Exploring Segregation and Sharing in Belfast: A PGIS Approach

The conflict in Belfast that revolves around identity and territory has strong spatial implications. This paper seeks to identify the drivers that promote spatial segregation within the city. The drivers are identified through recent research based on semi-structural interviews with members of the Catholic and Protestant communities, in-depth interviews with decision-makers, and a cartographic analysis of the contested areas. This study aims to provide recommendations to support the spatial integration of both communities and their reconciliation process.

Geografski vestnik, 2015

Understanding the implications of spatial segregation in Belfast, Northern Ireland TheconflictinBelfastthatrevolvesaroundidentityandterritoryhasstrongspatialimplications.Thispaper seekstoidentifythedriversthatpromotespatialsegregationwithinthecity.Thedriversareidentifiedthrough recentresearchbasedonsemi-structuralinterviewswithmembersoftheCatholicandProtestantcommunities,in-depthinterviewswithdecision-makers,anda cartographicanalysisofthecontestedareas. Thisstudyaimstoproviderecommendationstosupportthespatialintegrationofbothcommunitiesand theirreconciliationprocess.

Annals of the American Association of Geographers. , 2019

Long-standing tensions between Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland have led to high levels of segregation. This article explores the spaces within which residents of north Belfast move within everyday life and the extent to which these are influenced by segregation. We focus in particular on the role that interconnecting tertiary streets have on patterns of mobility. We adapt Grannis’s (1998) concept to define T-communities from sets of interconnecting tertiary streets within north Belfast. These are combined with more than 6,000 Global Positioning System (GPS) tracks collected from local residents to assess the amount of time spent within different spaces. Spaces are divided into areas of residents’ own community affiliations (in-group), areas not clearly associated with either community (mixed), or areas of opposing community affiliation (out-group). We further differentiate space as being either within a T-community or along a section of main road. Our work extends research on T-communities by expanding their role beyond exploring residential preference, to explore, instead, networks of (dis)connection through which social divisions are expressed via everyday mobility practices. We conclude that residents are significantly less likely to move within mixed and out-group areas and that this is especially true within T-communities. It is also evident that residents are more likely to travel along out-group sections of a main road if they are in a vehicle and that women show no greater likelihood than men to move within out-group space. Evidence from GPS tracks also provides insights into some areas where mixing appears to occur.

Antipode, 2009

This paper applies Henri Lefebvre's ideas on participatory democracy and spatial politics to the context of "divided cities", a milieu often overlooked by scholars of Lefebvre. It considers, via Lefebvre, how the heterogeneous and contradictory statist methods to deal with ethno-national violence in Belfast have in effect increased segregated space. State-led approaches to public space as part of conflict transformation strategies appear contradictory, including attempts to "normalize" the city through inward capital investment and cultural regeneration, encouraging cosmopolitan notions of inclusive "civic identity", and reinforcing segregation to contain violence. These processes have done little to challenge sectarianism. However, as Lefebvre suggests that dominant representations of space cannot be imposed without resistance, this paper considers the alternative strategies of a disparate range of groups in Belfast. These groups have formed cross-cleavage networks to develop ritualized street performances which challenge the programming of public space for segregation.

Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2014

The paper examines the role of shared spaces in divided cities in promoting future sustainable communities and spaces described as inclusive to all. It addresses the current challenges that prevent such inclusiveness and suggests future trends of its development to be of benefit to the wider city community. It explains how spaces in divided cities are carved up into perceived ownerships and territorialized areas, which increases tension on the shared space between territories; the control of which can often lead to inter-community disputes. The paper reports that common shared space in-between conflicting communities takes on increased importance since the nature of the conflict places emphasis on communities’ confidence, politically and socially, while also highlighting the necessity for confidence in inclusion and feeling secure in the public domain. In order to achieve sustainable environments, strategies to promote shared spaces require further focus on the significance of everyday dynamics as essential aspects for future integration and conflict resolution.

2015

Over the last 100 years, there has been unprecedented urbanisation across the globe and more than half of the world’s population now live in cities. Urbanisation has been largely fuelled by huge increases in international migration and by the shift from rural to urban living, particularly in developing countries. The processes that have caused urbanisation raise challenges with respect to social segregation as cities have become more diverse in terms of the religious, ethnic, legal and cultural backgrounds of inhabitants.

Irish Studies in International Affairs, 2022

Over two decades since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, social spaces remain heavily contested in Northern Ireland. On the one hand, top-down approaches toward ushering in a new spatiality for a shared future have had limited success. On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that a 'shared future' disconnected from local historical and cultural contexts is unsustainable. By studying the debates surrounding three contemporary 'shared spaces' in East Belfast-the Titanic Quarter, the proposed Naíscoil na Seolta and East Belfast GAA Clubthis paper studies why some spaces are more acceptable to the general public compared to others. At a time when recent elections suggest that the region is at the cusp of political change, this paper argues that a new spatiality with grassroots community initiatives at its core must be simultaneously imagined in Belfast.

