<a href="http://iclrd.org/web2/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DelineatingFunctionalTerritories_Phase1_FinalReport.pdf" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1396" title="functional-territories-cover" src="http://iclrd.org/web2/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/functional-territories-cover-211x300.jpg" alt="" width="211" height="300" /></a>The International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD) is delighted to announce the publication of its study, <strong><em>Delineating Functional Territories Across The Island of Ireland: An Initial Scoping</em></strong>.  Funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), this research has been  carried out by a multi-disciplinary team within ICLRD.  The report can  be downloaded from <a href="http://iclrd.org/web2/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/DelineatingFunctionalTerritories_Phase1_FinalReport.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.
The report comes out of a 10-month research programme (August 2009 to  June 2010). The need for this work, especially on an  inter-jurisdictional basis, was identified in the research undertaken  for the Inter<em>Trade</em>Ireland/ICLRD spatial strategies report in  2006. As part of that research programme, the publication of pioneering  maps illustrating travel to work distances and patterns, on an  all-island basis, generated considerable interest amongst both  policy-makers and practitioners, North and South. Subsequently, in 2007  and 2008 the ICLRD, together with the Regional Studies Association  (Irish Branch), held a series of seminars and a conference on spatial  indicators, which included early research on identifying urban clusters  on an all-island basis.
This latest report represents Phase I of this project; with Phase II  now underway. The focus of this initial phase was to explore the various  possibilities of mapping functional territories, and to produce a set  of outputs based on datasets that were available to the research team.  The report illustrates the contribution that dynamic spatial analysis of  urban functions can make in the profiling of the relational status,  performance and potential of urban centres across the island, and  includes maps of natural catchments, travel-to-work catchments,  origin-destination data, gravity models and urban functional  specialisations. It highlights the utility and potential of the evidence  that can be harnessed to support effective spatial and economic  planning by:
1. Identifying urban areas as the basis for policy, particularly in  relation to options for appropriate degrees of monocentric and  polycentric urban development strategies, and
2. Demonstrating the scope for rigorous analysis of urban functions, and  their impacts across official boundaries and different scales.
Finally, this account of the urban systems on the island of Ireland  is the initial step required to provide the basis for a more detailed,  and integrated, description of the urban economy of the island as a  whole. Phase II of the study, scheduled for completion by Spring 2011,  will map functional territories relating to a number of priority sectors  in the urban centres of Sligo and Enniskillen. It will identify the  significant spatial linkages between these centres and surrounding urban  centres, and search for opportunities for shared service delivery. Of  equal importance, it will seek to resolve the problems identified in  Phase I around the compatibility of data sources in the different  jurisdictions.
<em>Research Team: Justin Gleeson, Declan Curran, Brendan Bartley, Proinnsias Breathnach, Des McCafferty and Aine Rickard.</em>