‘Shared space’ as symbolic capital: Belfast and the ‘right to the city’?

Abstract

The relationship between people and space is a hugely complex one; the intertwined nature of how people interact with certain spaces and with each other within certain spaces both informs and is informed by the physical environment itself, historic and contemporary spatial practice, and the discourses about these spaces. In many cities, policies are developed and initiatives put in place to govern these complex relationships in a number of ways: access can be restricted to particular places at particular times to ensure safety; places where people gather can be monitored; the built environment can encourage different types of spatial practice and interaction between people. In Northern Ireland, ‘shared spaces’, or those spaces people from different ethno-national backgrounds can use, are the subject of intense attention from policymakers. This paper explores how policy is governing shared space, with a particular focus on how the term ‘shared space’ and the connotations of this term are used as a policy concept to legitimise how Belfast city centre is managed as a space.

Key words:

• shared space
• public policy
• Northern Ireland
• right to the city

Notes

1 The interviews cited in this paper were conducted as part of fieldwork for the author's doctoral dissertation, completed at Queen's University Belfast.

2 Statements arguing for the need to promote ‘mutual understanding’ and ‘tolerance’ were included in Towards the Vision: The Core Themes (Belfast City Partnership Board 1998), A Shared Future (OFMDFM 2005) and Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (OFMDFM 2010).

3 Likewise, there has been considerable attention given to the physical barriers not only separating communities from one another, but road infrastructure separating inner-city communities from the city centre (Dawson 1984; Neill 2004; Byrne 2011).

Additional information

Mary-Kathryn Rallings, PhD (Queen's University Belfast, 2013), is the Research Manager at the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (HACT).