Monthly Archives: January 2026

New paper: The temporal organisation and practices of planning work

Uncategorized, , , , ,

The project has a new paper published in Studi Organizzativi. 

Kitchin, R., Davret, J., Kayanan, C.M. and Mutter, S. (2025) The temporal organisation and practices of planning work: The temporalities of digital infrastructure, the digital infrastructuring of temporality. Studi Organizzativi 2(2025): 180-204.

An open-access, post-print version is available on MURAL

Abstract

Digitalisation is having a profound impact on the relationship between time and planning. The temporalities of planning’s bureaucratic infrastructure is being transformed through its digitalisation, introducing machine and network time and reshaping the relations between past, present and future. In turn, the temporalities of digital infrastructure has led to re-infrastructuring of planning’s temporalities, introducing a new timescape wherein the pace, tempo, timings, time patterns and temporal modalities of planning practice have been reconfigured. Yet, despite the profound effect of digitalisation on temporal relations, clock time remains important in the organisation and work of planning given the centrality of time rules and timetables, and this will continue to be the case. Using a case study of the development and control function of planning in Ireland, this paper examines temporalities of planning’s digital infrastructures and the digital infrastructuring of planning’s temporalities, illustrating the ways in which the temporal organisation and practices of planning work are being re-cast.

Want to share this? (click + below for more options)

3D Printed Model of Cork City Goes Home

Uncategorized

We’ve previously shared stories about exhibiting our 3D printed model of Dublin at the Synthetic Cities conference and Dublin’s Beta Festival of digital arts. However, for the last few years we’ve also had a 3D printed model of Cork stored in our lab. Last week the model of Cork finally went to a new home at the library at University College Cork (UCC).

Both models were originally created as part of the Building City Dashboards project. The original plan had been to display both models together for an end of project exhibition but this was prevented when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. After the pandemic we adopted the Dublin model and we’ve been seeking a home for the Cork model ever since.

Last year researcher Maedhbh Nic Lochlainn joined UCC as a lecturer in Human Geography and GIS. As a friend of the Data Stories project, Maedhbh had a good understanding of the model’s value, and this made her the perfect person to adopt and champion it. Maedhbh secured funding to have the model mounted for display by the same team at Display Contracts who prepared the Dublin installation for Data Stories.

Before Christmas I visited the Display Contracts workshop in North Dublin to see the model being prepared. Like it’s Dublin sibling, the Cork model measures 3.5 x 2 metres and covers 28sq km of the city. The key difference between the two is Cork’s hilly terrain. This makes the Cork model significantly thicker and bulkier. Despite the challenge, Display Contracts handled the job expertly.

The piece was delivered to UCC and assembled in the university library last Friday. Students and visitors will be able to explore Cork’s urban landscape in miniature there.

Want to share this? (click + below for more options)

New paper: The Politics of Counting Homelessness: The Case of Ireland

Uncategorized

The project has a new paper published in Housing Policy Debate. 

Davret, J. (2026). The Politics of Counting Homelessness: The Case of Ireland. Housing Policy Debate, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2025.2599125 

An open-access, post-print version is available on MURAL  

Abstract  

Homelessness remains a critical social issue in Ireland, yet its true scale is systematically obscured by definitional limitations, methodological inconsistencies, and political interference in data collection. While official statistics reported 16,058 individuals relying on emergency accommodation as of July 2025 (a rise of +244% since July 2015), this figure excludes substantial populations: rough sleepers, domestic violence survivors, asylum seekers, and those experiencing hidden homelessness through enforced parental co-residence. This article examines the politics of homelessness enumeration through a critical analysis of seven data sources, policy documents spanning 2014–2025 and stakeholder interviews. The study reveals how Ireland’s measurement system exemplifies the political life of numbers. The analysis exposes five interconnected dimensions of measurement failure: fragmentation of sources and measurement approaches, methodological inconsistencies that undermine longitudinal analysis, systematic undercounting that renders substantial populations invisible, documented political manipulation and data integrity concerns, and structural barriers that impede comprehensive data collection and analysis. The findings demonstrate how apparently technical decisions about data collection and analysis become sites of political contestation. The research reveals the measurement politics in contemporary welfare states, demonstrating the need for inclusive frameworks, integrated systems, and transparent practices that prioritize social justice over administrative convenience. 

 

Want to share this? (click + below for more options)

New paper: The digital turn in planning and the production of ‘good enough’ planning systems

Uncategorized, , , , ,

The project has a new paper published online first in European Planning Studies.

Kayanan, C., Mutter, S., Davret, J. and Kitchin, R. (2025, online first) The digital turn in planning and the production of ‘good enough’ planning systems. European Planning Studies. doi: 10.1080/09654313.2025.2599869

An open access, post-print version is available on MURAL

Abstract

The digitalization of planning has taken place in a context where planning work is on-going and cannot be halted, and in which there are embedded institutional and technical systems and practices, as well as a number of technical, regulatory and sociocultural data frictions. This context has led to a sub-optimizing approach to digitalization. In this paper, we examine the digital mediation of planning through an in-depth case study of a multiscale planning development and control data ecosystem in Ireland. We detail the incrementalist nature of the digital turn in planning and how this institutionalizes a ‘good enough’ digitalized planning system; that is, a system that is functional and performs essential tasks, but not necessarily in an optimal manner and which is always open to potential improvements. We develop a conceptual basis for assessing ‘good enough’ and
through its application contend that ‘good enough’ planning is a sufficient and reasonable state of affairs given the substantive challenges of creating and maintaining a complex data
ecosystem and that there are incremental limits to achieving ‘better planning’. As such, any technological solutionist claims promising to radically reconfigure and fix planning’s operation shortcomings, such as the introduction of artificial intelligence tools, require careful assessment.

Want to share this? (click + below for more options)

Housing and planning publications hub for Ireland

Uncategorized, , , , , ,

We have assembled over 1,800 academic, policy and sector publications relating to housing, property and planning in Ireland, which can be accessed via our publications hub at Zotero.

While we are collecting PDFs of these publications locally, we are only making the references accessible at present due to copyright issues. The database is inevitably partial and if there are publications missing which you would like us to add, please send them to us and we will do so.

Many thanks to Mick Byrne, Lorcan Sirr and Richard Waldron for sharing their reference libraries to aid the database construction, and to Lorena Borges Dias, Kerry-Ann D’Arcy and Elina Micah Musa for working on compiling the hub.

Danielle Hynes and Rob Kitchin, Data Stories project

Want to share this? (click + below for more options)