Malachy McEldowney

Creating Shared Public Space in the Contested City: The Role of Urban Design

This paper examines relevant characteristics of the ‘contested city’ and the concept of ‘public space’ in that problematic context. It offers an appraisal of the historical and contemporary role of urban design in shaping social space and interrogates the feasibility of using urban design to facilitate more integrated cityscapes. It presents detailed case studies of two ‘contested cities’, Nicosia and Belfast, based on content analysis of policy and planning documents, extensive site analyses in both places, interviews and seminar discussions with policy makers, planners, community and civic leaders. The paper comprises four dimensions—conceptual, descriptive, analytical and prescriptive—and in its final section identifies core values and relevant policies for the potential achievement of shared space in contested cities.

Integrating Land-use Planning and Transportation in Belfast: A New Policy Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Much of the interest in promoting sustainable development in planning for the city-region focuses on the apparently inexorable rise in the demand for car travel and the contribution that certain urban forms and land-use relationships can make to reducing energy consumption. Within this context, policy prescription has increasingly favoured a compact city approach with increasing urban residential densities to address the physical separation of daily activities and the resultant dependency on the private car. This paper aims to outline and evaluate recent efforts to integrate land use and transport policy in the Belfast Metropolitan Area in Northern Ireland. Although considerable progress has been made, this paper underlines the extent of existing car dependency in the metropolitan area and prevailing negative attitudes to public transport, and argues that although there is a rhetorical support for the principles of sustainability and the practice of land-use/transportation integration, this is combined with a selective reluctance to embrace local changes in residential environment or in lifestyle preferences which might facilitate such principles.

Shaping a Regional Vision: the Case of Northern Ireland

The theme of this paper is the preparation of a new region al plan for Northern Ireland, known as Shaping Our Future: a Region al Strategic Framework (RSF) and the public consultation exercise which underpinned its development. The paper attempts to provide a reflective con textualized account of the development of a ‘new’ model of participation an d its operation in practice. Arguably, the particular political circumstances in Northern Ireland provide an interesting case study of issues and tensions that connect to wider debates about the shaping of strategic planning policy and the growing demands for the development of participatory democracy.

Integrating Land Use Planning and Transportation: Policy formulation in the Belfast Metropolitan Area

Much of the interest in sustainable cities relates to the inexorable rise in the demand for car travel and the contribution that certain urban forms and land-use relationships can make to reducing energy consumption. Indeed, this demand is fuelled more by increased spatial separation of homes and workplaces, shops and schools than by any rise in trip making. This paper evaluates recent efforts to integrate land-use planning and transportation policy in the Belfast Metropolitan Area by reviewing the policy formulation process at both a regional and city scale. The paper suggests that considerable progress has been made in integrating these two areas of public policy, both institutionally and conceptually. However, concerns are expressed that the rhetoric of sustainability may prove difficult to translate into implementation, leading to a further dislocation of land-use and transportation.

Architectural Ambivalence: the Built Environment and Cultural Identity in Belfast

The word ‘ambivalence’ has a particular appropriateness for Northern Ireland in that we consistently assume that our society, if we can refer to it collectively, can be defined in terms of two opposed and conflicting perspectives. Almost every aspect of our lives, including our politics, religious practices and culture can be read as Protestant unionist or Catholic nationalist. So when we speak of cultural identity in Northern Ireland, more often than not what we mean is ethnic identity. In Belfast, of course, we have some very obvious visible expressions of identity in the sectarian geography of working-class areas — although the terraced house architecture is almost universal, tribal markers such as flags, emblems and wall murals simultaneously celebrate and threaten.

Discourses of the contemporary urban campus in Europe: intimations of Americanisation?

