View source for Belfast

{{Short description|Capital and largest city in Northern Ireland}}
{{About|the city in Northern Ireland|other uses|Belfast (disambiguation)}}
{{Pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Belfast
| native_name        = {{Unbulleted list
 |{{langx|ga|Béal Feirste}}
 |[[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster Scots]]: {{lang|sco|Bilfawst}}
 }}
| settlement_type    = [[City status in the United Kingdom#Ireland and Northern Ireland|Capital city]], [[Local government in Northern Ireland#Local government districts|district]], and [[Borough status in the United Kingdom#Northern Ireland|borough]]
| image_skyline      = {{multiple image
 |border             = infobox
 |perrow             = 1/2/2/2
 |total_width        = 270
 |align              = center
 |image1             = City_Quays.jpg
 |caption1           = [[Lagan Weir]] at [[Belfast Harbour]]
 |image2             = StormontGeneral.jpg
 |caption2           = [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Stormont]]
 |image3             = Belfast_City_Hall_2010.JPG
 |caption3           = [[Belfast City Hall]]
 |image4             = Belfast_Castle,_August_2011.jpg
 |caption4           = [[Belfast Castle]]
 |image5             = Titanic_Belfast_HDR.jpg
 |caption5           = [[Titanic Belfast]]
 |image6             = Flower_bed,_Botanic_Gardens,_Belfast_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1454550.jpg
 |caption6           = [[Botanic Gardens (Belfast)|Botanic Gardens]]
 |image7             = Ulster_Museum_3.JPG
 |caption7           = [[Ulster Museum]]
 }}
| imagesize          = 
| image_alt          = 
| image_caption      = 
| image_flag         = 
| flag_alt           = 
| image_shield       = Coat of Arms of Belfast.png
| shield_alt         = 
| shield_link        = Coat of arms of Belfast
| image_blank_emblem = 
| blank_emblem_size  = 
| blank_emblem_type  = 
| blank_emblem_link  = 
| etymology          = 
| nickname           = 
| motto              = {{langx |la|Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus |translation=what shall we give in return for so much}}{{force singular}}
| image_map          =
| map_alt            = 
| map_caption        = City of Belfast shown within [[Northern Ireland|Northern{{nbsp}}Ireland]]
| pushpin_map        = 
| pushpin_relief     = 
| mapframe           = yes
| mapframe-wikidata  = yes
| mapframe-zoom      = 7
| mapframe-frame-coord = {{coord|54.6|-6.8}}
| mapframe-frame-height = 250
| mapframe-frame-width = 260
| mapframe-shape-fill-opacity = 0.15
| mapframe-shape-fill = #0000ff
| mapframe-caption = City of Belfast shown within [[Northern Ireland|Northern{{nbsp}}Ireland]]
| coordinates        = {{Wikidatacoord|Q10686|region:GB-BFS_type:adm2nd|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type   = [[Sovereign state]]
| subdivision_name   = [[United Kingdom]]
| subdivision_type1  = [[Countries of the United Kingdom|Country]]
| subdivision_name1  = [[Northern Ireland]]
| subdivision_type2  = 
| subdivision_name2  = 
| subdivision_type3  = 
| subdivision_name3  = 
| subdivision_type4  = 
| subdivision_name4  = 
| established_title  = Incorporated
| established_date   = [[Reform of local government in Northern Ireland|1 April 2015]]
| established_title1 = 
| established_date1  = 
| named_for          = 
| seat_type          = Administrative{{nbsp}}HQ
| seat               = [[Belfast City Hall|City Hall]]
| government_footnotes = <ref name="Council leadership">{{cite web |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/council |title=Council |website=Belfast City Council |access-date=7 August 2024 |archive-date=7 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807114542/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/council |url-status=live }}</ref>
| government_type    = District council
| governing_body     = [[Belfast City Council]]
| leader_title       = Executive
| leader_name        = Committee system
| leader_title1      = [[Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom#Northern Ireland|Control]]
| leader_name1       = {{UK council control|GSS=N09000003}}
| leader_title2      = 
| leader_name2       = 
| leader_title3      = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MPs]]
| leader_name3       = {{Collapsible list |title=4 MPs
 |[[Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast North]] ([[Sinn Féin|SF]])
 |[[Belfast South and Mid Down (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast South and Mid Down]] ([[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]])
 |[[Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast East]] ([[Democratic Unionist Party|DUP]])
 |[[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast West]] ([[Sinn Féin|SF]])
 }}
| leader_title4      = [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)|MLAs]]
| leader_name4       = {{Collapsible list |title=20 MLAs
 |[[Belfast North (Assembly constituency)|Belfast North]]
 |[[Belfast South (Assembly constituency)|Belfast South]]
 |[[Belfast East (Assembly constituency)|Belfast East]]
 |[[Belfast West (Assembly constituency)|Belfast West]]
 }}
| area_footnotes     = <ref name="popstats">{{UK subdivision statistics citation }}</ref>
| area_total_km2     = {{UK subdivision area|GSS=N09000003}}
| area_land_km2      = 
| area_water_km2     = 
| area_rank          = [[Local government in Northern Ireland#Local government districts|{{NI district area rank|GSS=N09000003}}]]
| population_footnotes = <ref name="popstats" />
| population_as_of   = {{UK subdivision statistics year}}
| population_total   = {{UK subdivision population|GSS=N09000003}}
| population_rank    = [[Local government in Northern Ireland#Local government districts|{{NI district population rank|GSS=N09000003}}]]
| population_density_km2 = {{UK subdivision density|GSS=N09000003}}
| population_demonym = 
| demographics_type1 = 
| demographics1_footnotes = 
| demographics1_title1 = 
| demographics1_info1 = 
| demographics_type2 = 
| demographics2_footnotes = 
| demographics2_title1 = 
| demographics2_info1 = 
| timezone1          = [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]
| utc_offset1        = +0
| timezone1_DST      = [[British Summer Time|BST]]
| utc_offset1_DST    = +1
| postal_code_type   = [[Postcodes in the United Kingdom|Postcode areas]]
| postal_code        = {{cslist |[[BT postcode area|BT]]1–17 |BT29 (part) |BT36 (part) |BT58 }}
| area_code_type     = [[Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom|Dialling codes]]
| area_code          = 028
| iso_code           = [[ISO 3166-2:GB|GB-BFS]]
| blank1_name        = [[GSS coding system|GSS code]]
| blank1_info        = N09000003
| website            = {{URL|belfastcity.gov.uk}}
}}

