InPLACE: Investigating Planning, Place-Making and Commuting: The changing spatial relationship between homes and workplaces

While commuting has grown rapidly, research on its impacts (as distinct from its drivers or causes) has failed to keep pace, particularly on the island of Ireland. There has been some research, mainly internationally, on the micro-scale effects of commuting on the health and well-being of commuters themselves, and a growing research interest in the macro-scale effects of commuting in terms of its contribution to emissions of greenhouse gases, and hence climate change. In contrast, little attention has been paid, either on the island of Ireland or abroad, to the impacts of commuting at the meso-scale, on the places from which it occurs, many of which are comparatively small settlements that are predominantly rural in character. This three-year research project, known as InPLACE: Investigating Planning, Placemaking and Commuting, responds to this gap in our understanding, by examining the effects of outcommuting on small settlements, in particular long-distance and long-duration commuting, using a case-study approach focused on selected communities from across the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland and Ireland) and the state of Maryland, US.