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:
What are the implications of these barriers on future policy plans for community integration?
What are the socio-economic implications for the future of the peace walls?
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?
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.
The University offers the following levels of support:
The following scholarship options are available to applicants worldwide:
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.
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.
Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living
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.
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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.
Submission deadline
Monday 28 February 2022
12:00AM
Interview Date
Mid March 2022
Preferred student start date
Mid September 2022
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