'''Belfast''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɛ|l|f|æ|s|t|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Belfast.wav}}, {{Respell|BEL-fast}}, {{IPAc-en|-|f|a:|s|t}}, {{Respell|-fahst}};{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|-|f|a:|s|t}} for speakers with the [[Trap-bath split]], {{IPAc-en|-|f|æ|s|t}} for speakers without it}} from {{langx|ga|Béal Feirste}} {{IPA|ga|bʲeːlˠ ˈfʲɛɾˠ(ə)ʃtʲə|}}{{audio|Uladh - Aontroim - Béal Feirste.wav|}})<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKay |first=Patrick |title=A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names |publisher=Cló Ollscoil na Banríona / Queen's University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-85389-896-2 |edition=2nd |location=Belfast |pages=21 }}</ref><ref name="Logainm" /> is the capital city and principal port of [[Northern Ireland]], standing on the banks of the [[River Lagan]] and connected to the open sea through [[Belfast Lough]] and the [[North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland)|North Channel]]. It is the second-largest city in [[Ireland]] (after [[Dublin]]), with an estimated population of {{UK subdivision population|GSS=N09000003}} in {{UK subdivision statistics year}},<ref name="popstats" /> and [[Belfast metropolitan area|its metropolitan area]] has a population of 671,559.<ref name=":17">{{Cite web |title=Belfast Population 2024 |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/belfast-population |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=worldpopulationreview.com |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104195518/https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/belfast-population |url-status=live }}</ref>

Occupied since at least the Bronze Age, it was chartered as an English settlement in 1613. The town's early growth thereafter was driven by an influx of [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterians]]. Their descendants' disaffection with [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]'s [[Protestant Ascendancy|Anglican establishment]] contributed to the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|rebellion of 1798]], and to the [[Acts of Union 1800|union]] with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in 1800—later regarded as a key to the town's industrial transformation. When granted [[City status in the United Kingdom#Northern Ireland|city status]] in 1888, Belfast was the world's largest centre of [[linen]] manufacture, and by the 1900s her shipyards were building up to a quarter of total [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] tonnage.

