Research

Belfast 1:
Structural Studies

Project lead: James Anderson and Liam O’Dowd
with: Ian Shuttleworth and Chris Lloyd

Introduction

These studies build on the wealth of existing research on Belfast, including previous work by team members, to produce a new synthesis, up-dated during the course of the project.

B1.1 The Geopolitical Context and Categories of City
(James Anderson and Liam O'Dowd)
Taking Belfast as its starting point, this first strand of Module B1 seeks to provide a more general comparative framework for studying the 'linked cities' and Jerusalem in relation to ethnic, ethno-national and inter-state conflicts. It will examine broad patterns of historical-geographic change from a world of empires to a world of national states and beyond. This analysis builds on previous EU-funded research on borders and border conflicts (Anderson and O’Dowd – see: www.qub.ac.uk/cibr). It discusses different categorizations of ‘divided cities’ and the roles they may play in shaping the wider geopolitical conflicts.

B1.2 The Changing Built Environment and Socio-Economic Structures of Belfast
(Liam O'Dowd, Ian Shuttleworth and Chris Lloyd)
Outlining the evolution of the city’s built-up area and its main physical, economic and social structures over the last four decades, from before the onset of the recent ‘Troubles’ in the late 1960s up to the present. Partly based on previous work (by O’Dowd and Shuttleworth), it analyses how the city has been re-structured by various combinations of conflict-related factors and so-called ‘normal’ urban processes such as de-industrialisation, suburbanization and market-driven consumerism. It focuses on the transitions from ‘industrial city’ to ‘city of troubles’ to the presently developing ‘consumer city’, and on how these transitions have been shaped by the ethno-national conflict and have in turn influenced it.

B1.3 Belfast’s Political Demography: Ethno-National Populations, Segregation and Mixing
(Ian Shuttleworth with with Chris Lloyd and James Anderson)
Tracing changes in the 'balance' of ethno-national population at different spatial scales; changes in the patterns of segregation/mixing across the Belfast built-up area and its wider Northern Ireland context; and the public political discourses about these (often highly politicised) population questions. This builds on previous work (see: www.qub.ac.uk/c-star), particularly two ESRC projects and uses standardised 100 metre grid square data 1971-2001 (and -2011) established by one of them (Anderson, Lloyd, Shuttleworth). The analysis will include changing residential patterns, commuting and migration flows, and the use of modelling methods to distinguish between 'ethnic segregation' factors and other (e.g., market) forces which structure the city. This city-wide analysis will provide a necessary context for the (by definition) untypical 'interface' and city-centre areas which are the focus of two of the modules. There will also be some more detailed work, using official statistics and secondary sources, on particular localities or issues (e.g., where differential population change is a cause of conflict; and popular/media discourses about demography), but related fieldwork (e.g., interviewing) is organised in Modules B2 and B5, below.

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Belfast 2:
Belfast's 'Peacelines' and Interface Areas

Project lead: Madeleine Leonard
with: Liam O’Dowd, James Anderson, Chris Lloyd, Ian Shuttleworth and Lisa Smyth

Introduction

This module matches one on the Jerusalem Wall with both focusing on key spatial separation barriers or zones between the different ethno-national groups, albeit their significance and motivations are very different in the two cities. Belfast's ‘peacelines’ (some of which are 'peacewalls'), and more generally interface areas without purpose-built barriers, will be examined in terms of border-maintenance and border-crossing practices in everyday life. Key issues include how planners, police, army, paramilitaries and local communities have related to them; and how they evolved and developed during the 'Troubles' - including how and why they recently increased in number and extent despite (or because of?) the cessation of overt military conflict in the mid-1990s, but also attempts to reduce their divisive effects. Field research will focus on how peacelines are being (re-)imaged and (re-)institutionalised on both sides of the communal divide: how various groups (e.g., children, women, men, community organisations) negotiate them; how they become the focus for tensions around parades and sporadic violence and also a site of memorials and ‘conflict tourism’ organised by ex-paramilitaries; and in some cases a site for co-operation between the communities divided by them. The extensive work done by others on Belfast murals will also be updated insofar as they characterise the interior space of divided communities and demarcate their external boundaries. A key issue to be addressed will be the question of 'educational apartheid' in interface areas. Building on previous school based research, Madeleine Leonard will explore the perceptions and experiences of secondary school children in terms of their views of ‘the other side’, their own community, their experience of ‘mixing’ and of educational and extra-curricular attempts to forge links across the interface. Data collection will include archival sources, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, cognitive mapping, and photography.

