Northern Ireland is currently emerging from three decades of conflict. Belfast, its largest city, experienced some of the worst levels of violence. During these ‘Troubles’ it became a highly segregated city in which its citizens understandings of the urban fabric were mediated through their ethno-religious backgrounds. Yet as the region moves into a post-conflict situation, Belfast has been undergoing rapid physical change. One result of this has been an effort to remove evidence of the conflict from the ‘new’ city centre, despite more than 70 conflict-related deaths having occurred there. The article uses the example of Belfast city centre to explore: (1) how ‘normalization’ strategies employed after conflict seek to reshape cognitive understandings of violent spaces through reconstruction; and (2) how individual memory retains the potential to disrupt these efforts. We argue that the highly regimented spatial patterns of Troubles commemoration in Belfast may influence how the city deals with the challenges of its violent past.
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