Spatial planning concepts are increasingly prominent in discussions and strategies focusing on regional and rural development. This paper places Ireland’s National Spatial Strategy within an EU context through a brief review of the literature discussing and assessing the European Spatial...

This report outlines a statistical approach, based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA), to the identification of rural planning regions. Serbia, which is undergoing a period of reconstruction and development of institutional and human capacity, is used as a casestudy....

This discussion paper serves as a general overview of recent labour market trends in Ireland. Quarterly National Household Survey Data from Q2 2007, Q2 2008 and Q1 2009 is utilised. The structure of employment and unemployment is outlined at both a regional and sectoral level. Those most at risk...

This paper begins with an overview of contemporary trends in national employment and unemployment before providing a synopsis of the regional distribution of unemployment and how it has changed in recent years. Using Quarterly National household Survey data the analysis then focuses on a...

The inclusion of the above statement as one of the key objectives in the draft Constitution for Europe is indicative of the significance of spatial equity to the members of the European Union. Implicit within this statement is a concern for rural regions as illustrated at the Salzburg...

Ireland’s population grew substantially throughout the 1990s and achieved annual increases of 2% during the period 2002 – 2006 (CSO, 2006). Spatial analysis of population change during the 1926 – 2006 period indicates two alternating trends driven by rural – urban migration during...

This paper examines the distribution of Ireland’s population and how it has changed over the past decade. Using preliminary Census of Population results from 2006 the analysis focuses on assessing trends in urban and rural settlement patterns. Two approaches are adopted in defining rural areas...