PhD Study : Architecture, Planning and Desegregation: An evaluation of current practice

Apply and key information  

Summary

In 2013, the Northern Ireland Executive published its first major conflict-transformation strategy, Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC). Quite uniquely amongst an international history of peacebuilding frameworks, T:BUC identified two explicitly material-spatial policy interventions for advancing the creation of shared space and desegregating a number of the region’s most ethnically polarised communities. The first of these was a 10-year programme, commencing in 2013, to reduce and remove Northern Ireland’s ‘interface barriers’, a catch-all term used to describe the wide range of permanent physical barriers that continue to divide many Catholic and Protestant communities. The second, was the development of ten new ‘exemplar shared housing schemes’ with a residential mix evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant representation.

As T:BUC draws closer to its ten-year anniversary, the results of these initiatives have been mixed. At the time of writing, current statistics state that of the original 59 interface barriers formally targeted for removal, 44 still remain, including all of Belfast’s major peace wall installations. Whilst there has been a successful delivery of the ten shared housing developments, these tend to be physically isolated from existing areas of residential segregation and a number have witnessed sustained campaigns of paramilitary-initiated sectarian intimidation against residents.

These policy initiatives therefore present a unique opportunity for detailed investigation and analysis of live case-studies where the emerging research questions are relevant, timely, and crucially, transferrable to a diverse range of national and international contexts characterised by residential segregation. Whilst T:BUC is fundamentally rooted in social policy, this PhD proposal addresses an important gap-in-knowledge by examining the overlooked role of architectural and planning policy praxis in attempts to foster social and spatial cohesion.

The PhD proposal aims to problematise several contemporary phenomena that will be central to the next phase of peacebuilding policy in Northern Ireland in order to provide an evidence-base that can be used to inform future desegregation policy:

  • Recent research (COYLES, D. 2017a; COYLES, D. 2017b; COYLES, D., HAMBER, B. & GRANT,  A. 2021) has revealed how many permanent physical barriers were put in place by a  confidential process of governmental security planning between 1977 and 1985.  These barriers are not widely recognised or on the register of interfaces  targeted for removal by government.

What are the implications of these barriers on future policy plans for community integration?

  • The major peace  installations in Belfast and Derry remain firmly in place and have become  established as core visitor attractions that make significant contributions to  the tourist economy.

What are the socio-economic implications for the future of the peace walls?

  • The delivery of shared  housing does not feature prominently within the 2021 Programme for  Government Draft Outcomes Framework consultation document issued by the  Northern Ireland Executive.

What lessons can be learned from the major public residential desegregation initiatives established in other international contexts, such as the United States, Israel and South Africa?

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

  • Clearly defined research proposal detailing background, research questions, aims and methodology

Funding and eligibility

The University offers the following levels of support:

Vice Chancellors Research Studentship (VCRS)

The following scholarship options are available to applicants worldwide:

  • Full Award: (full-time tuition fees + £19,000 (tbc))
  • Part Award: (full-time tuition fees + £9,500)
  • Fees Only Award: (full-time tuition fees)

These scholarships will cover full-time PhD tuition fees for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance) and will provide a £900 per annum research training support grant (RTSG) to help support the PhD researcher.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Please note: you will automatically be entered into the competition for the Full Award, unless you state otherwise in your application.

Department for the Economy (DFE)

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,000 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).

This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.

  • Candidates with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, who also satisfy a three year residency requirement in the UK prior to the start of the course for which a Studentship is held MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance.
  • Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationals who satisfy three years’ residency in the UK prior to the start of the course MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance (ROI nationals don’t need to have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to qualify).
  • Other non-ROI EU applicants are ‘International’ are not eligible for this source of funding.
  • Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living

Recommended reading

BELFAST INTERFACE PROJECT 2011. Belfast Interfaces: Security Barriers and Defensive Use of Space, Belfast, Belfast Interface Project.

BELFAST INTERFACE PROJECT 2017. Interface Barriers, Peacelines and Defensive Architecture, Belfast, Belfast Interface Project.

BELFAST INTERFACE PROJECT 2018. Reflected Lives: Intergenerational oral histories of Belfast’s peace wall communities, Belfast, Belfast Interface Project.

BERESKIN, E. 2015. Infrastructures of Partition, Infrastructures of Juncture: Separation Barriers and Intercommunal Contact in Belfast and Nicosia. New Diversities, 17, 35-58.

COYLES, D. 2017a. Journeys through the Hidden City: Giving visibility to the Material Events of conflict in Belfast. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 35, 1053-1075.

COYLES, D. 2017b. The security-threat-community. City, 21, 699-723.

COYLES, D., HAMBER, B. & GRANT, A. 2018. Hidden Barriers and Divisive Architecture: The Case of Belfast. Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series 17/18. Belfast: Northern Ireland Assembly.

COYLES, D. & MULHOLLAND, C. 2021. Divided Architectures: Hidden Infrastructures of Separation and Cohesion. In: YAPICIOGLU BALKIZ & LALENIS KONSTANTINOS (eds.) Boundaries and Restricted Places: The Immured Space. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

CROOKE, E. & MAGUIRE, T. (eds.) 2018. Heritage after Conflict. Northern Ireland., London: Routledge.

DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2013a. Facing the Future: Housing Strategy for Northern Ireland, 2012-17. Belfast: Department for Social Development.

DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2013b. Urban Regeneration and Community Development Policy Framework Belfast, Department for Social Development.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 2012. Building Safer, Shared and Confident Communities: A Community Safety Strategy for Northern Ireland 2012-2017, Belfast, Department of Justice.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. 2018. Department of Justice Interface Programme [Online]. Available: https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/articles/department-justice-interface-programme.

DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2015. Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Ireland (SPPS): Planning for Sustainable Development, Belfast, Department of the Environment.

LLOYD, G. & RAFFERTY, G. 2013. Creating a constructive interface between community planning and land use (spatial) planning. Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series 13/14. Belfast: Northern Ireland Assembly.

NORTHERN IRELAND HOUSING EXECUTIVE 2015. The Housing Executive’s Community Cohesion Strategy 2015-2020, Belfast, Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

RAFFERTY, G. 2012. Embracing the creation of shared space: considering the potential intersection between community planning and peace-building. Space and Polity, 16, 197-213.

THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE 2013. Together: Building a United Community, Belfast, The Executive Office.

WEIZMAN, E. 2012. Hollow land: Israel's architecture of occupation, London, Verso.

WYLIE, D. & COYLES, D. 2018. Housing Plans For The Future, Gottingen Germany, Steidl Verlag.

The Doctoral College at Ulster University

Key dates

Submission deadline
Monday 28 February 2022
12:00AM

Interview Date
Mid March 2022

Preferred student start date
Mid September 2022

Applying

Apply Online  

Contact supervisor

Dr David Coyles

Other supervisors