Creating Shared Public Space in the Contested City: The Role of Urban Design

This paper examines relevant characteristics of the ‘contested city’ and the concept of ‘public space��� in that problematic context. It offers an appraisal of the historical and contemporary role of urban design in shaping social space and interrogates the feasibility of using urban design to facilitate more integrated cityscapes. It presents detailed case studies of two ‘contested cities’, Nicosia and Belfast, based on content analysis of policy and planning documents, extensive site analyses in both places, interviews and seminar discussions with policy makers, planners, community and civic leaders. The paper comprises four dimensions—conceptual, descriptive, analytical and prescriptive—and in its final section identifies core values and relevant policies for the potential achievement of shared space in contested cities.

Gender and Public Space in Divided Cities

The paper addresses two connected questions: firstly, in what ways might ‘public’ and ‘private’ spaces in cities be gendered; and secondly, what might this mean for the possibilities for complex forms of civility in a divided city such as Belfast? The specific focus on gendered dynamics of entitlement to inhabit urban space in this paper begins with some consideration of debates about the quality and experience of everyday life in cities, and the emergence of commonsense notions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ behaviour. Following this, key research concerned with the gendered dynamics of claimed collective, and particularly national, identities are outlined, in order to consider the significance of this literature for any study of the gender dynamics of life in a contested political context such as Belfast.

Parades, Flags, Carnivals and Riots: Public Space, Contestation and Transformation in Northern Ireland

This paper explores one of the defining aspects of politics and identity in Northern Ireland: the control and utilization of public space, particularly urban public space. Ethnopolitical conflict consistently reveals itself through contestation over public space. The role of ritual events is important in the development of political identity and group cohesion. The symbolic landscape will be constructed through displays of identity by dominant groups and their ability to control that landscape by inhibiting displays by other groups. This will reveal itself through frequent contests over rituals and symbols. This paper looks at the role of ritual events in civic spaces in Belfast but particularly asks what role they might play in conflict transformation. The 1998 agreement offered political structures that provided for shared power after 30 years of violent conflict. At the same time, there was an increase in contestation over public space as political groups within the previously marginalized Catholic community demanded recognition within the public sphere and a rebalancing of the public space through changes to the previously dominant Protestant and Unionist expression of identity. The paper concludes by suggesting that in “shared space��� a new civic identity that spans the political and ethnic divisions has started to develop in Belfast and that this might evolve despite an increased residential division throughout the urban area.

Walking the City:No more motorways for Belfast

Streets are key elements of urban space; they are in essence public spaces and connect diverse areas of the city weaving the urban fabric. Once motorways replace existing streets, they tear the fabric and transform the qualities of the urban landscape. As in many cities throughout the world, in Belfast during the 1960s the growth of private car ownership took over the development of the city. The Roads Authority developed plans (1964/1969) to build a ring road surrounding most of the city. This deeply affected the use and shape of the city until today. This plan focused on encouraging the move of population to the outskirts of the city. However, the connections between the city centre and its surrounding neighbourhoods were broken. Only the southern stretch of the motorway was not built. This allowed the connection between South Belfast and the city centre to remain seamless. The current possibility of building the southern stretch of motorway threatens this continuity. This paper will highlight the very high value of streets by analysing their physical qualities.

The Regulation of Public Space in Northern Ireland

The Parades Commission of Northern Ireland was established to regulate the use of public space in the region. Its formal design includes both a role in mediating between groups over how spaces are used and an adjudicative role when agreement between competing groups cannot be reached. We argue that the Parades Commission has only been effective to the degree that its character as a bureaucracy has quelled violence surrounding parades. The Commission's goal of conciliation cannot be attained without a more consistent, transparent and inclusive approach to applying law.