In October 2020, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) commissioned Maynooth University, in partnership with the International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD), the Innovation Value Institute (IVI) and LERO to develop a scoping paper on building resilient and sustainable cities on the island of Ireland. The resulting report, Building Long Term Resilient […]

The International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD) were appointed to undertake a socio-economic and geo-spatial analysis of Buncrana, the second-largest town in County Donegal.  The study, commissioned by Donegal County Council, considers the growth potential of Buncrana as gateway to the Inishowen Peninsula and a key town within the North West City Region.  […]

The pending exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union has far-reaching consequences for the political geography of the island of Ireland. In the period since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA), the island of Ireland has emerged as a coherent functional space with extensive effort gone into the development of shared cross-border spaces […]

Abstract The notion of ‘functional geographies’ has gained momentum across academic and policy communities in recent decades. In an EU context, the elevation of territoriality and functionality in policy-making has drawn attention to ‘spatial context and distribution’ (Faludi and Peyrony, 2011) and ‘place-based’ approaches (Nosek, 2017) for nurturing a more just distribution of opportunities in […]

This paper reviews the concept of functional territories and their application in drafting  flexible development strategies that are not bound by administrative boundaries; highlighting that such strategies can often better capture the importance of development processes, collaborative working and social networks in driving and/or supporting spatial patterns of local economic activities.  The potential application and benefits of functional territories to the forthcoming […]

Title: The Basel Metropolitan Area: Three Borders – One Metropolitan Area Publication Date: December 2010 Team: François Vigier, John Driscoll, Kendra Leith Funding: CroSPlaN, under INTERREG IVA and administered by the Special EU Programmes Body Summary: This study focuses on the Trinational Eurodistrict Basel (TEB), a region with strong cross-border functional linkages and a history […]

Title: Regional Planning in the Boston Metropolitan Area Publication Date: October 2010 Team: James Kostaras, François Vigier, John Driscoll Funding: CroSPlaN, under INTERREG IVA and administered by the Special EU Programmes Body Summary: With its focus on the greater Boston Area, this case study provides practitioners, policy makers and academics involved in cross-border and inter-jurisdictional […]

Title: Delineating Functional Territories Across The Island of Ireland: An Initial Scoping Publication Date: December 2010 Team: Justin Gleeson, Declan Curran, Brendan Bartley, Proinnsias Breathnach, Prof. Des McCafferty, Aine Rickard. Funding: HEA Summary:This report summarises the progress made by ICLRD research team on delineating functional territories in the Irish space economy during Phase I of […]