Abstract
Belfast has changed remarkably in the last fifteen years with sustained economic growth, net
in-migration and rising house prices reflecting a buoyant post-conflict economy. Rates of
ethno-national/religious segregation have also stabilised and new consumption spaces and
elite developments further reflect the city’s engagement with globalisation and economic
liberalisation. This paper explores the spatial impacts of these forces not least as
gentrification has created new layers of residential segregation in a city already preoccupied
with high rates of ethno-religious territoriality. A case study of housing change in South
Belfast connects these shifts to the production of new mixed-religion neighbourhoods. These
have the capacity to reduce the relevance of traditional binary identities; but at the same
time new spaces produce new forms of segregation centred on tenure and class, The paper
concludes by highlighting the implications for policy makers as new forms of segregation,
create deeper exclusions for those in old spaces largely untouched by the peace dividend
and economic modernity.