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Belfast 3:
The ‘Religious City’

Project lead: Claire Mitchell
with: Liam O’Dowd

Introduction

This module (corresponding to one on Jerusalem's very different 'holy places') focuses on how religion in everyday life - in the form of churches, halls and memorials, denominational schools, religious rallies, protests, street preaching/prosleytism - serves to claim, demarcate and divide urban space throughout Belfast urban area. It studies the extent to which ‘religion’ has ‘retreated’ from the city centre as religious sites are desecrated, abandoned or given over to secular purposes, and it explores the boundaries where the ‘neutral’ city centre bleeds into religiously-demarcated communal space. The location, development and implications of new ‘religious’ space (churches, halls, schools, memorials, etc.) will be monitored and evaluated over the five years of the project. Study of the ‘divisive’ role of religion will be complemented by an examination of instances of co-operation across denominational boundaries: joint activities, sharing of facilities, regular ecumenical meetings and joint responses to threatened civil conflict (which links with Module B4, below). The research methods used will involve ethnography, observation, photography, mapping, and semi-structured key informant interviews.

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Belfast 4:
From Conflict Management to Conflict Resolution

Project lead: James Anderson, Liam O’Dowd
with: Milena Komarova

Introduction

This module builds on other modules in focusing on a spectrum of different approaches to conflict management/resolution in Belfast. These approaches range from policing strategies (linking with Jerusalem's conflict management module), to the agonistic channelling of urban conflicts (connecting with Jerusalem's agonistic urbanism module). There is a particular concentration on instances of joint activities around non-national issues which span the ethnic and territorial divides of the national conflict; and an emphasis on the potential of 'resolution' strategies involving dialogue, mixing and co-operative ventures across ethno-national borders, now that Belfast is in a 'post-ceasefire' stage of conflict and given that the belated implementation of the 1998 Belfast Agreement brings new possibilities (and perhaps new difficulties) in transcending the traditional terms of the conflict. In this context, it is hoped to focus particularly on joint activities which emerge during the period of the project, and to analyse their impact on ethno-national divisions. But whether taking current or past examples, the research will cover joint activities around class issues (e.g., trade union struggles), consumption struggles (e.g., around the provision of public services), and so-called 'moral' issues involving gender and sexuality, all of which cross-cut (and potentially under-cut) religious, ethnic and national divisions. Research methods will include the use of archival sources, semi-structured interviews with key personnel in conflict management (e.g., senior police officers), interviews and focus groups with key actors and participants in joint activities, and participant observation.

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Belfast 5:
Public Space in Belfast City Centre

Project lead: Lisa Smyth, Liam O’Dowd
with: James Anderson, Madeleine Leonard, Claire Mitchell, Ian Shuttleworth

Introduction

In divided cities, the central areas (however delimited) are widely assumed to constitute 'neutral space' in the everyday life of the city. The module explores this assumption in Belfast's case. In particular it focuses on the uses and recent transformations of public space in the city-centre; and on how it is structured and managed to avoid conflict and to allow for engagement with the ‘other side’, by various agents including city officials and planners, children and parents, males and females, with particular attention given to the gender and generational dimensions of public space. It examines the tensions and negotiations around access to the city centre and over the characterisation and use of space as safe or unsafe, mixed or divided, taking into account different times of day or year as appropriate. The contested claiming of central spaces and buildings for political rallies, marches or protests will be monitored and analysed over the research period. Data collection methods link geographical and sociological approaches. Sources include documentary materials, plans, maps, data on land use, newspaper accounts, direct and participant observation, visual methods, and targeted semi-structured interviews.

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Jerusalem 1:
The Impact of the Separation Barrier

Project leaders: Wendy Pullan and Mick Dumper

Introduction
Map Archive

This study will investigate the impact of the separation barrier or wall and its related infrastructures of security and control, by returning to the areas researched by ‘Conflict in Cities’ Projects 1 & 2 (2003-2005) before the wall was built and completed as well as some other sites that reveal the wall’s influence on the city. For the former, the mapping and basic background studies need not be repeated, and for all of the sites, our main focus is on the impact of the wall. The broader issue of urban division will be considered in context with the Belfast peacelines and include: the question of extreme measures in extreme circumstances; the possibilities for a temporary wall; the need for articulated urban identities.

Attention will be directed at the (re)use of land and public space, the significance of mobility or its absence, changes in interactions, clashes and segregation between Israelis and Palestinians, alterations in planning, policy and infrastructure as well as security and policing, and evidence of Palestinian resilience and resistance on a daily basis. Our present research indicates that the relationship between centre and frontier has become a significant urban force, and we shall continue to study it. Once again, a fieldwork team, including Palestinian and Israeli students, will investigate the sites. Some of this research will contribute to other projects described below.

