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As rural Ireland undergoes deep-reaching changes, this book critically assesses what the author terms the "renegotiation of rural development" in Ireland through the repackaging, reproduction and representation of suggestions, ideas and alternatives for rural renewal. Deconstructing the process and practice of rural development in Ireland, John McDonagh explores the new approaches to development and the so-called desire for creating integrative policy and planning approaches. The main conduits for this investigation are those of partnership and community groups and their involvement in rural development issues. Further, through investigation of the relevant concepts and theories of rural change, the volume delves into the discourses of rurality and development and utilizes the diversity of approaches and understanding of, this increasingly complex issue. ... Read more

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Accession to the EU in May 2004 was a historic milestone for the spatial and urban development of the new member states. Meanwhile, the social and economic transition during the pre-accession phase already brought about radical changes in national urban systems and new challenges for regional development. In this edited volume, a carefully selected and specially commissioned set of articles, written by experts from both the new and the old EU member states, presents a comprehensive assessment of emerging political and planning solutions at local, regional, national and EU levels. Topics include brownfield redevelopment in the Czech Republic, urban sprawl in Hungary, the upgrading and integration of marginalized Roma settlements in Eastern Slovakia and sustainable coastal management in Cyprus. ... Read more

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Evaluation is a critical stage in urban and regional planning and development. The full impacts of well-intentioned initiatives are rarely anticipated, and evaluation of alternative proposals is essential for informed debate and decision. Evaluation in planning has become even more important with the new paradigm attempting to integrate economic efficiency with equity, sustainability and social responsibility. The craft of pre-development evaluation has long been influenced by Nathaniel Lichfield, and in his honour, this book brings together prominent researchers and practitioners to discuss evaluation in planning: its conceptual foundations and subsequent development, its strengths and persisting dilemmas, its best practices and their potential for improving future planning and development. These chapters trace evaluation in planning from its historical origin to current applications. Part one reviews the evolution of evaluation theory and practice, and part two contains a selection of best-practice application. The final integrating chapter notes key current problems, and offers directions for future development in evaluation research and practice. ... Read more

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This volume provides an overview of Northern European planning. It examines the key issues as well as the evolution, traditions, current innovations and future developments in the field of planning. Focusing on how planning impacts upon social issues such as employment, social exclusion and quality of life, this work also examines innovations in planning policy and practice, particularly the challenge of sustainability. The contributors analyze the built environment's relationship with culture, and take a critical look at the creative rethinking currently taking place in Nordic planning. ... Read more

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An analysis of regional planning and development in Europe. It represents the output of a meeting of the European Union and Regional Research Network held at Frankfurt-am-Oder in 1997. Many of the papers have been reworked and extended to incorporate a wider span of material. ... Read more

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Habitus is a concept developed by the French philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu, as a "sense of one's place...a sense of the other's place". It relates to our perceptions of space and place and how these perceptions affect our actions, not only in shaping the form of environments, but also simply in our experience and interaction with places. Habitus implies that a web of complex processes inseparably links the physical, the social and the mental. Inspired by this concept, this text examines the ways in which spaces and places are constructed, read and used by different people. It is divided into sections guided by the following three questions: How does the notion of habitus help us to understand international and national political structures and activities? Does habitus help explain processes of place-making in relation to practices of the built environment? How durable is habitus - might it undergo transformation in changing circumstances? ... Read more

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This book introduces the methodology of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to the study of participatory planning. CDA uses linguistic analysis to elucidate social issues and processes and is particularly suited to institutional practices and how they are changing in response to changing social conditions. Illustrated by two case studies from Australia, it examines the talk between the various participants in a formal stakeholder committee context over five years, during which time they went through several phases of changing power dynamics, conflict and reconciliation. The book demonstrates the value of CDA to this field of research and develops specific techniques and conceptual tools for applying the methodology to the 'formal talk' context of collaborative planning committees. It also sheds light on the dynamics of interaction between 'stakeholders' and bureaucracies - particularly with respect to inherent communicative barriers, power inequalities, and the development of new discursive practices. ... Read more

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This book focuses on the measurement and utilisation of quantitative indicators in the urban and regional planning fields. There has been a resurgence of academic and policy interest in using indicators to inform planning, partly in response to the current government's information intensive approach to decision-making. The content of the book falls into three broad sections: indicators usage and policy-making; methodological and conception issues; and case studies of policy indicators. ... Read more

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The book addresses key features of processes of Europeanization, such as adaptation and change in domestic institutions and their variation across policy sectors, pointing to the need to combine institutional analysis with theoretical perspectives - such as multi-level governance and regulation theories - that contribute to understanding the emergence of new forms of institutional innovation and the changing dimensions of territoriality involved. ... Read more

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The concept of the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor is to link together several towns and cities by various modes of communication in an attempt to create a poly-centric mega-city region in Ireland on a scale large enough to compete with the major urban clusters of continental Europe. While each town would develop its unique economy and cultural attributes, they would function in a manner complementary to those of the others, so that the whole system has a synergy. This concept has frequently been discussed generally, but has never before been the subject of a focused study. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary team of leading scholars and practitioners to discuss the twin topics of the Dublin-Belfast corridor and the associated challenges of cross-border development from economic, geographic, regional studies, sociological and planning perspectives. With a foreword by Sir Peter Hall, the book is divided into three main sections. The first provides context, reviewing current plans and policies.The second part presents analysis and discussion of various sectoral topics, such as transportation, cross-border trade, land management, urban design, planning and institutional development. The final section outlines visions for the future, sketching out possible end-results of a corridor development in a relatively concrete way. ... Read more

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Using the economic approach of "social choice theory", this book examines difficulties found in democratic processes involved in the creation and implementation of planning policies. Special attention is given to communicative planning and the logical reasons why all the desirable properties of dialogue cannot be simultaneously attained. ... Read more

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Regional development agencies across Europe are in pursuite of sustainable economic development: an aspiration which is proving particularly difficult for economic development professionals to realize. The dilemma, however, is not new, as successive generations of policymakers and practitioners have found themselves wrestling with the fundamental challenge of how best to "facilitate" the developmental aspects of their respective regional economies. After some delay in comparison with mainland European, Scottish and Welsh experience, the English regions are finally in process of setting in place new regional development agencies (RDAs) of which much is expected. This book takes a practical look at the strategic, organizational and resource challenges faced by these new English RDAs at the beginning of 2000. This examination of the emerging agendas around the RDAs looks at one region - the West Midlands - in more detail, in order to illustrate some of the key issues which are being faced in relation to business change and transition. ... Read more

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This work on Roman archaeology in Britain is based upon material laid out at a conference. Among the topics addressed are the sexing of small finds, social and cultural analysis of finds in rural burial sites, a study of small towns, an assessment of symbols of power, and gender-related finds. ... Read more