Dr. Brian Hughes:

Yes, but Tampere got in on technical education at an early point. I asked whether the growth was only occurring in Tampere itself or whether the surrounding areas were growing as well. I was very interested to be told the surrounding areas are also growing. Obviously, density of population is hugely important. Tampere is 100 miles north of Helsinki so it is very far north. It has always fascinated me how Tampere's population has been able to grow at more than twice the per cent per annum compound of Cork's. An awful lot more urban economic and new economic geography research is needed in this regard. In the 1980s, we had a research body called An Foras Forbartha, the National Institute for Physical Planning and Construction Research, that carried out this kind of research. It is terribly unfortunate and very sad that, on political grounds, it disappeared.