Communities as constructs of People and Architecture

This project assesses the architectural legacy of The Troubles, the social-historical phenomenon between 1969 and 1994 when the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland was at its most extreme. The influence of The Troubles was such that it has had a profound impact on the social, political, economic, cultural and spatial structures of Northern Ireland. There are many visible architectural remnants of the Troubles in contemporary Belfast, most notably the 'peace-walls' between a number of Protestant and Roman Catholic residential communities. Quite distinct from this recognised architectural legacy, this research encapsulates a specific, discrete and barely recognised aspect of the cultural structures of The Troubles: a range of distinct and divisive architecture within individual communities in Belfast, now embedded in the contemporary urban fabric. As Northern Ireland moves forward in a post-Troubles era, a plethora of housing, roads, landscaping and related artefacts continue to divide and spatially fragment communities.

The research conceives of a 'community' as a construct of 'People and Architecture', an intrinsic inter-relationship between people and their built environment. Community, housing, and security in Belfast are intricately linked. During The Troubles 70% of bombings were aimed at housing in the 'Belfast Urban Area'. The residential inner-city was subject to fundamental architectural alterations by both civilian and security authorities. These interventions resulted in a profound material impact upon inner-city communities, creating architectural and spatial disconnection that has promoted deprivation and disenfranchisement within these communities. These areas that are at now at the focus of the 'Together: Building a United Community Strategy, the core policy framework for post-conflict Northern Ireland, which emphasises the role communities will have to play in shaping their own future. Whilst there has been much work in the areas of planning policy, sociology and human geography concerning The Troubles, there is a distinct lack of architectural research in this area, particularly concerning architectural design and the relationship to communities during conflict. This study addresses this gap in knowledge, and equip local communities and policy makers with a crucial knowledge-base that is pertinent to contemporary policy formulation.

The overarching aim of this research is to effect material change in the community life of some of Belfast's most deprived urban areas. The research conceives of a city-wide study that will examine the architectural legacy of The Troubles and engage local communities with these findings in order to inclusively inform related policy formulation. This suggests four questions: What do these architectural artefacts look like? What do communities have to say about this architecture? How can this research inform the related and relevant policy discussions? What are the lessons for other communities, at both national and international level? These questions formulate the following objectives: to engage this area of arts & humanities research with community and policy stakeholders; to foster community empowerment through structured, active inclusion with policy makers; to illuminate and illustrate the urban impact of conflict in Belfast's communities; and, to develop a transferable method to engage local communities as active-researchers of their built environment. A 'community' as a construct of 'People and Architecture' involves a complex inter-relationship between community, design practice and policy ambition. A cross-disciplinary research team addresses this research context. Academics from architecture, photography, social policy, planning policy and conflict studies are working with community project partners and government agencies. This team have developed a co-designed, collaborative methodology with embedded pathways to community, policy, public and academic impact.

This research will be of benefit to:
- Academic beneficiaries in the areas of architecture, photography, social policy, planning, post-conflict transformation and community engagement. The research will make an important cultural contribution to an unknown aspect of history. The architectural artefacts of The Troubles are of great cultural and historical significance. Publication through academic journals as the research progresses, and through a 'Steidl' book publication after completion of the research contribute to public dissemination. There will be knowledge gained concerning the urban legacy of conflict that will be relevant to an international context of contested states, such as Palestine, Kosovo, Sarajevo and Johannesburg. This research takes an innovative cross-disciplinary approach and the knowledge generated by the research will extend and enhance the extensive existing knowledgebase in planning policy, sociology and human geography. This methodology provides an additional perspective to this arts and humanities research context and will be of benefit to other arts and humanities researchers interested in how practice-informed methodologies generate data and can engage with communities. Moreover, the community engagement initiatives, relationship to policy frameworks and social policy dimensions of the research, will also be of interest to researches concerned with community studies.

- Government project partners provide a direct link to policy impact. The Office for First Minister and Deputy First Minister and The Department of Justice are responsible for the 'Together: Building a United Community Strategy', the key policy ambition related to this research. This research has the capacity to influence policy formulation in the areas of housing, physical development, public safety and social regeneration. These cross-cutting themes are united under the aforementioned strategy and involve a range of government departments. Project partner OFMdFM will facilitate dissemination of the research findings to the related departmental agencies as the research progresses. Two Policy Symposia provide a structured forum ensuring emerging research findings are critically considered in relation to policy objectives. Moreover, in 2015 local planning powers for Belfast will fall under the remit of Project Partner Belfast City Council. Through a series of structured Briefing Sessions, Belfast City Council and the range of related council agencies who will be responsible for the development of local community plans, will be engaged with the research findings.

- Five 'social partnerships' mandated to innovate, and implement, regeneration initiatives with government agencies and communities in Belfast (the 'East Belfast', 'North Belfast', 'South Belfast', 'West Belfast' and 'Greater Shankill') will gain skills, expertise and research informed evidence through the Urban Spaceshaper workshops and reports. The engagement with local community groups offers the potential to enhance the creative output capacity within these disenfranchised communities. Moreover, these workshops directly involve residents and representatives from government agencies responsible for the built environment. This mechanism ensures that community issues relevant to well-being, safety and security, are highlighted to the related government agencies. The involvement of central government project partners (OFMdFM, DoJ) and local government project partner Belfast City Council helps embed impact potential to these key agencies responsible for policy formulation and implementation.

- Other community groups and organisations interested in engaging residents in active-research activities with their related built-environment will be able to benefit from the transferrable Urban Spaceshaper Workshop developed in association with the Landscape Institute. This can be used to provide research-informed evidence to influence policy discussions.