Belfast: State of the City Development Debates

Cityscape of Belfast

Background

We set up the Belfast: State of the City initiative in 2004. Its aim is to help organisations to work together on the development and regeneration issues that face the city.

Senior representatives of most of Belfast's development organisations have been involved since the outset and have pledged their support for the initiative.

State of the City has been shaped by the expertise of those involved to-date, including leading local and international academics and practitioners in the fields of physical, economic, social and cultural development.

It has helped us to build up a picture of the challenges and opportunities facing Belfast. It has also contributed much to our understanding of how Belfast works, plus the debate on how the city should continue to be developed.

Current series of debates

We are hosting a series of regular 'Development Debate' breakfast seminars, each directly contributing to the development of our Integrated Economic Strategy, City Investment Framework and the Belfast Masterplan.

Next debate: Future Proof - Tourism, Culture and the Regeneration Agenda (4 April 2012)

We have many pieces of the cultural and tourism infrastructure jigsaw in place and during 2012, Belfast is investing in unprecedented numbers of world class events and venues.

The scene is set for a year which has the potential to boost tourism volume and value and to transform international perceptions of Belfast.

But where do we go from here? How do we truly engage our communities in this regeneration... and how do we 'Future Proof' our city's tourism and cultural offer to ensure that we can continue to achieve stand out in an increasingly competitive global market?

State of the City 2004 - 2008

The initiative began in 2004 and included an annual conference, a seminar series, a comprehensive research programme, with the publication of a series of influential papers. Since the last State of the City conference in 2008, we reviewed the initiative, asked our stakeholders what they would improve, and built a new State of the City programme which will be more effective and offer more opportunities to work together on building a competitive, connected,confident and cohesive city.


Contact us

Policy and Business Development Unit
Development Department
Belfast City Council
Cecil Ward Buidling
4-10 Linenhall Street
Belfast
BT2 8BP

Tel: 028 9091 8764
Email: sotc@belfastcity.gov.uk