Irish car mileage 70% higher due to sprawl - DIT study

POOR PLANNING is responsible for Irish cars travelling 70 per cent more than French or German vehicles, up to 50 per cent more than British cars and 30 per cent more than those in the US, according to a study from the Futures Academy at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT).

The academy’s report found “suburbanisation” in our planning system has increased dependency on cars and fossil fuels to a point where Ireland is the fifth most oil-dependant country in the EU, and the ninth most oil-dependent in the world.

It argues that failure to consolidate the Republic’s cities and limit urban sprawl created a car-dependent lifestyle, with the result that an Irish vehicle records much higher mileage than the cars of people in many comparable countries.

The report concludes that despite a decade of record investment in roads and public transport, the planning failures have given rise to a transport network that remains under pressure.

The report says that congestion continues to limit the efficiency of the economy and reduce quality of life.

Compiled by Prof John Ratcliffe, dean and director of the faculty of the built environment, with Dr Ela Krawczyk, head of the Futures Academy at DIT, and researcher Paolo Ronchetti, the report also claims bad planning is responsible for serious health problems, such as obesity, as well as social isolation.

In a commentary on trends and issues facing Irish society, it says the overall quality of life in the Dublin city region has deteriorated in recent years and the risk of social polarisation is strong.

Regionally, the report finds two divergent futures emerging for two different parts of Ireland.

It claims the northwest and southwest are likely to focus on amenity, cultural, educational and residential values, while the east, midlands and southeast will become organised around an intensified Dublin-Belfast economic corridor.

The report says, “clean technologies” are set to be “a main force for the future” and industries such as ocean wave energy, hybrid energy, and low energy transport should be encouraged.

But while the search for renewable power should be encouraged the report found “negawatts” – electricity not used due to energy efficiency – were much cheaper then newly produced energy.

The Futures Academy is a research and consultancy organisation established in 2003 to promote more effective long-term planning.

Its publication, Dublin at the Crossroads – Exploring the Future of the Dublin City Region, is available on the academy website at www.thefuturesacademy.ie

The academy is located at the faculty of the built Environment at DIT, not DCU as was reported in Thursday’s and Friday’s editions.