Economic and Social Research Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1UJ CENTRE/GROUP/NETWORK DIRECTOR'S ANNUAL REPORT FORM (Edition 10: November 2008) Tel: 01793 413000 Fax: 01793 413001 CENTRE/GROUP/NETWORK DIRECTOR'S ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09 Reporting period : From 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 Name of Centre/Group/Network Director's name : Conflict in Cities and the Contested State : Dr Wendy Pullan Start and End Dates : October 2007-September 2012 Year of Operation : Year 2 Total budget from ESRC : 2,588,666.50 The Director's Annual Report should be completed in accordance with the attached guidelines. It should be submitted to EST and a copy emailed to the relevant ESRC Case Officer by 31 March 2009.
1. Introduction Conflict in Cities and the Contested State focuses on divided cities as key sites in territorial conflicts over state and national identities, cultures and borders. The research objectives are to analyse how divided cities in Europe and the Middle East have been shaped by ethnic, religious and national conflicts, and conversely, how such cities can absorb, resist and potentially play a role in transforming the territorial conflicts, which pervade and surround them. The project seeks to understand divided cities as arenas of intensified ethnonational conflicts, particularly with respect to the role that architecture and the urban fabric play as a setting and background for everyday activities and events. Phenomena related to creating, maintaining, crossing, transcending, and possibly ignoring ethnic and territorial borders, both physical and symbolic, are central to the study. The main research sites are Belfast and Jerusalem, two very distinctive cities - one firmly embedded in the West and one central to the Middle East - and both at different stages of national conflict and peace building. A team of researchers from three UK universities, Cambridge, Exeter and Queen s Belfast, are leading the multi-disciplinary initiative that includes: architecture, urban studies, politics, geography and sociology. Teams reflecting the divisions being researched are carrying out work in situ in Belfast and Jerusalem. Seven PhD students have been attached to the programme since September 2008 and, in conjunction with an international network of academics and practitioners, are working on the divided cities of Brussels, Berlin, Mostar, Nicosia, Berlin, Beirut, Tripoli and Kirkuk. The research on Belfast and Jerusalem is organised in a series of relatively selfcontained modules, which allow a degree of flexibility for using different disciplinary approaches and methodologies as appropriate to each city and topic area. 2. Impacts and highlights 2.1. Research progress Considerable progress has been made in developing a distinctive conceptual framework for the proposed book to be entitled Cities and Ethno-national Conflict: Empire, nation and urban space. The conceptual categories involved have been clarified, including a group of ethno-nationally divided cities in Europe and the Middle East, which have been identified as emerging on the peripheries and frontiers of historic empires. One of the key findings in the research on Jerusalem so far is the degree of political manipulation of heritage in the service of religious nationalism. Both Israeli settler and Palestinian Islamist groups are becoming increasingly dominant at historic and religious sites in their attempts to bolster legitimacy, territorial control and popular support. Not only affecting the local images and use of the city, it transforms perceptions of this major tourist and pilgrimage destination. A number of papers on this recent development have been widely disseminated through a wide range of outputs, as well as the project s ongoing advisory work. 2.2. Academic impact One of the major highlights from this past academic year was the first of the project s five annual workshops, which took place on 25-26 September 2008 at the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen s University Belfast. The theme of the workshop was The City and the Contested State. The workshop had three main aims: (1) to introduce the project to our new PhD students, and for the first time to bring together the full Conflict in Cities team from the three universities, (2) to include people from the wider research community, policy makers and community activists in Belfast, both as a way of introducing to them our research project and to obtain a feedback from them that would contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the city, and (3) to bring into the project comparative material based on other divided cities and states. The second day was attended by over fifty guests and included papers on Belfast, Jerusalem, Kirkuk and Brussels. Two tours of Belfast took place during the workshop. The workshop ended with a round table discussion involving Belfast policy makers and community activists who focused on the experience of practitioners and user groups and discussed how different institutions and 2
