Belfast
by Matthew Reardon
What once was a Norman castle in the 12th Centruy is now one of Notheren Europe's most well known cities. Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland,UK and it's metropolitan area is home to 590,000 people. Most famous for it's religious and political clashes, Belfast is seeking to renew itself in in the model of other Northern Eurpean cities. The recent peace processes have have sparked optimism and a booming tourist industry. The future development of Belfast depends upon the continued economic growth and the upon the cessation of ethno-sectarian animostiy.
Architecture and Landmark Structures
There is little good stone to build with in and around Belfast. Most of the early buildings were made of imported Scottish sandstone or of red brick clay (Brett). 19th Century brick and sandstone warehouse and factories are commonplace in Belfast. Most are between 3 and 5 stories high. Belfast follow the characteristic low rise format of a European city.
Landmark Structures
White Linen Hall was buit in 1785 in the the city center. It was a symbol of the growing linen trade in Belfast until 1896 when it was demolished to make way for city hall.
Belfast Castle is located in the northern part of the city. It was built in the 1860's when the city prospered from the textile industry.
The Waterfront opened in 1997. It has various entertainment functions; including exhibition space, auditorium, convention center, and theater.
Ulster Hall was built in 1862. It contains the famous Mulholland Organ and has played host to Charles Dickens and Led Zepplin.
Industrialization and Ecomomic Base
The early economic life of Belfast can best be described as simple market commerance. Produce from the countryside was brought here to be bought and sold locally. In the 17th century English and Scottish ships imported coal, cloth, brandy, wine, tobacco, and timber. In exchange Belfast offered goods for export; beef, butter, hides, tallow, and corn. In thelate 18th Century Belfast began to develope a strong linen industry. The introduction of power driven, textile spinning machines, turned Belfast into an industrial city. People from the surrounding countryside came into Belfast to work in the textile industry.
England increasingly turned to Belfast for cheap textiles due to the American Civil War in the 1860's. Massive amounts of money were made by the cotton and linen barons in Belfast during this time. With this economic footing the city grew physically (numbers of factories and houses) and in population (Beckett, 49).Of course the growth of the textile industry sparked the growth of other industries such as shipbuilding.
Since the signing of the Good Friday agreement Belfast has seen a surg in outside investing. Agriculture and fine linens continue to be produced here but Befast is seeing growth in the tourism industry, real estate, and in engineering. Several major engineering companies employ workers in the Belfast area including some multinationals like Bombardier, Catepillar and DuPont.
Ethno-Sectarian Geography
The peace that has seeming setled over Belfast in the past 10 years does not mean all is well in this conflict ridden city. By looking at the map below one can easily see the segregation along religious lines. Not all Catholics are nationalist, nor are all Protestants unionists. But territorial boundaries exsist in almost every part of Belfast today.
Unlike most divided cities in the European Union the divisions and boudaries are not based on race or class but on national indentity. Each community that resides along an boundary lives with some fear of attack. The frontiers of these boundaries are not based on an ethno-sectarian standstill but on the continual population's insistance on re-delivering various differances and complaints. Each separated community (because of the very fact that it is separated) can reinforce and emphasise the issues of discrimination. And so the discrimination or the sense of it strengthens within that homogenious space. Crucial for the survival of this separation of Belfast's spaces is the continual insistance of each group to find new ways to offend and be offended.
City planners face a difficult task in Belfast. In order to create neutral spaces something must be done to reduce the fear and prejudice of the population. In order to reduce the fear and prejudice of the population they must create neutral spaces. The question they must answer is this; How can space encourage an individual to stretch him or her selve beyond the confines of their ethno-sectariam indentification (Shirlow and Murtagh).
Religious Segregation - Use this link to view the map in greater resolution. The map is provided with permission through this site.
Tourism is quickly becoming one of Belfast's major economic strengths. In 200o the city claims to have had 1.6 million visitors. In 2007 they had 6 million. With the general promotion of restaurant, nightlife and shopping the city is promoting itself as a premier destination for cultural tourism. Recent constuction following a relatively peaceful atmosphere of the city includes the Waterfront Hall, a 100 million pound Odyssey Complex, and the Grand Opera House. The Odyssey complex is an enormous entertainment, education, and sports complex on the east bank of the River Lagan. It includes a brand new science center call the W5.
