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Murphy, Enda
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Murphy, Enda
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Murphy, Enda
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- PublicationCommunicationsCommunications are an outstanding feature of Ireland's rural landscape. Some roads date from early times, but a network of roads and lanes, much denser than in most of Europe, developed strongly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to link the diffuse pattern of small single farms, provide access to peat bogs and hill grazing, and serve a population substantially larger than the present. The expansion of roads had profound consequences in pre-industrial Ireland, ending isolation, altering rural settlement patterns and facilitating the erosion of native culture and the process of emigration. During the same period, and encouraged by central Ireland's low relief, canals were constructed, running in a predominantly east-west direction and serving the ports on the eastern seaboard with produce from an expanding rural hinterland. Unable to compete with the later railways, the canals fell into disuse in the early twentieth century, but have experienced a revival in recent years with the development of waterways for leisure pursuits. Although relatively underdeveloped, Ireland generated an impressive rail network in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Like the canals, railways were optimistically perceived as instruments of economic development and were extended into remote rural areas to encourage commercial farm production, trade and tourism; in reality, railways facilitated the importation of foreign goods and emigration. With the arrival of motorised road transport after World War II and upgrading of the roads, the railways appeared uncompetitive and a strategy of closure was implemented. Much reduced, the railway system has left a considerable legacy in the Irish rural landscape, including abandoned stations, bridges and embankments. Thinning of the communications network in the twentieth century, in particular railways and rural roads, was paralleled by the development of air travel and telecommunications and increasing investment in major roadways and by-passes. In the early years of the twenty-first century, rapid economic growth has meant that the development of major roadways and by-passes has assumed even greater importance. The role of the railway as a passenger oriented service has increased also. New technologies associated with mobile telecommunications and new forms of energy generation have become conspicuous in the rural landscape. While these latter impacts are likely to increase in future years, the full extent of the impact of the technological revolution on the rural landscape remains to be seen.
595 - PublicationExploring the accuracy of smartphone applications for measuring environmental noise(International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE-USA), 2015-08-12)
; ; ; This paper reports on experimental tests undertaken to assess the capability of noise monitoring apps on smartphones to be utilised as an alternative low cost solution to traditional noise monitoring using a sound level meter. The methodology consisted of testing more than 100 smartphones in a reverberation room. White noise was utilised to test the ability of smartphones to measure noise at background, 50, 70 and 90 dB(A) and these measurements were compared with true noise levels acquired via a calibrated sound level meter. Tests were conducted on phones using the Android and iOS platforms. For each smartphone, tests were completed separately for three leading noise monitoring apps culminating in more than 1400 tests. The results suggest that apps written for the iOS platform are superior to those running on the Android platform which, in relative terms, performed rather poorly. For one of the iOS noise apps, the test results were within 1 dB(A) of the true noise level indicating the clear potential of the iPhone to be used as a low cost monitoring device in the future. The research has implications for the future use of smartphones as low cost monitoring and assessment devices for environmental noise.2660 - PublicationTransportation noise and public health outcomes: biological markers and pathologiesIn 2009 the World Health Organisation recommend that for the prevention of sub-clinical adverse health impacts related to night-time noise, the general population should not be exposed to noise levels greater than 40dB(A). Contemporary scientific studies exploring the relationship between transport noise and health-related outcomes have served to reinforce the veracity of this recommendation. Indeed, a number of recent studies suggest that adverse impacts begin to occur at even lower levels - somewhere in the 30-39 dB(A) range. Within the foregoing context, this paper systematically reviews the contemporary academic literature in an attempt to delineate specific biological markers and pathologies associated with noise-health outcomes as a result of transportation noise exposure. In doing so, we highlight and categorise these markers specifically for a range of emerging health impacts. By highlighting such relationships, the goal is to allows other researchers to easily identify key health-related variables in national and international data sets. By utilising this data in conjunction with noise mapping data it may be possible to determine dose-effect and burden of disease relationships more accurately for a wider range of health issues in specific cities across Europe.
197 - PublicationA critical review of current policy for the assessment of night-time noise in the EUThis paper explores issues surrounding the estimation of population exposure data in accordance with EU Directive 2002/49/EC and, in particular, focuses on the assessment of night-time noise. It has been identified by many authors that no standardised method for estimating population exposure to noise exists. Thus, results from noise exposure studies across Member States cannot be compared reliably or combined. For sleep disturbance assessments, the issue is further compounded by the use of methodologies that are not fully understood. Significant concern exists over the use of the new Lnight indicator, which is measured over eight hours, as sleep disturbance studies to date rarely cover this period and noise indices do not usually include Lnight. Furthermore, assessments are performed using calculations at the position of the most exposed façade, while the impact of using this position, with respect to the bedroom, has not been fully quantified. This paper summarises the practical issues associated with the assessment of night-time noise in accordance with the requirements of EU Directive 2002/49/EC. Possible solutions are suggested including further guidance and the creation of an EU data infrastructure that would significantly improve benchmarking and comparison of future exposure studies under the terms of the Directive.
