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Peace By Piece Exhibition

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1. Department of Justice (DoJ) Reduction of Interface


In May 2017 an Interface structure in North Belfast was reduced in height by 1.2
metres after community consultation and subsequent consent by local residents.

2. Lower Oldpark Community Association Changing Attitudes

Walled In has been produced by a group of women through an animation


project called This Is Me. The project brought women together in a creative
process. They decided to theme their animation film around a brick wall at the
local park. At present this wall obscures parents views into the park and cuts the
park off from the rest of the estate. The groups proposal is for the brick wall to
be replaced with a transparent fence so the park is open and safe for children to
play in.

3. CRIS (Community Relations In Schools) Changing Attitudes

A Journey across Two Decades provides a visual record of the reflections and
discussion about community, diversity and peacebuilding. Pioneered by Holy
Cross, Edenderry Nursery Schools and CRIS (a local educational peacebuilding
organisation), the Buddy Up! system involves not only children, but their
parents, carers and the wider community. Over time and through hard work and
creative endeavour, an incredible appetite to participate in this programme has
been developed.

4. Peace by Piece Context

It is acknowledged that in many cases the removal of a fence or wall will be an


incremental process, indeed many structures are constructed in stages that allow
for small sections to be removed. An incremental reduction in structures remains
the most likely route to their eventual removal. The image is reproduced
courtesy of Paul Hurst.

5. Frankie Quinn Context

Frankie has been documenting interface areas and the physical structures of
division for 25 years. The concept and context for his work stems from living 100
yards from one of the more prominent structures in Short Strand. His latest work
aims to add to the debate around the T:buc vision to take the walls down by
2023. www.frankiequinn.com

Image 1. Clandeboye Gardens/Cluan Place, E.Belfast, 1993.

Image 2. Glenbryn/Alliance Ave, N.Belfast, 2003.

Image 3. Bryson Street, E.Belfast, 2013.

6. DoJ Knowledge Exchange

The DoJ interface team recognises the importance of using evidence to


demonstrate the impact of peace lines on communities. Land & Property Services
provide GI Consultancy to map the location of all peace lines and to plot
locations of a range of services. The information has been combined into a
Spatial NI web viewer, allowing the data to be displayed with ease. Exhibited are
a number of data sets providing up-to-date snapshot information on Interface
areas.

7. DoJ Knowledge Exchange

The DoJ Interface team attended a recent Open Data Camp. The Drawnalism
captures the summary of discussion to the question: Can open data support
uniting divided communities and democracy?

8. NIHE Planning for Real Visions

An interface barrier in the Woodvale area in North Belfast is being transformed,


thanks to a community-led project. The physical transformation at the Rosebank
St/Columbia St/Leopold St area will see a derelict site, close to the Crumlin Road
interface, brought back into community use. The environmental scheme includes
road improvements, new kerbings and a series of art installations, as well as the
replacement of gates.

9. New Lodge Arts Planning for Real Community Participation

Lesley Cherry was appointed to liaise with Woodvale residents to realise the
designs for the gates and artworks. Through a series of workshops, public
meetings and one-to-one conversations, they decided to base the designs on the
linen history of the area, referencing the mills, mill workers and the machinery
they used.

10. University of Stuttgart Visions

In November 2016, staff from the School of the Natural and Built Environment
facilitated a live project at interface locations across Belfast for architects and
urban design students from Universitt Stuttgart. The Universitt Stuttgart
students, led by Professor Astrid Ley, Dr Manal El-Shahat and Dan Teodorovici,
were completing their Design in an International Context module. Their brief
involved devising creative interventions in four interface locations in North and
West Belfast with assistance from local urban design and planning students.
During their study visit they met with community representatives from Duncairn
Community Partnership, Peas Park and academics working in this field.

11. Mary Gill Visions

Mary Gill completed a Msc Urban and Rural Design at Queens University Belfast.
With a brief to develop urban design solutions to improve the physical, social and
environmental wellbeing of the area, Marys project focused on the Lanark way
interface area. This street in West Belfast has been severed due by the security
gate, constructed there during the 1960s. Her work proposes developments that
will help to re-stitch this area and make positive use of interface spaces.

12. Carnegie Library Visions

The Library sits on the interface of Oldpark Road and Manor Street in North
Belfast. Opened in 1906, the library is one of three in Belfast endowed by the
wealthy Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. He gifted over 500 libraries
across the UK and Ireland in areas where access to education was likely to have
impact. In 2015, the derelict building was bought at auction by social
entrepreneur Quintin Oliver, in partnership with Lower Oldpark Community
Association. Their ambition is to restore the library as a sustainable social
enterprise, as a shared space which will also be used for community
programmes in wellbeing, education, training, arts and social activities.

13. DoJ Context

The 3D infographic shows defensive structures in comparison. The model has


been built to a scale of 1:7.

14. DoJ/Alan Leonard Context

Selection of books on peace walls and a display of a section of the Berlin Wall
courtesy of Alan Leonard.

Alan Leonard travelled to Germany to visit a friend and discover Berlin in 1989.
Soviet communism was collapsing, and this was his once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to see what it was all about. The climax was a reopening of the
Berlin Wall. As he stood on top of the Wall, watching scenes of jubilation among
many thousands, he knew he was living history. Meanwhile, local entrepreneurs
invested time in diligently removing large pieces of the Berlin Wall -- no mean
feat considering that it is made up of thick concrete and stone. While he chiselled
off a tiny spec myself, the trophy piece was the result of another's patient labour.

