Urban conflict and divided cities
Urban conflict is nothing new in cities like Belfast, Jerusalem and major cities in the Middle East. An international conference will take place at Queens's University in Belfast (19-21 May 2011) exploring how cities have been shaped by ethnic, religious and national conflicts. The conference is part of a five-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) entitled 'Conflict in Cities and the Contested State: Everyday Life and the Possibilities for Transformation of Conflict in Belfast, Jerusalem and Other Divided Cities' (CinC).
A multidisciplinary team of researchers have been studying mainly (but not exclusively) the cities of Belfast and Jerusalem as the key sites of territorial conflicts over state and national identities, cultures and borders. Researchers have been investigating how violent and non-violent ethno-national conflict have shaped the cities we see today.
Israel's separation barrier (wall) that has so altered Palestinian Jerusalem is one of the most well-known cases today. But many other urban borders have been imposed and are powerful: for example in Belfast the so-called 'peacelines' even divide some parks between Catholic and Protestant areas.
This conference will address questions on how cities and everyday urban life are used and abused in the containment of wider national conflicts. Sessions and forums will explore the potential cities have for achieving self-control and the positive channelling or resolution of conflict. It will equally provide opportunities for engagement with policy-makers.
Conference highlights will include:
- A keynote speech by world-renowned urban scholar, Professor Saskia Sassen, Columbia University on the theme: 'Urban Space: Enabling the Powerless'.
- Ninety-six presentations organised in parallel sessions drawing on research from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Africa. This will include a number of papers by members of the project 'Conflict in Cities'.
- An exhibition, called 'Capturing Urban Conflicts', showcasing the visual research of 'Conflict in Cities' will include a series of photo-essays on topics of various contested cities and the virtual mapping of a number of the project's cities.
- A policy roundtable sponsored and organised by the Northern Ireland Community Relations Commission on the theme of Policies and Progress on Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland Cities. Panel members will include representatives of business, government, voluntary and the community sector.
- A World Bank-sponsored policy roundtable on Cities, Conflict and Development, chaired by Nigel Roberts, co-director of the World Development Report 2011. The panel will comprise of contributors with extensive policy experience at international, national and local levels.
- A bus tour of Belfast areas most affected by the conflict which will allow participants to appreciate the complex legacies of division. Narrated by ex-combatants in the conflict, the tour presents the troubled history of Northern Ireland from competing republican and loyalist perspectives.
- Opportunities are also available for delegates to meet with a variety of community practitioners involved in grassroots projects aimed at conflict management and transformation in Belfast.
Dr Wendy Pullan comments: "Much of the research of Conflict in Cities has been devoted to understanding how ethno-nationally contested cities are both like and unlike each other, and what we can learn from making such comparisons. By bringing together researchers and practitioners who focus on a wide variety of cities, we expect to further comprehend these highly complex situations, with the hope of working towards ways of dealing with them".
Provided by Economic & Social Research Council