[[Sectarianism|Sectarian]] tensions existed with the [[Catholic Church in Ireland|Irish Catholic]] population that was drawn by mill and factory employment from western districts. Heightened by division over Ireland's future in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], these twice erupted in periods of sustained violence: [[The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922)|in 1920–22]], as Belfast emerged as the capital of the [[Partition of Ireland|six northeast counties]] retaining the British connection, and over [[The Troubles|three decades from the late 1960s]] during which the [[British Army]] was continually deployed on the streets. A legacy of conflict is the [[Peace lines|barrier-reinforced separation]] of [[Protestantism in Ireland|Protestant]] and Catholic [[Working class|working-class]] districts.

Since the [[1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum|Good Friday Agreement]], the electoral balance in the once [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]]-controlled city has shifted, albeit with no overall majority, in favour of [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalists]]. At the same time, new immigrants are adding to the growing number of residents unwilling to identify with either of the two communal traditions.

Belfast has seen significant [[Tertiary sector of the economy|services sector]] growth, with important contributions from financial technology ([[fintech]]), from tourism and, with facilities in the redeveloped [[Belfast Harbour|Harbour Estate]], from film. It retains a port with commercial and industrial docks, including a reduced [[Harland & Wolff]] shipyard and aerospace and defence contractors. [[Windsor Framework|Post Brexit]], Belfast and Northern Ireland remain, uniquely, within both the British domestic and [[European single market|European Single]] trading areas for goods.

The city is served by two airports: [[George Best Belfast City Airport]], located on the Lough shore, and [[Belfast International Airport]] (also known as Aldergrove), located {{convert|15|mi|0|abbr=off}} west of the city. It supports two universities: on the north-side of the city centre, [[Ulster University]], and on the southside the longer established [[Queen's University Belfast|Queens University.]] Since 2021, Belfast has been a [[UNESCO]] designated [[City of Music (UNESCO)|City of Music]].

== History ==
{{Main|History of Belfast}}

=== Name ===
[[File:Ground Plan of Belfast (1685).png|thumb|A 1685 plan of Belfast by the military engineer [[Thomas Phillips (engineer)|Thomas Phillips]], showing the town's ramparts and [[Belfast Castle#Plantation Castle|Lord Chichester's castle]], which was destroyed in a fire in 1708|left|200x200px]]The name Belfast derives from the Irish {{lang|ga|Béal Feirste}} ({{IPA|ga|bʲeːlˠ ˈfʲɛɾˠ(ə)ʃtʲə}}),<ref name="Logainm">{{cite web |title=Placenames Database of Ireland – Belfast: '''view the scanned records''' |url=http://www.logainm.ie/118005.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130702093937/http://www.logainm.ie/118005.aspx |archive-date=2 July 2013 |access-date=25 May 2014 |publisher=Logainm.ie }}</ref> "Mouth of the [[River Farset|Farset]]",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hogan |first=Edmund |url=http://publish.ucc.ie/doi/locus/B |title=Onomasticon Goedelicum |year=1910 |location=Dublin |access-date=1 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717183101/http://publish.ucc.ie/doi/locus/B |archive-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> a river whose name in the Irish, ''Feirste,'' refers to a sandbar or tidal ford.<ref name="Belfast name">{{cite web |title=Placenames/Logainmneacha – Belfast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/education/beginnersblas/1belfast.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115045404/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/education/beginnersblas/1belfast.shtml |archive-date=15 January 2009 |access-date=17 May 2007 |website=BBC Northern Ireland – Education |publisher=BBC }}</ref> This was formed where the river ran—until culverted late in the 18th century, down High Street—<ref name="townbook-1892">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/townbookofcorpor00belf#page/n5/mode/2up |title=The Town Book of the Corporation of Belfast |publisher=Marcus Ward |year=1892 |editor-last=Young |editor-first=Robert M. |location=Belfast |access-date=16 August 2012 }}</ref> into the Lagan. It was at this crossing, located under or close to the current Queen's Bridge, that the early settlement developed.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Ó Baoill |first=Ruairí |title=Hidden History Below Our Feet: The Archaeological Story of Belfast |publisher=Tandem Design, Northern Ireland Environment Agency |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-9569671-0-7 |location=Belfast }}</ref>{{rp|74–77}}