15. Belfast Mobility Project Knowledge Exchange

This video clip, the result of a partnership project between ICR/QUB, Open
University and Lancaster University examines how divisions between, and
among, communities affect peoples daily lives in the post-conflict city. The area
is defined by a patchwork of predominantly Catholic and Protestant housing
estates, often divided by security barriers. 233 participants downloaded the
Belfast Pathways app and agreed to have their movements recorded for a two-
week period. More than 24.5 million points of data were collected. The data
allowed for the identification of areas of segregation and shared spaces, as well
as routes taken by members of particular communities when accessing services
and facilities.
16. DoJ Removal of interface

In September 2017 a security wall, running parallel to the Springfield Road,


opposite New Barnsley Police Station was removed. The 3m high wall was
erected in 1989 to protect residents and the nearby station. Extensive
consultation, led by Black Mountain Shared Space, was undertaken to achieve
community consent, with funds allocated to remove the wall, secure and restore
a privately owned site on which the wall was located.

17. DoJ Context

Infographic with facts & figures about interfaces

18. Limestone Utd Changing Attitudes

The story board captures the Limestone United journey over the past 10 years
from interface conflict between young people from the Tigers Bay, Newington
and New Lodge areas of Lower North Belfast to participating in a cross-
community football team with local PSNI Neighbourhood officers from York
Road. It captures the first team to the present senior and junior teams and the
newly formed Limestone Ladies and how they are empowering young people to
build a better quality of life and develop good relations in their communities.

19. David Turner & Michael Wilkinson Vision

The theoretical Re-development of Belfast by an artist and an architect is an 18


month cross disciplinary, multi-faceted project. While both are firmly grounded
in their artistic and architectural practices respectively, they are both
conceptually driven. Their work progresses through a mutual understanding that
no constraints be placed on ideas. This allows for any and all possibilities and
outcomes to be evaluated. No ideas are bad ideas. The project is envisaged as a
multi-faceted urban regeneration project. It seeks to reimagine the city of Belfast
and use this as a catalyst to promote good design. The work is largely artistic in
conception and explores many avenues. It is a beginning and a process rather
than a conclusion.
20. Townsend Enterprise Vision

Townsend Enterprise Park has been established in the current location since
1987 promoting an urban regeneration area by providing training services,
workspace units and promoting social enterprise.

The plans here are those of a vision of what can be put in place to bring about
this change. This will see the creation of an education and interpretation centre
outlining the rich social history and heritage, a peace line caf as well as creating
an opportunity to use the church as a venue for concerts etc. Through this
proposal we will be re-building, re-connecting and re-generating not just within
the street but also within the surrounding communities and with the right
package of funding and the continued commitment of a dedicated team of
volunteers and professionals this vision can be achieved.

21.Cartographies of Conflict Knowledge Exchange

David Coyles, Adrian Grant, Brandon Hamber, Greg Lloyd, Donovan Wylie, Ulster
University, Laura Lane, Anne Power, London School of Economics

Cartographies of Conflict is a research project investigating the hidden


architectural legacies of conflict and the impacts of these legacies on
contemporary community life. This project extends the current understanding of
physical and social division by examining the hidden architectural barriers that
are embedded within the inner-city communities of Belfast.

The findings emerging from these investigations, undertaken by a multi-


disciplinary research team drawn from Architecture, Urban Planning, History,
Photography, Peace & Conflict Studies, and Social Policy, provides a new
cartography for mapping the contemporary effects of historic conflicts that can
be used to aid post-conflict policy development and community regeneration.

www.cartographiesofconflict.com

22. MMAS Architects Vision

Designed to be situated at any interface structure in Northern Ireland, MMAS


proposed adapting a section of wall into a pair of gates-come-benches that open
to create a public space straddling the divide between neighbourhoods, some
separated for several generations. MMAS have been working with young people
in an interface area to develop their design idea. A documentary captured the
process of participants engaging in visualising an alternative future, this was
shown at the RIBA exhibition in London during July and September.

23. DoJ Context

The image shows the Northumberland Street security gate as well as locks and
chains commonly used. Northumberland Street is one of four streets along the
Shankill/Falls interface where pedestrian and vehicle access is limited to certain
times of the day. These gates, from Lanark Way down to Townsend Street are
linked in with a series of high fences, the most iconic of which is the fence
running along Cupar Way.

24. IFI - Peace Walls Project Changing Attitudes

Since 2012, the International Fund for Ireland's Peace Walls Programme has
focused on helping interface communities to bring about the conditions that can
allow for the removal of peace walls. Through support to six community-based
partnerships working in interface areas, the Fund provides a range of confidence
and relationship building initiatives within and between interface communities.
The aim is to help residents arrive at a position where they feel it is safe and
appropriate to discuss and consider the removal of peace walls in their area. The
exhibits outline the work of each of the six funded groups.

The Department of Justice wish to thank the following people and organisations:

The Ulster University, particularly:

Raffi Folli, Provost


Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Pro Vice Chancellor

Duncan Morrow, Director of Community Engagement

Dr Jonny Byrne

Feargal OMalley, Curator

Andy Drake, Facilities

Kevin Connolly & Chris Paul, Technical Services

Zara Lyness, Graduate Artist in Residence

for their assistance in making the exhibition possible and for use of the Belfast
Campus to host the event.

We would also like to thank:

Lee &Wayne at a:m graphics

Davy @Townsend Enterprise

Paul McAtamney

Paul Hurst, Photographer

All our exhibitors & supporters

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