COMPASS09 Annual Conference of Compass Informatics

1. COMPASS09 Annual Conference of Compass Informatics

2. Greater Blanchardstown Initiative: An examination of urban permeability in the Greater Blanchardstown Area Claire McIntyre and Ciarán Staunton

3. Fingal County Council “To improve the quality of life for the people we serve” • Housing • Transportation • Water Services • Planning • Environment • Waste Management • Economic Development • Community, Recreation & Amenities

4. Fingal County Council • Challenges • Expanding the role of Local Government • Pace of growth • Complexity of growth • Demand for additional services • Improving service delivery • Capped/falling staff numbers

5. Fingal • Established in 1994 as a result of the Local Government(Dublin) Act • Fingal is sometimes known as “North County Dublin” • It has a mix of outer suburbs of Dublin, large towns, smaller rural villages and rural hinterland • It has 88km of coastline and borders Meath and Kildare (west), South Dublin (south) and Dublin City • It is the 3rd most populous county in the state after Dublin City and Cork County

6. Population • Blanchardstown • Castleknock • Swords • Balbriggan • Skerries • Rush • Lusk • Donabate • Howth/Sutton/Baldoyle • Santry

7. The Task Council Management Team set a Terms of Reference: • Examine the permeability of residential, commercial and industrial estates, with regard to physical barriers and design problems • Verify the existence and coverage of public transport services and stops • Consider community safety issues connected to permeability especially where safety conflicts, or is perceived to conflict, with permeability • Analyse locations of key service points and how accessible they are

8. Definition: Permeability Working Definition: “Permeability should be understood as the relative ease with which people may get around and through various types of Urban Development.”

9. Project Description • Permeability is the main concern • Focus on Blanchardstown, our biggest urban area • Multidisciplinary project team: Engineering, Planning, Architecture, Community Development, Heritage, Information Technology, Statistical Analysis • GIS used as a modelling environment for all investigations decisions

10. Location Map

12. Long-term growth of Blanchardstown

13. Permeability: The Challenge on the Ground

14. What do you see? Vegetation disrupted and wall cap damaged Gaps made in fence for shorter journeys Improvised access across high wall High difficulty climb Wall capping removed High wall disables permeability

15. Definition: Desire Line Working Definition: “Desire Lines are indications of a demand for passage through an urban area. Generally they refer to pedestrian behaviour where passage is not ‘officially’ facilitated, or is prevented in some way but used nonetheless”

16. Policy Influence:Sustainable Communities Sustainable Communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well-planned, built and run, offer equality of opportunity and good services for all Delivering Homes Sustaining Communities: Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

17. In-depth study • Community Survey (ii) POWCAR (Census 2006) (iii) Physical Data Capture (iv) Public Transport Study (Bus)

18. (i) Community Survey • A community survey was required because we wanted to know how people on the ground perceived the issues we are considering • Fieldwork carried out in May 2008 using doorstep interviews • Quota sample used • All respondents were aged 16+ living in the Blanchardstown area • In all, 583 surveys were carried out • Less than -/+ 1% margin of error

20. Perception of Functional Levels in Area (Base: All Greater Blanchardstown Residents) Too many Too Few CCTV and public transport links are prominent desires. Residents not seeing the advantages of Roundabouts over traffic lights at junctions. (Q.16)

21. (ii) Powcar 2006 • Place of Work Census of Anonymised Records • An analysis of POWCAR was necessary to learn about the behaviour especially commuting behaviour of the people in Blanchardstown • Q31 and 32 on the Census form capture the location where people work and this is re-coded to • County and Electoral Division • Enumerator Area • Approximated grid of 250m x 250m • We can also see SEX, SEG, INDUSTRY, MODE OF TRAVEL and ORIGIN • We are lucky that Blanchardstown is covered by Enumerator Areas

22. Modes in Blanchardstown Daily mode of transportation of persons 5 years and over

24. In-depth study • Community Survey (ii) POWCAR (Census 2006) (iii) Physical Data Capture (iv) Public Transport Study (Bus)

25. (iii) Physical Data Capture • Road & Footpath network • Permeability Facilitators • E.g. Bridges, walkways, street lights, pedestrian crossings • Desire Lines • Physical features which can prevent permeability • E.g. heavy planting, walls & fences, closed alleyways • Neighbourhood Level Services • E.g. Schools, bring banks, playgrounds etc.

27. (iii) Physical Data Capture • Straight line Analysis Example

28. (iii) Physical Data Capture • Catchment Area along ‘formal’ network

29. (iii) Physical Data Capture • Catchment Area along ‘informal’ network

30. (iii) Physical Data Capture • Catchment area encompassing a number of houses

34. PRD = Route Distance Geodetic Distance (iii) Physical Data Capture • Randals PRD (Pedestrian Route Directness)

40. (iv) Public Transportation Module ILTP study of existing public transport services and potential new services - a specialist transportation study was required - objective to identify the priorities for new routes

41. Existing Buses

42. ILTP Proposed Buses

43. What we learned • GIS is a powerful tool for demonstrating and analysing physical evidence of issues • Permeability measures accessibility to a range of services helping us to decide about service locations in the future • Combining sources of data: POWCAR, Location-based info., permeability calculations and community attitudes gives us greater insights into the reality and complexity of problems and challenges in Blanchardstown • Interdepartmental, cross-disciplinary working enabled the team: • To have a more integrated understanding of real local problems • To appreciate that Departments have overlapping concerns and challenges which can be resolved better by working together • To think strategically and co-operatively about how to affect change

44. Greater Blanchardstown Initiative: An examination of urban permeability in the Greater Blanchardstown Area Claire McIntyre and Ciarán Staunton

45. COMPASS09 Annual Conference of Compass Informatics