394 - PublicationReal time bus passenger information take-up and user perceptions of the serviceReal-time passenger information (RTPI) is now a major element in most public transport systems in the developed world. It has been associated with rail systems for many years and over the last decade or so has also been used increasingly along the bus network. Yet, existing analysis assessing issues such as the socio-economic characteristics of users of RTPI, the devices used to access RTPI information (i.e. mobile phone, home computer, at stops etc.) and the impact of RTPI on perceptions of public transport reliability and ridership, has received only limited attention in the literature with few studies focusing on the bus network in particular. Accordingly, this paper reports on research conducted to assess these issues with respect to the introduction of real-time bus passenger information in Dublin. The methodology employed was quantitative and consisted of 360 questionnaire surveys with bus users undertaken along specific low, medium and high frequency routes during the peak and off-peak period. The results show that RTPI use correlates with socio-economic status. They also show that most users access RTPI at the bus stops but that those accessing the information via mobile devices are from wealthier socio-economic backgrounds. Finally, the introduction of RTPI at stops and via mobile and internet communications has significantly increased passenger perceptions of the reliability of the service.
441 - Publication
489Scopus© Citations 1 - PublicationPerceptions of the common good in planningThere has been plenty of debate in the academic literature about the nature of the common good or public interest in planning. There is a recognition that the idea is one that is extremely difficult to isolate in practical terms; nevertheless, scholars insist that the idea '…remains the pivot around which debates about the nature of planning and its purposes turn' (Campbell & Marshall, 2002, 163–64). At the point of first principles, these debates have broached political theories of the state and even philosophies of science that inform critiques of rationality, social justice and power. In the planning arena specifically, much of the scholarship has tended to focus on theorising the move from a rational comprehensive planning system in the 1960s and 1970s, to one that is now dominated by deliberative democracy in the form of collaborative planning. In theoretical terms, this debate has been framed by a movement from what are perceived as objective and elitist notions of planning practice and decision-making to ones that are considered (by some) to be 'inter-subjective' and non-elitist. Yet despite significant conceptual debate, only a small number of empirical studies have tackled the issue by investigating notions of the common good from the perspective of planning practitioners. What do practitioners understand by the idea of the common good in planning? Do they actively consider it when making planning decisions? Do governance/institutional barriers exist to pursuing the common good in planning? In this paper, these sorts of questions are addressed using the case of Ireland. The methodology consists of a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 urban planners working across four planning authorities within the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland. The findings show that the most frequently cited definition of the common good is balancing different competing interests and avoiding/minimising the negative effects of development. The results show that practitioner views of the common good are far removed from the lofty ideals of planning theory and reflect the ideological shift of planners within an institution that has been heavily neoliberalised since the 1970s.
1564Scopus© Citations 44 - PublicationLegislative change in Ireland : a marxist political economy critique of planning lawIn the planning literature relatively little attention has been given to investigating the nature of legislative change in the planning domain. Utilising a political economy approach, this paper analyses recent planning legislative change in the Republic of Ireland. The paper argues that changes in planning legislation can be interpreted within a broader agenda of entrepreneurial planning within the Irish State. In critiquing recent change, the paper highlights three key issues: (1) the state, through legislation, facilities development capital over the interests of the general population; (2) entrepreneurial planning approaches can be traced to formal legislative change; (3) recent legislative change has been designed specifically to reduce democracy in the planning process. The findings support the assertion that planning legislation facilities predominantly the elite interest groups in society over those of the 'common good'.
1421Scopus© Citations 33 - PublicationInformal strategies of power in the local planning systemExisting studies that question the role of planning as a state institution, whose interests it serves together with those disputing the merits of collaborative planning are all essentially concerned with the broader issue of power in society. Although there have been various attempts to highlight the distorting effects of power, the research emphasis to date has been focused on the operation of power within the formal structures that constitute the planning system. As a result, relatively little attention has been attributed to the informal strategies or tactics that can be utilised by powerful actors to further their own interests. This article seeks to address this gap by identifying the informal strategies used by the holders of power to bypass the formal structures of the planning system and highlight how these procedures are to a large extent systematic and (almost) institutionalised in a shadow planning system. The methodology consists of a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 urban planners working across four planning authorities within the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland. Empirical findings are offered that highlight the importance of economic power in the emergence of what essentially constitutes a shadow planning system. More broadly, the findings suggest that much more cognisance of the structural relations that govern how power is distributed in society is required and that ‘light touch’ approaches that focus exclusively on participation and deliberation need to be replaced with more radical solutions that look towards the redistribution of economic power between stakeholders.
1490Scopus© Citations 56