This study concerns the spatial allocation of material flows, with emphasis on construction material in the Irish housing sector. It addresses some of the key issues concerning anthropogenic impact on the environment through spatial temporal visualisation of the flow of materials, wastes and emissions at different spatial levels. This is presented in the form of a spatial model, Spatial Allocation of Material Flow Analysis (SAMFA), which enables the simulation of construction material flows and associated energy use. SAMFA parallels the Island Limits project (EPA funded under 2004-SD-MS-22-M2), which aimed to create a material flow analysis of the Irish economy classified by industrial sector. SAMFA further develops this by attempting to establish the material flows at the subnational geographical scale that could be used in the development of local authority (LA) sustainability strategies and spatial planning frameworks by highlighting the cumulative environmental impacts of the development of the built environment. By drawing on the idea of planning support systems, SAMFA also aims to provide a cross-disciplinary, integrative medium for involving stakeholders in strategies for a sustainable built environment and, as such, would help illustrate the sustainability consequences of alternative The pilot run of the model in Kildare has shown that the model can be successfully calibrated and applied to develop alternative material flows and energy-use scenarios at the ED level. This has been demonstrated through the development of an integrated and a business-as-usual scenario, with the former integrating a range of potential material efficiency and energysaving policy options and the latter replicating conditions that best describe the current trend. Their comparison shows that the former is better than the latter in terms of both material and energy use. This report also identifies a number of potential areas of future research and areas of broader application. This includes improving the accuracy of the SAMFA model (e.g. by establishing actual life expectancy of buildings in the Irish context through field surveys) and the extension of the model to other Irish counties. This would establish SAMFA as a valuable predicting and monitoring tool that is capable of integrating national and local spatial planning objectives with actual environmental impacts. Furthermore, should the model prove successful at this level, it then has the potential to transfer the modelling approach to other areas of the built environment, such as commercial development and other key contributors of greenhouse emissions. The ultimate aim is to develop a meta-model for predicting the consequences of consumption patterns at the local scale. This therefore offers the possibility of creating critical links between socio technical systems with the most important challenge of all the limitations of the biophysical environment.

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Roy, M. Ellis, G. Curry, R.   "Spatial Allocation of Material Flow Analysis: A Geographic Information System Application of Material Flow Analysis in Ireland". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=f1fbf84f-5d72-102e-a0a4-f81fb11d7d1c (Last Accessed: 2025-01-20)

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=199
Resource Keywords	GIS Material Flow Analysis Kildare Modelling Ireland
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2005-FS-34-M1
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Waste and Resource Management
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	The reliability, quality and completeness of data gained through SAFER-Data is intended to be used in an education or research context. These data are not guaranteed for use in operational or decision-making settings. The EPA and SAFER-Data requests an acknowledgement (in publications, conference papers, etc) from those who use data/information received with SAFER-Data. This acknowledgement should state the original creators of the data/information. An automated citation is provided below. It is not ethical to publish data/information without proper attribution or co-authorship. The data/information are the intellectual property of the collecting investigator(s). The data/information may be freely downloaded and used by all who respect the restrictions and requirements in the previous paragraphs.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	2
Project Start Date	Saturday 1st January 2005 (01-01-2005)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Saturday 1st January 2005 (01-01-2005)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Thursday 31st December 2009 (31-12-2009)
Published on SAFER	Monday 20th December 2010 (20-12-2010)
Date of Last Edit	Monday 20th December 2010 at 10:31:15 (20-12-2010)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Monday 20th December 2010 at 10:26:37 (20-12-2010)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
County Council formally agreed to take part in the Kildare lies to the immediate west and south-west of Dublin . It is part of the Greater Dublin Regional Authority, which is part of the Eastern Regional Assembly (Ellis and Kim, 2001), and has a total population of 186,000 people, in an area of 1,692 km² (a density of 109 persons/km²). There are 89 EDs in Kildare County Council . Due to the proximity of Dublin, some parts of the county have experienced rapid urbanisation in recent times (e.g. ED Naas Urban, which has a population density of over 3,100 persons/ km2,), although other areas of the county are still characterised by traditional rural housing patterns. It is also noticeable that the housing availability levels in general are greater in rural than in urban areas. In terms of regional policy, the county is regarded as part of the Dublin and the Mid-East Regions in the NSS 2002-2020. These regions are considered jointly due to their strong functional relationship In many respects, therefore, Kildare represents many features of the current Irish built environment, is subject to some of the critical development processes experienced across the country, and, as such, provides a valuable laboratory for the testing of the SAMFA model.

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