring middle classes, or "decklanders", as economist David McWilliams terms them. After the building of the M50 motorway and N4 interchange, and the staggering increase in house prices and jobs during the Celtic Tiger era of the 1990s, Lucan quickly became one of the more reasonably priced areas in the south Dublin area. Given its easy access to Dublin City and relatively modest house prices compared to older more established areas in closer proximity to Dublin City many thousands of homes were built in a matter of years. Building development is still ongoing on a large, albeit reduced scale today. Where once it was considered as a completely separate satellite town of Dublin, Lucan is now perceived as part of the Dublin urban area (although the M50 motorway ensures that the two do not physically merge with each other), and it is the first town one meets when leaving Dublin on the N4.
With the large population increases came jobs and high-profile retail developments, but traffic congestion has become a major problem. The N4 is considered one of the most congested roads in the city; particularly where it meets the M50, as traffic regularly stretches back for up to 5 kilometres at rush hour. Upgrade schemes are currently under construction for both the N4 and N4/M50 interchange to help remedy these problems.
Read more about this topic: Lucan, Dublin
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