The compilers of [[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster-Scots]] use various transcriptions of local pronunciations of "Belfast" (with which they sometimes are also content)<ref>{{cite web |title=North-South Ministerial Council: 2010 Annual Report in Ulster Scots |url=http://www.northsouthministerialcouncil.org/annual_report_2010_ulster_scots.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227120523/http://www.northsouthministerialcouncil.org/annual_report_2010_ulster_scots.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2013 |access-date=2 August 2014 }}</ref> including ''Bilfawst'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.linenhall.com/pages/irish-and-reference |title=Ulster Scots Language & Dialects of Ulster |publisher=The Linen Hall Library |access-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225140201/https://www.linenhall.com/pages/irish-and-reference |archive-date=25 February 2013 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.northsouthministerialcouncil.org/web_2006_ulster_scots_report.pdf 2006 annual report in Ulster-Scots] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227120556/http://www.northsouthministerialcouncil.org/web_2006_ulster_scots_report.pdf |date= 27 February 2013}} North/South Ministerial Council.</ref> ''Bilfaust''<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/library/switherin-agen BBC Ulster-Scots Library – Switherin agen] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724110325/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/library/switherin-agen |date= 24 July 2012}} Ullans Speakers Association. Retrieved 6 October 2011.</ref> or ''Baelfawst.''<ref>{{cite web |title=Equality Impect Assessment o tha Draft Ullans Leid Policy |url=https://www.midulstercouncil.org/getmedia/b944e065-0b67-4eb7-bca7-09c694caf3f2/Final-EQIA-Equality-Impact-Assessment-in-Ulster-Scots_11.pdf?ext=.pdf |publisher=Mid Ulster District Council |access-date=16 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109091019/https://www.midulstercouncil.org/getmedia/b944e065-0b67-4eb7-bca7-09c694caf3f2/Final-EQIA-Equality-Impact-Assessment-in-Ulster-Scots_11.pdf?ext=.pdf |archive-date=9 January 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

As a legacy of emigration, Belfast has lent its name to more than a dozen settlements in the United States, of which the largest is [[Belfast, Maine]], and to one each [[Belfast, Victoria|in Australia]], [[Belfast, Prince Edward Island|Canada]], [[Belfast, New Zealand|New Zealand]] and [[Belfast, Mpumalanga|South Africa]].