The Spatiality of Segregation: Narratives from the Everyday Urban Environment of Gothenburg and Glasgow, Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, Volume 12, Issue 1, 71-90, 2018

Recent figures of displaced people in the world have reached more than 60 million suggesting that there has been an exponential increase in the rate of forced and voluntary mobility between cities. This has inevitably caused socially and politically constructed ‘borders’ to change. This paper examines the different levels of manifestation of migration using two case studies from Scotland and Sweden, to demonstrate different mobility patterns, serving to provide a wider comparison of urban responses to the different magnitudes of influx of migrants and their highly diverse distributions. Within the context of the two cases the paper examines socio-spatial practices of migrant communities and assesses the impact of displaced populations on the urban areas they occupy and vice versa. It also highlights the role of urban practitioners in questioning durable solutions that address the challenges introduced by spatial segregation on infrastructure and local communities. Key contribution of this study aims to shift stereotypical architectural conception towards more resolved contextual solutions that address current socio-cultural needs in urban areas that host displaced communities. Coupled with a greater understanding of the historical trends and future challenges of mass migration, this could be developed into a methodology for further research into proposing socially sustainable solutions that deal with the complex nature of displacement and its socio-spatial impact on urban environments.

Journal of Urban Design

Although social confict due to the presence of diferent groups divided by cultural, religious or ethnic issues plagues many contemporary cities, community and participatory planning methods still pay little attention to segregation in contested spaces as a specifc matter of concern. This paper aims to contribute to flling this gap through the development of a novel tool to be implemented during community planning processes in contested cities, particularly in (visual) mapping processes. The pilot area for developing the lexicon has been selected within the city of Belfast, which has been struggling for years with problems related to inter-religious sectarian conficts. The material efects on the urban structure of the long process of defensive planning during the so- called Troubles and within the post-conficts peace programmes have been investigated by analysing urban artefacts including edges, borders, barriers, doors, visual control points. The paper suggests that a simple, recognizable lexicon may contribute to honing community planning methods in contested places by integrating the traditional methodology of visual mapping with a tailored taxonomy of elements of urban confict, which may be used at many stages of the planning process, including developing a visual map, design and planning, and developing and implementing an action plan.

2016

Planning for Spatial Reconciliation community planning for proactive and civicallyinclusive forms of peace-building. Specifically, it has identified the socio-spatial context of the conflict in Northern Ireland, paying regard to such features as changing demography; patterns of segregation and deprivation and their relationship to sectarian tension and violence; typologies of space; and the legacy of previous interventions around planning and policy. Moreover, it has specified the problems and confusions associated with key concepts in this arena, such as need, rights, and equality, essentially arguing that such important considerations need to be balanced with other factors, such as assets, opportunity, responsibility, and rule of law, if prospect of creating a cohesive and pluralist society is to be advanced. While its analysis has been on both rural and urban, its main focus has been on Belfast, with a complementary report on a case study of North Belfast, an area noted for its intractable divisions. In testing capacity for innovative planning responses to division, it was considered useful to learn from good and bad practice in multi-ethnic and conflict-ridden societies in Britain, the Balkans, Middle East, and the USA, through comparative research in cities such as Chicago, Nicosia, Mostar and Jerusalem. For the first time in human history, just over half of the earth's people live in cities. While the global is urbanising in this way, the urban is globalising with patterns of migration across the world. Major cities of the world are becoming much more diverse. Thus, the issue of how we live with difference is becoming a major development problem across the world. The island of Ireland has a troubled history of having to cope with this challenge. In the case of Northern Ireland, the region has gone through nearly two decades of a 'peace process', marked most obviously by the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, with many people now assuming that we have progressed to a post-conflict society. Of course, in recent times, people have been reminded that that optimism is premature. Ireland is not yet a post-conflict society. Rather, its people mostly live in a post-violent conflict society. But discord itself remains deep and ever present-particularly in Northern Ireland and along the border. Northern Ireland's conflict is centrally about territory, sovereignty, and identity. Planning is about the social shaping of space. Therefore, planning is not only relevant, but crucial, to the resolution of that conflict. Importantly, we are at the dawn of a new planning. Two aspects, in particular, are set to change. First, planning itself is going to be about more than zoning land for different physical uses, such as buildings and infrastructure. Rather, it is going to be about linking the wide-ranging issues of responsible place-making in ways that are visionary, comprehensive, integrated, inclusive, and proactive. Second, the duty to deliver this new planning is returning to newly re-organised local government in Northern Ireland, alongside some related powers in housing, regeneration, and local economic development. This combination of new planning, new ways of doing planning, and new democratic structures for its delivery and accountability, offers unique opportunity for imaginative approaches to how we make good places, even in bad circumstances. Planning for Spatial Reconciliation Children's play facilities overshadowed by a 'peace-wall' in Whitewell, Belfast.