Spatial View in Context Essay

Spatial View of Ireland

The work of William Pattison (1964) related the four traditions of geographical research including the "spatial view, the area study and the man-land relations." (Taaffe, 1974, p.1) According to the work of Taaffe (1974) each of the areas overlap one another and at times all three areas intersect one with the other reported to create the fourth in the traditions of geography. According to Taaffe (1974) where the focus is on spatial organization the topics of research will be on topics "with significant spatial components…such as those related to migration, transport networks of the analysis of settlement patterns." (p.2)

Taaffe relates that where such as recreation is examined there will be an examination "between selected environmental features and aesthetic satisfaction under the man-land view and comparative features of different recreational areas under the areal view and under the spatial view the differentials in accessibility and linkages of a recreational area…" (1974, p.2-3) Therefore, examination of any location under any specific view is likely to involve examination of the area under multiple or even within the context of all three focuses on geographical research. The purpose of this study is to examine Ireland from a spatial view.

Intertrade Ireland reports that presently the relationship that exists between places "is changing in an age of accelerating globalization and the rapid emergence of global regional systems. The accompanying re-organization of space (or the spatial) is becoming increasingly relevant as the traditional barriers of distance are replaced by improved interconnectedness between places and peoples across the globe." (nd, p.10) Ireland faces challenges in the focus on productivity increases and in the provision of a climate that supports growth in business and specifically related to the capacity for research and development needed to enable enterprise and to support entrepreneurship.According to Intertrade Ireland spatial planning that is strategic in nature is such that works collectively in the re-imaging of "a city, urban region or wider territory and the translate the results into priorities for investment, strategic infrastructure and principles of land use regulation." (p.13)

Spatial planning is additionally such that "provides a flexible mechanism for managing the changing connections between cities and regions" and as well makes provision of a method that can be used in the unification of management that is from the top reaching downward with "horizontal integration of sectoral activities." (InterTrade Ireland, 2014, p.14) The stated economic vision for Northern Ireland is reported to have an emphasis on the strong aspects that the younger population brings to the table and the high levels of educational achievement of this group which supports the economy's performance.

At focus is the improvement in the global position of the province of Northern Ireland through bringing about an improvement in the province's global position "through increased productivity and value-added leading to enhanced market share." (Intertrade Ireland, 2014, p.17) However, there are barriers faced by Northern Ireland in terms of its economy stated to be due to "structural weaknesses caused by an over reliance on the public sector which accounts for 62% of GDP compared to 25% in Ireland." (Intertrade Ireland, 2014, p. 17) Presently when the economies of Ireland are combined it is reported that this ranks Ireland at 14th in the world in "measured per capita income." (Intertrade Ireland, 2014, p. 18)

Two spatial strategies are reported to be in existence for Ireland including: (1) the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) for Ireland; and (2) the Regional Development Strategy (RDS) for Northern Ireland. (Intertrade Ireland, nd, p.5) Three options have been suggested for enabling a strategy that is.....