Hidden Barriers: Belfast’s Secret Peace Lines

What’s on offer?

Hop on our bus tour through the city of Belfast. This two-hour narrated tour will take you on a journey through visible and invisible architectural remnants of “The Troubles” in Belfast.  

Learn more about the role of everyday architecture and space in conflict and peacebuilding processes. Along the way, there will be a number of optional short walk-and-talk stops. 

What’s it about?

This event takes an alternative tour through the city of Belfast, visiting a range of divisive architectural installations put in place by a confidential government security committee during ‘The Troubles', the period between 1969 and 1998 when the sectarian conflict in and about Northern Ireland was at its most extreme. Quite distinct from Belfast’s obvious and widely recognised ‘peace walls’, these hidden barriers comprise everyday parts of the built environment such as shops, houses, factories, roads, and landscaping. The tour travels to the north, east, and west of Belfast to reveal first-hand how these seemingly benign structures act as hidden peace walls between Catholic and Protestant communities, which enforce social and physical division in unseen and problematic ways.

Who’s leading the event?

Dr David Coyles 

Open to

Anyone is welcome.  There are a small number of stops where we leave the bus for a very short walk, but these are optional.

Of particular interest to

Of particular interest to those interested in community development, mobility and well-being within urban areas subject to social, economic, and environmental deprivation.

Event booking deadline