The D/L case marks another important shift in the role that has been ascribed to culture. As with previous cities of culture, the UK CoC event in D/L aimed to bring substantial economic benefits, but arguably more importantly it also intended to help bring a divided society together. In this sense, it marks the transition of culture into a ‘resource for peace and reconciliation’. Given this new context, the research question for this project was as follows: “To what extent can culture become a transformative vehicle for peace-making and conflict resolution in D/L?” In support of the research question there were a number of research objectives: 1. The first investigated  the conceptualisation of culture used by local stakeholders. This enabled the researchers to ascertain how culture was mobilised by different communities, groups and agencies in D/L, for what purposes, how this affected community identities, community relations and impacts on cityspaces. The second analysed how event organisers coped with competing demands for resources. There were numerous funding applications for various events so it was important to unpack the decision making processes involved and how such decisions affected community relations and perceptions of fairness and equality. 3. The third questioned how organisers managed the celebration of different cultural identities in D/L, and the processes and problems involved in developing shared and neutral cityspaces. 4. The final objective focused on the methods used to reconcile conflictual communities and, related to this, levels of community engagement and participation. This was particularly pertinent to the Protestant community given evidence of entrenched levels of cultural alienation.

PI: Dr Philip Boland, School of Natural and Built Environment Queen’s University Belfast

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/philip-boland

CI: Prof Brendan Murtagh, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/brendan-murtagh

CI: Prof Peter Shirlow, Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool

liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studies/staff/peter-shirlow/