Compact or Balanced: Evaluating Spatial Contradictions in Population and Housing Objectives Within Irish Planning Policy

Michael K. Hayes
Additional contact information
Michael K. Hayes: School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland

Urban Planning, 2026, vol. 11

Abstract: Following publication of the National Planning Framework, over the past decade, Irish urban design and planning policy has increasingly embraced the language and strategies of compact growth. This shift has occurred within the context of a much longer history of national spatial planning, in which the objective of “balanced” regional development has persisted despite changing ideas about the spatial form that balance should take. This article argues that the National Planning Framework represents a multi-scalar reorientation in Irish planning policy, promoting regional concentration with settlement-scale compaction, in contrast to previous strategies of decentralised sprawl. Yet little attention has been given to whether these objectives are mutually consistent, or to how they are shaping actual patterns of development. To address this gap, the article evaluates recent population and housing outcomes against stated policy targets and maps urban expansion across Ireland’s three regions. It asks what spatial forms are emerging, whether planning objectives are being met, and whether these outcomes align with Ireland’s compact growth ambitions.

Keywords: compact growth; regional development; spatial policy; urban expansion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/12086 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:urbpla:v11:y:2026:a:12086

DOI: 10.17645/up.12086

Access Statistics for this article

Urban Planning is currently edited by Fábio Vicente

More articles in Urban Planning from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().