18th September 2009
Rural Planning & Development: Comparative Perspectives on a Rural White Paper

Conference Programme

The Institute of Spatial and Environmental Planning at Queen’s University Belfast, The School of Geosciences at University of Aberdeen and The National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis at National University of Ireland Maynooth have established the Irish – Scottish Forum for Spatial Planning. Its purpose is to critically examine the interaction between strategic planning and the development of urban and rural areas in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The purpose of this second meeting of the Forum is, firstly, to place the emergence of a forthcoming Rural White Paper for Northern Ireland in the comparative context of Rural White Papers for Scotland (1995) and Ireland (1999), and secondly, to identify future trajectories for rural planning and development.

This conference at Queen’s University Belfast is convened under the auspices of the Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP), an island-of-Ireland platform of interdisciplinary research and graduate training focusing on the delivery of balanced development, the creation of sustainable communities and the enhancement of a knowledge society. It embraces 8 institutions and 19 disciplines and is funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI4).