La suburbanizzazione estesa della campagna. Il caso dell'Irlanda del Nord, Regno Unito: Il caso dell'Irlanda del Nord, Regno Unito

The literature on suburbanisation refers to the production of low-density neighbourhoods around cities characterised by a certain concentration of population, functional dependency, single land-uses, and shared connectivity with major urban centres. However, a different type of suburbia has emerged in the last years in the rural space of various European regions and particularly in Northern Ireland (NI). This pattern of suburbanisation is often identified in the literature as a «Dispersed Rural Settlement Pattern» and appears as evenly distributed across the NI rural space. During the last years, this pattern has been intensified in terms of planning applications for residential development, resulting in a widespread constellation of detached single-family homes interconnected by roads and interspersed with small/medium size farming lands. Looking at the demographics, this dispersed residential space is indeed the home of almost 40% of the NI population; families and workers that commute every day to urban centres mainly by private cars. On this basis, it is argued that the rural space of NI is indeed rural ‘only in form but not in function’ and thus, describes a distinctive type of suburbia that has not received enough attention in the literature, and has still unexplored environmental, social, and economic impacts.