Urban Footprint Definition and Boundaries

The urban footprint for towns and cities throughout the North of Ireland is defined as the continuous built-up area of the settlement. The boundary will be represented by an uninterrupted line, often lying inside the planned settlement limit. The urban footprint contains land which has a formal urban use including land on the edge of the settlement where it forms part of the curtilage of a building. However, this does not necessarily imply that gardens are acceptable for housing development. Undeveloped zoned land at the edge of the settlement will be excluded. Urban footprints have been identified and set as a baseline of January 2001, and, for monitoring purposes, will not be altered until the 2010 Review of the RDS.