<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In the fifty years since the publication of the Buchanan report, <italic>Regional Studies in Ireland</italic>, Ireland has transitioned from a rural to an urban society. Although a number of spatial plans have been introduced at regional and local levels, the growth of over 1.5 million people in the urban population has occurred in the absence of any strong national-level direction of spatial or settlement policy. This paper examines the nature of urbanisation in the half-century since 1966, by looking at the development of the urban hierarchy of cities and towns. Significant long-term changes in both the structure and the spatial expression of the urban hierarchy are identified, on the basis of which urbanisation is characterised as having been deconcentrated and decentralised. The paper identifies some implications of the observed shifts for contemporary policy concerns, and in particular the 2018 <italic>National Planning Framework</italic>.</p></abstract>

In the fifty years since the publication of the Buchanan report, Regional Studies in Ireland, Ireland has transitioned from a rural to an urban society. Although a number of spatial plans have been introduced at regional and local levels, the growth of over 1.5 million people in the urban population has occurred in the absence of any strong national-level direction of spatial or settlement policy. This paper examines the nature of urbanisation in the half-century since 1966, by looking at the development of the urban hierarchy of cities and towns. Significant long-term changes in both the structure and the spatial expression of the urban hierarchy are identified, on the basis of which urbanisation is characterised as having been deconcentrated and decentralised. The paper identifies some implications of the observed shifts for contemporary policy concerns, and in particular the 2018 National Planning Framework.

Fifty years of urbanisation in Ireland: Structural and spatial evolution of the urban hierarchy since Buchanan

Department of Geography, Mary Immaculate College

Administration

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In the fifty years since the publication of the Buchanan report, Regional Studies in Ireland, Ireland has transitioned from a rural to an urban society....

Fifty years of urbanisation in Ireland: Structural and spatial evolution of the urban hierarchy since Buchanan

Published Online: Aug 08, 2019

Page range: 65 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2019-0021

Keywords
Urbanisation, urban hierarchy, spatial policy and planning, National Planning Framework

© 2019 Des McCafferty, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fifty years of urbanisation in Ireland: Structural and spatial evolution of the urban hierarchy since Buchanan

Published Online: Aug 08, 2019

Page range: 65 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2019-0021

KeywordsUrbanisation, urban hierarchy, spatial policy and planning, National Planning Framework

© 2019 Des McCafferty, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Urbanisation, urban hierarchy, spatial policy and planning, National Planning Framework