Follow this link to view enlarged image of this map of Belfast's roads.
Belfast has no subway system but does offer spralwing roadways, buses, black taxies and numerous bike trails. The black taxies are also a kind of tourist attraction. The number of private cars in the city is growing.
The port facilities recieve the heaviest traffic from many of Great Britian's port cities including Southhampton, Flexstowe,Liverpool, and Thamesport. It also recieves ships from the Baltic and Scavdanavian port cities and the Iberian Penn. port cities.
Beflast is the gateway to Northern Ireland. It is safely tucked in a bay called Belfast Lough on the northest coast of the island. It is also located at the mouth of the River Lagan. These two physical features make allowed Belfast to develop into a port city. The physical geography of the bay was not the only factor. The early industrialization that took place in several cities in Northern Europe (earlist of them all cities in the nieghboring island of Great Britan) during the 19th Century created a demand for better ports.
In 1780's Belfast's port facilities included two large docks on the west bank of Belfast Lough and only one sizable shipyard. To make matters worse the bay was a mine-trap of sand banks and shallow waters. In 1785 a group calling themselves the "Belfast Board" was created to remove the worst of the shoals in the channel and to aquire land to build a the city's first dry dock and ship-repair yard. The Belfast Board was entirely made up of the city's most successful merchants. The misson was a complete success and stands as a great example of building in advance of demand. The decision to allow the people who stood to gain the most (the merchants) to develop the port would be justifed by the economic growth of the city.
Over the next 150 years Belfast's port facilities would grow to keep up with the booming textile and ship building industies. The shallow parts of the bay were filled and the channel was deepened at accommodate larger ships. In 1893 the pharse "Belfast built" became snyonymous with the best ship construction in the world (Beckett, 59).
Today Belfast's port handles 60 percent of Northern Ireland's seaborn trade and 20 percent of the trade for the entire island. The port receives 6000 vessels per year (Port of Belfast, 1)
Night Life and Entertainment
Belfast is host to Europes 2nd largest arts festival - The Belfast Festival at Queens University. Numerous dancing club and pubs can be found in Belfast's growing and redeveloped river district.
Local Religions and Religious Structures
To see this map in greater detail follow this link to the churches
Belfast's protestant fractions include Methodist, Church of Ireland, and Presbyterian. Roman Catholicism in the other Christian faith present in Belfast. Roman Catholics make up 47 percent of the population and Protestants make up 49 percent.
Books
Shirlow, Peter and Brendan Murtagh. Belfast; Segregation, Violence and the City. London: Pluto Press, 2006.
Neill, William J.V., et al. Reimaging the Pariah City; Urban Development in Belfast and Detroit. Aldershot: Avebury, 1995.
Beckett J.C., et al. Belfast; the Making of the City. Appletree Press: Belfast, 1988.
Neill, William J.V.”Whose City? Can a Place Vision for Belfast Avoid the Issue of Identity?” European Planning Studies. July 1998: 269-281.
Journals
Gallaher, Carol and Peter Shirlow. “The Geography of Loyalist Paramilitary Feuding in Belfast.” Space and Polity. August 2006: 149-169.
Heikkila, Eric J. “Identity and Inequality: Race and Space in Planning. Planing Theory & Pratice. Vol. 2 2001: 261-275.
Bairner, Alan. “The Flaneur and the City: Reading the ‘New” Belfast’s Leisure Spaces.” Space and Polity. August 2006: 121-134.
Shirlow, Peter. “Belfast: The ‘Post-Conflict’ City.” Space and Polity. August 2006: 99-107.
Websites
Belfast Tourism Site. The Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau. 13 March 2008. < http://www.gotobelfast.com/>.
Port of Belfast. 20 March. 2008. The Port of Belfast. 1 April 2008. < http://www.belfast-harbour.co.uk/About-us-location.htm>.
Belfast City Council. City Council of Belfast. 13 March 2008. < http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/>.
Belfast Education and Library Board. 5 April 2008. The Belfast Education and Library Board. April 5 2008. http://www.belb.org.uk/.