Existing research will be extended to address central research questions for the ‘before’ and ‘after’ sites:

Modern Jerusalem: Damascus Gate area, the boundary between Palestinian and Israeli Jerusalem
• With the wall far to the east, is this still the dividing point in the city?
• How have major transport infrastructures affected the central part of Jerusalem?
• How resilient is Palestinian urban life in this area?
The historic centre: Al-Wad Street, commercial and religious ‘strip’ in the Old City
• How has the Islamicisation of this area developed now that the West Bank is closed
• In what ways have Palestinians from Israel contributed to the Islamicisation?
The periphery: Israeli settlements, Palestinian villages, suburbs
• What is the impact of cutting off the Palestinian hinterland from the city and the effect of the extended Israeli settlements on Jerusalem.
• To what extent have soft borders like Pat/Beit Safafa/Gilo been hardened?

New sites to be researched include:

Qalandiya checkpoint and the satellite town of al-Ram:
• How has the boom and bust wall speculation created and then severed this suburban centre?
Palestinian village/suburb of Abu Dis:
• How has division affected the residents of Abu Dis?
• What is the role of ‘conflict tourism’ at this ‘popular’ wall-viewing site?
Cinematheque area:
• For Israelis, who are generally sheltered from the wall, what is the impact viewing it at this fashionable urban venue

Jerusalem 2:
Holy City / Holy Places

Project lead: Mick Dumper and Wendy Pullan

Introduction

The symbolic associations of Jerusalem have encouraged certain preconceptions in the minds of its inhabitant as well as in world opinion, and national and ethnic conflicts are often manifested through religious spaces and rituals. The holy places of the three monotheistic religions have and to some extent still do determine the spatial structure and relationships of the city. This study will consider the uses, control, architecture, symbolic meaning and politicisation of a selection of holy places, and their role in the creation and preservation of the city centre, and their influence in both the state and extra-state organisations. It will also look at the larger religious topography in the wider city, e.g. procession routes, religious quarters and neighbourhoods, religious tourism and its infrastructure, and religious consumerism. Although the urban structures are very different, the reciprocity between place and religious/national identity offers fertile ground for contextualising Jerusalem with Belfast.

Much of this research will focus on the religious sites of the Old City, and routes that lead into it. Certain more distant and isolated sites are also revealing, like Rachel’s Tomb, sacred to all three monotheistic religions, but presently turned into an armoured camp for ultra-orthodox nationalist Jews. Although religious clashes fuel much of the present conflict, we also find in the religious topography an ability to share space, where, for example, different religious groups process on the same streets during different days or times. In the dense Old City, there is a vertical stratification of space that is often shared by different religious groups.

Jerusalem 3:
Agonistic Urbanism

Project lead: Wendy Pullan

Introduction

It is generally well recognised that conflict, in some form, is an important component of the urban condition; this is often seen in terms of cultural diversity or difference, but may also be seen as part of such central institutions as judicial and democratic processes. Clearly, we need to distinguish between difference that is productive and edifying, and violence that is meaningless and degenerative. The question of ongoing and productive conflict has implications for any peace process that focuses only on a solution or a recognisable end to the conflict; rather, that there is the question of how certain levels of conflict may be maintained. The notion of agon, constructive struggle or conflict, is rooted in ancient ideas of urban life and practice. In modern times, it is found in political philosophy forming part of theories of pluralism and difference, as in the work of William Connolly, Chantal Mouffe and John Gray, among others. In our research we wish to investigate how agon can be reincorporated with the city in order to understand whether conflict in modern contested cities can be channelled in a constructive sense. Especially the capacity of the city to reciprocally absorb and structure conflict will be addressed in what may be called agonistic urbanism.

The research will be both theoretical and practical, the latter exploring both historic and contemporary examples of agon as diverse as sport, public demonstration and civic and state ritual. Various project cities will play a major role here, such as the impact of demonstrations in Beirut’s Bourj Square after the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the changing attitudes to the Berlin wall since its demise, and the possibilities for the many examples of public participation and unrest, as well as graffiti, urban art and personal dress. Most importantly, evidence and residues for agonistic urbanism will be sought in our two primary cities, Belfast and Jerusalem.

Jerusalem 4:
Conflict Management: Security

Project lead: Mick Dumper

Introduction

This module will study the evolution of systems of physical control, surveillance and policing in a city where a large minority does not recognise the legitimacy of the sovereignty or presence of the dominant community. It will include the study of the range of overt and covert control techniques from the control features in planning and zoning, the creation of multiple borders through the differentiated provision of municipal services, social services and policing, the cooptation of neighbourhood elites, through to the introduction of military operations in a low-intensity conflict. Data will be drawn from visual evidence such as photographs and mapping, repeat observations, reports from human rights organisations and other monitoring NGOs, semi- structured interviews with senior police officials, politicians, activists and diplomats. Use will also be made of the researcher’s extensive involvement in Track II discussions over the future security arrangements for Jerusalem in any peace agreement. While focussed on Jerusalem, the study will draw upon the experience of Belfast and other cities in this project to identify specific patterns of control and the provision of human security in divided cities. The study will conclude with a critique of the various proposals for the future political settlement on Jerusalem including those suggested in Track II discussions.