TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

towns into one: Lucan and Clondalkin were to come together as Ronanstown. Another key
change was the abandonment of the linear structure of the new towns for a more amorphous
arrangement whereby each new town was to contain a major shopping centre and a series of
neighbourhood units, containing circa 5,000 inhabitants each serviced by a primary school and
local shops. The lack of co-ordinated planning and sufficient investment during the main growth
period of these towns led a host of severe social and economic difficulties which only began to
be addressed during the 1990s.
The recognition of the need for a spatial plan to direct the growth of industry and population for
Ireland as a whole was reflected in the preparation of a National Development Strategy by Colin
Buchanan and Partners. The Buchanan Report, published in 1968, recommended the creation of
a hierarchy of growth centres into which key infrastructure and amenities were to be
channelled. Two national growth centres were to be located at Cork and Limerick/Shannon and
these were to contain the highest level of services and amenities to encourage a more balanced
pattern of urban growth, and reduce the pressures on Dublin (Bannon, 1989). In addition to
these, a series of regional growth centres were designated at Galway, Waterford, Athlone, Sligo,
Drogheda and Dundalk 4 . These centres were to contain a third-level educational facility and act
as engines of growth for their respective hinterlands. Finally, Buchanan recommended smaller
local growth centres situated at Letterkenny, Cavan, Tralee and Castlebar.
The principal objective behind the designation of a limited number of growth centres by
Buchanan was the belief that in a small country with limited resources, the return on
investment would be greatest in locations that possessed the greatest critical mass to support
new growth. Therefore, the largest settlements were to receive the highest amount of
investment and so forth. However, the Buchanan Report was rejected by the Government of the
time, which deemed a strategy of limiting investment and industrial development into a finite
number of urban areas to be politically unacceptable, given the predominantly rural nature of
the Irish population and the vigorous attempt by all political constituencies to attract new
development.
Industrial location policy during the 1970s and 1980s in Ireland was to disperse new investment
into rural areas through the use of grants and other incentives. The rejection of the Buchanan
Report meant that Ireland had no spatial policy for the country as a whole until the adoption of
the National Spatial Strategy in 2002.
Formal transportation planning was introduced to Ireland during the 1970s, with the formulation
of the Dublin Transportation Strategy (DTS) in 1971. This strategy foresaw a low-density and cardependent
Dublin city region by the early 1990s and recommended a series of high capacity
motorways, including a C ring of the city (later built as the M50) and radial routes. In particular,
there was to be a series of upgraded roads in the inner-city which would involve a considerable
amount of demolition of the existing urban fabric. Due to a lack of funding, however, most of
4
Five of these locations designated as growth centres under the Buchanan Report were subsequently accorded gateway
status under the National Spatial Strategy.
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