News & Events

In February 2024, the CONUNDRUM (Co-Creating sustainable and shared community mobility) SFI-funded project held two successful community mapping events in Enniscorthy. These events were held in Temple Community & Childcare Centre and the Presentation Arts Centre, working with Wexford Local Development and Presentation Arts Centre, as well as local residents and community groups. Locals were asked to identify and map areas of the town where there is provision of transport and mobility infrastructure, areas of the town where they face issues with transport currently, and where they feel potential solutions could be implemented for Enniscorthy. These community mapping events were guided by a citizen science approach and were well received by local participating residents, and CONUNDRUM hope to run similar events in the future.

The data gathered from these citizen science events will inform the CONUNDRUM Community Mobility Strategy, which will include a framework of solutions co-created with residents and stakeholders of Enniscorthy. The CONUNDRUM Community Mobility Strategy will be launched towards the end of this year.

About CONUNDRUM

CONUNDRUM is an interdisciplinary research project funded by Science Foundation Ireland (the project is funded as a Sustainable Communities Challenge under the National Challenge Fund). The research team is composed of researchers from UCD School of Geography and TCD School of Engineering, and their social impact champion, TASC. Their work builds on the previous work done by TASC and ‘The People’s Transition for Enniscorthy’, a project led by Dr Kieran Harrahill and funded by AIB.

CONUNDRUM centres on addressing the climate crisis by focusing on transport. According to the 2023 Climate Action Plan, the transport sector has been the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions over the past three decades, showing a 112% increase between 1990 and 2021 (2023). Research from the OECD 2022 states that current policies which aim to decarbonise the system via private vehicle improvements are “unlikely to lead to substantially different patterns of behaviour, rapid emissions reductions, and large well-being improvements” (2022).

Much of the research done to date has focused on larger cities and towns. CONUNDRUM is expanding this narrow focus to examine small-medium towns, of which there are over 40 in Ireland. In small-medium towns in Ireland, there is an over-reliance on private car usage and a lack of public transport availability. The lack of shared and sustainable transport and mobility options in small-medium towns exacerbates climate issues such as high carbon emissions, poor air quality and pollution, while also contributing to a lack of social cohesion and community development in a place. Further, it poses challenges to people’s: access to work, education and essential services; opportunities to socialise with others; participation in local events and activities; ability to spend time outdoors; capacity to improve their health and wellbeing; and ability to make sustainable decisions to reduce their own environmental impacts.

CONUNDRUM's research in Enniscorthy

CONUNDRUM’s specific case study is Enniscorthy; a town that is in many ways representative of 40 other similar-sized towns in Ireland and which may offer wider lessons on how such towns can begin to address Ireland’s climate obligations. CONUNDRUM aims to help policymakers make decisions which have the widest economic, social and environmental benefit, first in  Enniscorthy but with the potential to replicate outcomes in other towns across Ireland. To do this research, we are using a co-created place-based approach. Our team strongly believes that in order to create pathways towards a just transition of transport and mobility systems, the voices and expertise of the local community must be at the centre of data collection and decision-making processes. In the first 6 months of the project we have engaged with nearly 50 stakeholders, with more citizen science activities planned for the coming months. To date, the stakeholders that CONUNDRUM have engaged with include local residents, community/ civil society members, local authorities, regional government, central government, transport providers, international transport experts, local businesses, and academic perspectives.

Further information

If you would like to share details of other relevant events, please reach out via email at rachel.mcardle@ucd.ie or dean.phelan@ucd.ie. CONUNDRUM are active on X, Facebook and Instagram and also have a website where they plan to include future events.