Dublin's sprawl is being used by the European Environment Agency (EEA) as a "worst-case scenario" of urban planning so that newer EU member states such as Poland might avoid making the same mistakes. In a major report to be published next month, the Copenhagen-based agency highlights Dublin, Madrid and Istanbul as case studies to show what can happen when development is allowed to run out of control, according to its main author, Ronan Uhel. Mr Uhel, who heads the EEA's spatial analysis unit, said Ireland was "very much on the map in relation to urban sprawl - not just in Dublin, but also around towns and villages throughout the country" as a result of "extremely passive" planning policies. "When we got the first results, we were absolutely surprised. We couldn't believe what we saw on the maps, because they showed that sprawl was so extensive in a country where the geography is not designed for such a thing."
