Path dependence, ‘lock-in’ and rural housing outcomes: insights from Ireland

Planning studies on rural housing are heavily shaped by concepts from urbanized countries with larger populations and attendant conservation pressures on agricultural or otherwise protected land. In particular, Anglo-American theorization on counterurbanisation and the differentiated countryside have enabled planning theory to engage with and compare multiple planning realities, albeit with the secondary effect of distorting appraisal in countries that do not reflect their originating context. This may unwittingly result in the pathologisation of rural planning practices that do not conform to expected norms in rurally-dominated countries with low populations and distributed rather than concentrated land ownership patterns. Ireland, as a northern European country with a proportionately large rural population, illustrates the importance of examining path dependencies as a means of forming meaningful and effective responses to challenges such as the decline of rural settlements and decarbonization. Case study data are presented to illustrate the specific dynamics of housing and planning in rural Ireland, and attention is drawn towards examples of endogenous and exogenous responses to the path dependencies identified. We argue that path dependencies are often more important in shaping rural places than the performance of the planning system itself, underlying the importance of wider perspectives on rural planning practices.