Accessibility and the local concentration of economic activity: a case study for county Galway
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55650/igj.2012.5Abstract
Road infrastructure investment has been a major policy instrument to achieve higher levels of accessibility and connectivity among distant regions in Ireland. Increased connectivity is generally regarded as a mechanism to provide strong inter-regional linkages and regional growth. This paper contributes to the debate on the relationship between accessibility and the concentration of activity at the local level in Ireland by investigating the spatial patterns of accessibility and the concentration of economic activity by industrial sector in a particular region of the West of Ireland, County Galway. Geographic Information System (GIS) network analysis is used to construct a gravity-based accessibility index. Standardised Employment Rates (SERs) are computed to generate reliable measures of spatial employment distribution and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) is carried out to identify local concentrations of economic activity by industrial group. Results show that in general, local spatial concentrations of activity vary by industrial group. While some sectors favour accessibility-rich locations, local concentrations of activity by other sectors are also found in poor accessibility areas. The results from the analysis are discussed in the context of regional policy and the direct implications for transport planning at the local level in Galway.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
URN
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).