Constructions of Peripherality:an example from Northern Ireland

In this paper I focus on the concept of peripheralisation. In particular, I consider how peripheries can be discursively constructed in the debates surrounding planning cases, and how this might serve to legitimate particular interests. This is related to the case of a proposed golf resort in a rural area of Northern Ireland, and the manner in which peripherality is constructed by a variety of different actors in this debate. In the case discussed in the article, peripherality is constructed in different ways by different actors, yet the debate becomes somewhat polarised into the environmental values of a periphery versus the ‘need’ for economic development in such a periphery. In this paper I will analyse these constructions of peripherality and discuss the manner in which different framings of the region affects planning, and perhaps legitimates certain developments. This offers a contribution to the discussion of peripheralisation and how the discursive construction of peripherality can affect policy-making