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Blueprints, Economic Booms & Blow-Ins: The Impact of Globalisation on Rural Settlement Patterns, Explored through the Bungalow Boom of 1970s-90s Ireland

Part 2 Dissertation 2024
Méabh Minnis
London South Bank University | UK
The one-off homes that proliferate the Irish countryside today stand as a relic of a country's crucial point of economic and societal shift through a move into the global market. Jack Fitzsimon’s Bungalow Bliss designs, characterised by their polarising approach to siting and reaction to, or dismissal of, context embody Ireland’s shift from community orientation and familial relationships into the aspiration for privacy and autonomous dwelling. An ideal perpetuated by portrayals of suburbia and home ownership in American media in particular brought about a uniquely rural suburban landscape surrounding Irish cities. The research aims to dissect how a societal shift towards one-off rural housing came about, and the consequences this bears on what the research deems Ireland’s rural suburbia.

A focus on Ireland’s historical relationship with land and ownership intertwines post- colonial rhetoric with tangible changes through state development. Through parallel perspectives of consumption, isolation, and ownership, the research outlines how economic decisions and media influence can impact social attitudes and settlement patterns, particularly resulting in the loss of tradition through globalisation. The contemporary position is framed through first -hand narrative, illustrating the manifestation of such decisions in the built environment through isolation and absence of community in areas of rural suburbia today.

Méabh Minnis

Tutor(s)
Igea Troiani
2024
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