University College Dublin

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• University College Dublin
• From rural politics to politics of the rural
  civil society and the contested countryside
• Dr Mark Scott
• School of Geography, Planning and Environmental
  Policy
• University College Dublin
• Mark.Scott_at_ucd.ie

2

• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Introduction
• Context
• Increasing difficulty in addressing the issue of
  housing development in the Irish countryside
• High profile and polarised debate
• Marked by increasing civil society activism
• Significant pro-housing movement positive and
  well organised support for rural housing
• Contested views of rurality underpins this
  activity

3

• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Presentation outline
• Key trends in Rural Europe
• Rural sustainable development conflicts
• TSRP Project Civil society, environmental
  management and contested rurality
• Case study rural housing in Ireland
• Research findings (to date)
• Conclusions

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Key trends in Rural Europe
• Fundamental changes have taken place in Europes
  rural economy and society (Marsden, 1999)
• The decline in agricultural employment
• The emergence of environmentalism as a powerful
  ethic and political force
• Emergence of new uses for rural space
• Increased personal mobility commuting,
  migration, tourism
• The emergence of new winners and losers from
  change processes social exclusion
• Shift from productivist to post-productivist era
• The consumption countryside

5

• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Rural Sustainable Development
• Within the context of new demands for rural
  space, Rural Sustainable Development is a highly
  contested and divisive concept
• The emergence of competing sustainabilities
• Conflicting discourse coalitions have emerged
  grouped around selective storylines
• Policy dependent on specific social
  constructions, underpinned by latent social
  conflicts

6

• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Case study rural housing
• Increasing difficulty experienced in addressing
  the issue of housing development in the Irish
  countryside
• Vexed relationship between planning policy and
  many rural communities
• High profile debate polarised between
  conservation and community interests
• Rural settlement changes
• Traditional dispersed rural settlement patterns
• Contemporary pace of change 1996-1999 1 in 3 new
  houses in RoI were built in the open countryside

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The most contentious issue facing Irish planners
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(No Transcript)
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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• TSRP Research Project
• Civil society, environmental management and
  contested rurality
• Seeks to explore the nature of the increasing
  level of activism and civic engagement
  surrounding rural housing
• To provide an overview of the rural housing
  movement
• Activity and development, politicisation, level
  of networking, legitimacy, accountability
• To undertake in-depth case studies of activity
  and engagement in rural areas
• Representativeness, local networking,
  trust/antagonism with the local state

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Research approach
• Research based on interpretive and discursive
  approaches
• Policy decisions constitute a setting where
  different groups compete to establish a
  particular version of reality in order to
  pursue objectives (Jacobs, 1999 Rydin, 2004)
• The cultural turn in rural studies (e.g. Cloke,
  1997 Cloke and Jones, 2001)
• Volunteerism and social capital (e.g. Rothstein,
  2000 Putnam, 2000)
• Social movements (e.g. Woods, 1998 2003)

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Mapping the stakeholders
• Rural housing movement
• Irish Rural Dwellers Association
• Irish Rural Link
• Rural Resettlement Ireland
• Irish Farmers Association and other farmers
  organisations
• The environmental movement
• An Taisce
• Friends of the Irish Environment
• Feasta
• The local state
• Local authorities management, elected
  representatives, officials
• The central state
• Dept. of Environment, Heritage and Local
  Government
• Dept. of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• 1. Balancing environmental, social and economic
  aspects of sustainable development
• Pro-development interests emphasise community and
  cultural sustainability
• Single houses are an inherent part of the Irish
  landscape and traditional means of housing rural
  Ireland for at least 5000 years. Continuing this
  tradition is part of heritage
• Contrasting approaches to defining rural housing
  need

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• 2. Perceptions of rural and urban environments
• Conflicting constructions of rurality

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• 3. Planning policy
• All stakeholders claim current planning policies
  are destroying the countryside but by different
  means!
• Lack of consistency in dealing with applications
  for planning permission
• Planners criticised
• Authoritarian, sanctimonious, holier than
  thou
• Role of Lord and Master
• Adopting UK approaches

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Commentary
• Resistance to interference with private property
  rights
• Local and external actors
• Up-scaling of rural housing conflicts
• Increased importance of national/regional nodal
  scales
• Strategies lobbying, local and national
  oppositon to planning policies, building
  alliances, PR, forging political support, active
  participation
• Rural housing movement a radically different
  construction of rurality from the local state
• From rural politics to politics of the rural

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• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Next steps
• In depth case studies
• Local organisation, strategies and tactics,
  representativeness
• Reflecting diversity of rural Ireland, local case
  studies will be undertaken in various types of
  rural Ireland, e.g.
• Remote and declining rural areas
• Rural areas under strong urban pressure
• Level of engagement and support/opposition for
  rural housing will vary depending on
  community/development context

17

• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Local case studies initial findings
• Planning policy and local state
• Central theme landscape quality
• Constant threat from inappropriate pressures
• Linked to the tourism economy
• Shallow assessment of rurality
• Local development perspective on landscape
• Landscape protection aimed at tourists, not
  locals
• Living and working countryside
• Conflict over new demands for rural space
  (residential versus recreation uses)
• Local development - Central narrative of the
  rural
• Depopulation and out-migration

18

• University College Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Dublin
• Final thoughts
• Rural housing movement has responded effectively
  to new nodal scales in policy formulation
• Multi-scalar approach
• Sustainable development has become a flag of
  convenience competing storylines
• Conflicts underpinned by contested perspectives
  of rurality
• Local case studies aim to reveal extent and level
  of engagement in contrasting rural contexts