1.
Whitaker Institute
Research Day

2.
Researchers and Undergraduate Students from the School of Political Science &
Sociology, and under the stewardship of the SSRC
At a Crossroads:
Transport & Liveability Futures for Galway

3.
The desire to connect research and teaching to create
a productive and progressive framework for
undergraduate teaching and learning has become one
of the most significant areas for academic
development in higher education.
The positive effect on student learning through the
inclusion of real-life, complex and unstructured
research-like activities is at the core of undergraduate
education, and following this paradigm the student
acts as 'producer' of knowledge instead of simply
knowledge consumer

4.
This research sets out to investigate automobility
practice and thinking with respect to people living in
Galway City (among other things…)
Such local studies are essential as transport inevitably
has detailed local dimensions which are often
undertreated in the literature and can be thought of
as existing transport cultures and practices
We were seeking to determine how deep the
automobility regime is entrenched in the transport
consciousness of people living in the city, who may
view such practice as an inevitable consequence of
growth and progress

5.
 Stratified sampling was used, i.e. the urban area was divided into its three
electoral areas (Galway City Central, Galway City West and Galway City East)
 The population of Galway City stands at 79,504 (CSO, 2016)
 The percentage population in each area is:
 Galway City Central - 24.96%
 Galway City West – 35.21%
 Galway City East – 39.83%
 We collected 442 questionnaires from across the
city and all socio-economic backgrounds
 Our sampling percentage breakdown was:
 Galway City Central – 27.23%
 Galway City West – 34.65%
 Galway City East – 38.12%
Our Sampling Approach

6.
24%
5%
9%
1%
0%
40%
17%
2% 2%
Foot
Bike
Bus etc
Train etc.
Motorbike
Car driver
Car passenger
Van
Other
18%
11%
9%
0%
1%
51%
1%
9%
Foot
Bike
Bus etc
Train etc.
Motorbike
Car
Taxi
Not Applicable
How People Living in Galway
Travel to Work (CSO, 2011)
How People Living in Galway
Travel to Work (Liveability &
Mobilities in Galway Project, 2016)

7.
What questions did
we ask?

8.
Some
demographics…

9.
Some descriptive
statistics…

10.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 26 to 30 31 to 35 36 or over
NUMBEROFINDIVIDUALS
SCALE OF AUTOMOBILITY

11.
Results from this study would suggest that many people
in Galway are not as wholly car dependent as county-
wide CSO figures would first suggest and people choose
a range of alternatives depending on their specific
needs. Moreover, individuals have an enlightened and
nuanced understanding of transportation that is seldom
articulated by local politicians, urban planners, and key
decision-makers in the region
This offers an important window of opportunity to effect real
and positive change with regards to sustainability in the context
of transport, mobility, and liveability in Galway

12.
www.ssrc.ie
Thanks for your
attention!