Abstract In the fifty years since the publication of the Buchanan report, Regional Studies in Ireland, Ireland has transitioned from a rural to an urban society. Although a number of spatial plans have been introduced at regional and local levels, the growth of over 1.5 million people in the urban population has occurred in the absence of any strong national-level direction of spatial or settlement policy. This paper examines the nature of urbanisation in the half-century since 1966, by looking at the development of the urban hierarchy of cities and towns. Significant long-term changes in both the structure and the spatial expression of the urban hierarchy are identified, on the basis of which urbanisation is characterised as having been deconcentrated and decentralised. The paper identifies some implications of the observed shifts for contemporary policy concerns, and in particular the 2018 National Planning Framework.

中文翻译：

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爱尔兰城市化五十年：布坎南以来城市等级的结构和空间演变

摘要 自布坎南报告《爱尔兰区域研究》发表五十年以来，爱尔兰已从农村社会过渡到城市社会。尽管已经在区域和地方层面引入了一些空间规划，但在没有任何强有力的国家级空间或聚居政策方向的情况下，城市人口增长了超过 150 万。本文通过考察城镇的城市等级制度的发展，考察了自 1966 年以来半个世纪以来城市化的本质。确定了城市等级结构和空间表达的显着长期变化，在此基础上，城市化具有去中心化和分散化的特征。