communities see their place within the changing nature of the city. Cross-cutting themes that emerged from the overview of all papers presented suggested the need to question more systematically key research concepts - everyday life, the state, civil society, public sphere, and public space - in the context of the different cities studied in the project. A further highlight has been the research visit of Jerusalem project partner Salim Tamari to the University of Cambridge hosted by Conflict in Cities in conjunction with Clare College in October-November 2008. Tamari is Director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies, Professor of Sociology at Birzeit University, Ramallah, and editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly. As Eric Lane Visiting Fellow at Clare College, he delivered four lectures and seminars in Cambridge. Tamari visited Exeter University and participated in a lecture and discussion entitled The Collapse of the Two State Solution: What are the Alternatives?. Tamari participated in several research discussions with the Conflict in Cities teams in Cambridge and Exeter. He also gave lectures at SOAS and the University of Kent. 2.3. Societal impact Belfast The biggest impact outside of academic circles is associated with Conflict in Cities September 2009 Project Workshop in Belfast. The second day of the workshop was well attended by Northern Ireland policy-makers involved in urban development and regeneration. The round table discussion concluding the workshop got practitioners from both the public and the voluntary sectors involved. The Permanent Secretary of the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland acted as a chair to the discussion. As a direct result from the participation of local community workers in the workshop round table discussion, a group of workers looking at problems of leadership across communities in North Belfast and at the shared future policy agenda for the development of good relations in Northern Ireland have requested a meeting with members of the Belfast Project team to discuss aspects of the project s research that are relevant to their own work. Liam O Dowd is a member of the Belfast Steering Group associated with the EUfunded Open Cities project, led by Belfast City Council and involving 10 other European cities. His involvement allows for an interface between the Conflict In Cities Project (notably post-conflict Belfast) and the concerns of the Open Cities project with cultural diversity, inter-urban connectivity and urban economic competitiveness. Jerusalem Mick Dumper continues to be involved in the Canadian-based Jerusalem Old City Initiative, which is looking at the possibility of third party intervention in the future administration of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Initiative involves discussions with Israeli and Palestinian advisors to the peace process. Wendy Pullan was invited by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to present on Conflict and Cities project in relation to security challenges facing cities in the UK at the Conflict and Architecture Advisory Meeting in at the RIBA headquarters in London in July 2008. This advisory role continues through the project s participation in the Building Futures Initiative. The Jerusalem team works closely with non-academic users such as the Israeli NGO Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights and the Palestinian International Centre for Peace and Cooperation. Pullan gave the keynote address at a Bimkom symposium in Jerusalem that was well-attended by academics, activists, diplomats and journalists. Dumper has also advised the Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, who is leading an Anglican peace initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a particular focus on Jerusalem and the Holy Places. 3
3. Progress against objectives 3.1. Modules Belfast Module B1.1: The Geopolitical Context: Empires, States and Cities. This module has so far focused on preparing a general theoretical framework for understanding the concept of divided cities. Two kinds of output are foreseen: output to date includes: (1) Working Paper 1 From Empires to ethno-national conflicts Part I of a framework for studying divided cities. Part II, Intersections of Imperial, National and Urban Space is being readied for publication. (2) a 2,000- word extended draft abstract for a proposed co-authored book has been prepared. The book will focus on our entire set of divided cities. Module B1.2: The Changing Built Environment and Socio-Economic Structures of Belfast. The research focus of the module is how changes in the built environment in Belfast in the last decade are interacting with ethno-national conflict and division. We have identified three types of structural transition: (1) capital accumulation and capitalist change; (2) transition in political governance; (3) and cultural change. We have chosen to explore the relationships between these types of structural transition via a series of case studies of physical regeneration in Belfast: Crumlin Rd Gaol and Girdwood Barracks regeneration scheme, Titanic Quarter, Gasworks Park and Gaeltacht Quarter. Fieldwork has started in May 2008 and has included conducting interviews with members of the Advisory Panel for the Crumlin Rd Gaol Masterplan and creating case study files with all available in the public domain documentation on the individual cases. Module B5 Public Space in Belfast City Centre. The aim of the research is to qualitatively explore how mothers of pre-school children perceive, conceive and use city spaces, neighbourhoods and the city centre, in their everyday lives. Appreciating the intersections of gender, class and ethno-national tensions, the study focuses on working class women living in four ethno-nationally distinct residential areas situated close to the neutral space of the city centre. The research strategy includes three stages: (1) Ethnographic Fieldwork; (2) Semi-Structured One-to-One Interviews (January March): for this aspect of the research an initial target of 20 women (4 from each area) has been reached and exceeded; (3) Self-Directed Photography and Interview (March May). Jerusalem Module J1.1: The Socio-economics