Transforming the city: The stakes of cultural and artistic landscaping in post conflict Belfast

Abstract

Today, despite major political advances, Belfast’s urban landscape still tells the story of a divided city where people’s freedom to walk at will remains limited. The use of territorial markers along with the presence of peace walls and the existence of shifting interfaces means that the level of interaction among the members of the two major communities is low. Belfast’s sectarian landscape is not yet a thing of the past. The picture, however, is not all gloom and doom. Attempts have been made and are still being made to re-design the city landscape so that it tells another story. This chapter highlights the contribution made by the community arts sector to transforming Belfast’s urban landscape so that the city becomes a truly shared space.