This article studies major structural changes in both the urban context and the internal objectives of universities in Europe. While they enjoy expanded student demand and an elevated role in their city‐region economy as significant creators and repositories of knowledge, they simultaneously confront a funding gap in accommodating these higher student access rates, controversies in the definition and delivery of their wider urban obligation, and the task of harmonisation in tertiary provision, as outlined in the 1999 Bologna Declaration. One proposed way of addressing such major shifts in the contemporary context has been to take on the distinctive internal and externally engaged features of the American research university – employing, for example new diverse funding portfolios, new managerialist objectives of corporate efficiency and globalist competitive strategies. This article assesses the extent and implications of any shift to the US model by examining the resonance in European universities of three main discourses that have influenced US higher education in recent times: (i) multiculturalism and diversity, (ii) neo‐liberal politics and mixed economic welfare policy, and (iii) globalisation. Through semi‐structured interviews with leading personnel in thirteen universities, and related site and document analysis, we determine that substantial evidence exists to suggest that the discourses are not simply US, but rather European as well, portending an institutional shift in the structure, management and contextual levels of engagement of the modern university with its contemporary context. At the same time it would be wrong to assert that the European university has been ‘Americanised’, in that we find, even in these changing times, the critical voice of the academy remains a significant element of the overall civic compact of pluralistic deliberative democracy.

Place and Special Places: Innovations in Conservation Practice in Northern Ireland

The ‘sense of place’ that relates human beings to their environment is under threat from the rising tide of ‘placelessness’ which can result from potentially positive forces such as urban regeneration as well as negative ones such as incremental degradation. The concept of ‘sense of place’, and the need to protect and enhance ‘special places’, has underpinned UK conservation legislation and policy in the post-war era. In Northern Ireland, due to its distinctive settlement tradition, its troubled political circumstances and its centralised administrative system, a unique hierarchy of ‘special places’ has evolved, involving ‘areas of townscape and village character’ as well as conventional ‘conservation areas’. For the first time a comprehensive comparative survey of the townscape quality of most of these areas has been carried out in order to test the hypothesis that too many conservation area designations may ‘devalue the conservation coinage’. It also assesses the contribution that ‘areas of townscape character’ can make in this situation, as potential conservation areas or as second-level local amenity designations. Its findings support the initial hypothesis: assessment of townscape quality on the basis of consistent criteria demonstrates a decline in the quality of more recent conservation area designations, and hence some ‘devaluation of the coinage’. However, the need for local discretion in the protection of local amenity supports the concept of ‘areas of townscape and village character’ as an additional and distinct designation. This contradicts recent policy recommendations from the Northern Ireland Planning Commission and contains valuable lessons for conservation policy and practice in other parts of the UK.

Northern Ireland:The Development Context

This article provides a con textual framework for the new agenda for development, represented in the economic strategy known as Strategy 2010, and the regional spatial plan known as Shaping Our Future. These are considered in the following two articles. This article begins by setting a perspective on the political economy of Northern Ireland an d follows with an outline of the spatial planning process. In conclusion, it raises the key challenges facing attempts to renew the region.

Cultural Attitudes, Parental Aspirations, and Socioeconomic Influence on Post-Primary School Selection in Northern Ireland.

ABSTRACT This research considers implications of planned reform of the education system in Northern Ireland for school choice and travel behavior. The school system is currently segregated on the basis of religion and academic ability at age 11. Discrete Choice Models based on a Stated Preference experiment included in a program of parental surveys yielded insights into likely responses of parents to both current options and potential reforms. Surprisingly, most parents would not be adverse to the removal of religious segregation from schools while availability of free school transport is not a significant factor in the school choice process. Aspirations of academic quality are higher among more affluent parents.

School choice and travel patterns in Northern Ireland: economic, social, and environmental impacts of a complex system

The Northern Ireland government is implementing policy reforms to its education system. These reforms have generated much heated debate and division along political party lines. However, none of the controversy has addressed the implications of the current or potential arrangements for travel and sustainability. This paper considers the implications of the planned reform of the education system in Northern Ireland, some potential alternatives for school choice and travel behavior, and the financial, economic, and environmental impacts on society. The study is informed by in-depth household-based surveys that encompass school choice and travel patterns, attitudinal questions, and stated preference experiments. Northern Ireland offers an indication of the potential pitfalls other areas may encounter when emphasizing increased choice in education systems.