Urban Segregation Pattern

During the Industrial Revolution of the early to mid-1800s, a large number of Catholics moved from the rural areas to Belfast, settling in the Western, industrial, portion of the city. Their main locus of residence was along Falls Road, an extension of Divis Street-the early clustering place of Catholics just outside the city walls. The working class Protestants, in contrast, moved to North and inner East Belfast while the higher-class Protestants moved further east.

In 1969, widespread violence in the form of rioting and killing broke out, beginning a period known as the Troubles. This action was very prevalent in the working class areas of the West-predominantly Catholic with pockets of Protestants, the inner East-predominantly Protestants with pockets of Catholics, and especially the "patchwork quilt" of the North where Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods are side-by-side creating many more opportunities for conflict.

During this time of hostility, approximately 60,000 people, or 10% of Belfast's population, moved from their homes either to segregated neighborhoods where their group was the majority or out of the city entirely. This massive movement was the result of three factors-the desire to feel safe among one's group, active intimidation in which people were simply told "Be out by night or else," or open confrontation, characterized by petrol bombing resulting in fire, forcing the family to evacuate.

During this time, and for the next thirty years, familiar yet unmarked boundaries were physically demarcated in the form of brick walls, corrugated metal fences, freeways, and open empty lots.