This study examines the effects of civil unrest on the urban environment, taking the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland as a case-study. It explores the continuous destruction, reconstruction and development that has been taking place from the eruption of the worst conflicts in the late 1960’s until today.
The author visited Belfast between the 4-11 March 1990, where he interviewed a number of officials, professionals and local people as well as visiting a number of the State Departments. Within the context of Northern Ireland, the ‘troubles’ are mainly displayed in the form of both ‘illustrative’ and ‘destructive’ terrorism, without going into the conventional methods of warfare and street fighting, which we have witnessed in a number of civil wars and conflicts in the Middle East. Still, the Belfast study helped the development of this dissertation in a number of ways. Besides developing the author’s own abilities to investigate and research in a totally alien context, it helped derive some lessons that have added to the general context of examining post-war reconstruction, particularly where religious or social divisions exist.
This working paper is available from the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York.
To cite this working paper: Barakat, S. 1993. Civil Unrest Shaping the Built Environment in Northern Ireland: The Case of Belfast. Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York.