of the Old City. In the project s ongoing monitoring of the impacts of the Israeli policy of closure and the construction of the separation barrier, the socio-economic changes within the Old City have been given special attention with respect to market activity, new forms of religious tourism, overcrowding and security. The multiple connections between the Old and New City appear particularly important. Module J1.2: Borders and Governance. This research continues to focus on how the separation barrier continues to impact both the dynamic borders and shifting boundaries of the city and the repercussions this inevitably has for future State(s) negotiations. Module J2.1: The Politicisation of Heritage. The increasing politicisation of heritage has been the basis for three papers. The first analyses settler activities in the historic basin of Jerusalem with a special focus on the City of David archaeological park in Silwan south of the Old City. A second paper offers a critical urban analysis of the holy basin as a planning idea, arguing that the concept of a special heritage zone remains insufficiently explored in terms of its implications for Jerusalem as a viable city for both ethno-national communities. A third paper problematises international heritage interventions in contested cities, drawing on comparative case studies of UNESCO projects in Aleppo, Mostar and Kosovo. Module J2.2: The Islamic Movement. This paper analyses the growing involvement of the Islamic Movement of Israel in the Jerusalem, exploring how the Al Aqsa mosque has been employed, particularly by Sheikh Ra ad Salah from the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement as a symbol for political empowerment, a site for public contestation and a focus for religious renewal, through tourism and activism. 4
Module J3.1: Urban Resistance. Within the wider historical and theoretical enquiry into the role of conflict in cities, this study develops an interpretation of urban resistance in Palestinian Jerusalem as a possible long-term building block of a society under duress. It presents a threefold investigation of the Islamicisation and commercialisation of the Old City, the revival of family structures, as well as the use of heritage and conservation techniques to revive Palestinian traditions in Old City housing. 3.2. Methods The Cambridge team is developing a multi-disciplinary methodology derived from architectural graphic practice. This methodology involves the use of visual imagery and serves to move beyond disciplinary boundaries informing the research of the project as a whole. An innovative paper in progress is looking at historic and contemporary representations of Jerusalem and in particular how this imagery is used in conjunction with ideas and policies for the planning and conservation of the Old City. The analysis is developed through the project s own maps and spatial drawings, in conjunction with research into the use of visual material by Israeli, Palestinian and international groups. 3.3. Capacity building initiatives An Ethics Framework handbook, establishing guidelines for the research has been distributed to all members of the project including the investigators, research associates, students, and research partners. Researchers on the project have attended a number of training and development courses, including: Getting yourself published, Managing Yourself and Influencing Others, Personal Effectiveness for Researchers, and Project Planning & Time Management for Researchers. The teams at Belfast, Exeter and Cambridge have established regular collaborations with other research groups in their respective universities working on related topics, including the Contested Cities Round Table Series organised by the School of Environmental Planning, Queen s University, the Heritage Seminar organised by the Archaeology Department in Cambridge University, as well as the lecture series jointly organised by the Islamic Institute and the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies at Exeter University. 3.4. Progress against outputs Publication of the first papers has begun, with a wide range of articles in the pipeline. Seven papers have been published in the project s electronic working paper series and all papers presented at the Belfast Project Workshop in September 2008 are either published or in press for the series. The teams of Belfast, Cambridge and Exeter have presented a large number of lectures, seminar and conference papers both in the UK and overseas. 3.5 Progress against milestones Research within the modules has progressed in accordance with the aims laid out in the ESRC forward plan of 2008 and the project s five-year calendar. Belfast has made substantial research on Module 1: Structural Studies and Public Space and City Centre. The teams from Cambridge and Exeter have completed much of the research for module 2: Holy City / Holy Places, and have laid the groundwork for a focused study of Module 1: The Impact of the Separation Barrier. Postgraduate students are in place and the first scheduled Project Workshop was held. 3.6 Progress against communications strategy Our website remains popular, as evidenced by the eminent American scholar Scott Bollen s comment that the Conflict in Cities website is his favourite website. The project newsletter is emailed twice a year to a variety of interested parties. Beyond the standard academic communications, our close links with NGOs, practitioners and professional groups, government and municipal officials present a rich and ongoing dialogue. Press interest is reoccurring; the Israeli daily Haaretz ran a full-page article on the project in December. 5