=== Early settlements ===
The site of Belfast has been occupied since the [[Bronze Age]]. The [[Giants Ring, Belfast|Giant's Ring]], a 5,000-year-old [[henge]], is located near the city,<ref name=":22" />{{rp|42–45}}<ref>{{cite news |title=A walk on the outskirts of Belfast: Giant's Ring Trail, Northern Ireland |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=12 May 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/may/12/giants-ring-trail-belfast-walk |access-date=1 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030002902/http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/may/12/giants-ring-trail-belfast-walk |archive-date=30 October 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the remains of [[Iron Age]] [[hill fort]]s can still be seen in the surrounding hills. At the beginning of the 14th century, [[Papacy|Papal]] tax rolls record two churches: the "Chapel of Dundela" at Knock (Irish: {{lang|ga|[[wikt:cnoc|cnoc]]}}, meaning "hill") in the east,<ref>{{cite book |last=Reeves |first=Rev. William |url=https://archive.org/stream/ecclesiasticalan00reev#page/6/mode/2up/search/ford |title=Ecclesiastical antiquities of Down, Connor, and Dromore, consisting of a taxation of those dioceses, compiled in the year MCCCVI; with notes and illustrations |publisher=Hodges and Smith |year=1847 |location=Dublin |page=7 |access-date=31 March 2013 }}</ref> connected by some accounts to the 7th-century evangelist [[Columba|St. Colmcille]],<ref name=":21">{{Cite book |last=Maguire |first=W. A. |title=Belfast |date=1993 |publisher=Keele University Press |isbn=1-85331-060-3 |pages= }}</ref>{{rp|11}}and, the "Chapel of the Ford", which may have been a successor to a much older parish church on the present [[Shankill Road|Shankill ''(Seanchill'', "Old Church") Road]],<ref name=":22" />{{rp|63–64}} dating back to the 9th,<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 January 2022 |title=150 years of history and beyond |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews/2022/150yearsofhistoryandbeyond.html |access-date=7 March 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk }}</ref> and possibly to [[Saint Patrick|St. Patrick]] in the mid 5th, century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shankill 455AD |url=http://greatershankillpartnership.org/shankill/history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144113/http://greatershankillpartnership.org/shankill/history.html |archive-date=2 April 2015 |access-date=22 December 2013 |website=Greater Shankill Partnership }}</ref>

A [[Normans in Ireland|Norman]] settlement at the ford, comprising the parish church (now [[St George's Church, Belfast|St. George's]]), a watermill, and a small fort,<ref name=":162">{{Cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Philip |title=Belfast 400: People, Place and History |isbn=978-1-84631-635-7 |editor-last=Connolly |editor-first=S. J. |location=Liverpool |publication-date=2012 |pages=91–122 |chapter=The Medieval Settlement }}</ref> was an outpost of [[Carrickfergus Castle]]. Established in the late 12th century, {{convert|11|mi|km}} out along the north shore of the Lough, Carrickfergus was to remain the principal English foothold in the north-east until the [[scorched earth|scorched- earth]] [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)|Nine Years' War]] at the end of the 16th century broke the remaining Irish power, the [[O'Neill dynasty|O'Neills]].<ref name=":202">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Basil C. S. |title=Belfast: The Origin and Growth of an Industrial City |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |year=1967 |editor-last=Beckett |editor-first=J. C. |location=London |pages=14–25 |chapter=The Birth of Belfast |editor-last2=Glasscock |editor-first2=R. E. }}</ref>

=== Developing port, radical politics ===
With a commission from [[James VI and I|King James VI and I]], in 1613 [[Arthur Chichester, 1st Baron Chichester|Sir Arthur Chichester]] undertook the [[Plantations of Ireland|Plantation]] of Belfast and the surrounding area, attracting mainly English and [[Isle of Man|Manx]] settlers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beckett |first=J. C. |title=Belfast: The Making of the City |publisher=Appletree Press |year=1983 |isbn=0-86281-100-7 |location=Belfast |pages=15 }}</ref> The subsequent arrival of [[Ulster Scots people|Scottish Presbyterians]] embroiled Belfast in its only recorded siege: denounced from London by [[John Milton]] as "ungrateful and treacherous guests",<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1813 |title=The Answer of John Milton to the Representation of the Presbytery of Belfast, Published at Page 95 of Our Last Number |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30074456 |journal=The Belfast Monthly Magazine |volume=10 |issue=56 |pages=(207–215) 215 |jstor=30074456 |issn=1758-1605 }}</ref> in 1649 the newcomers were temporarily expelled by an English [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] army.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last1=Connolly |first1=S. J. |title=Belfast 400: People, Place and History |last2=McIntosh |first2=Gillian |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-84631-635-7 |editor-last=Connolly |editor-first=S. J. |location=Liverpool |publication-date=2012 |pages= |chapter=Imagining Belfast }}</ref>{{rp|21}}<ref name=":26">{{Cite book |last=Maguire |first=William |title=Belfast: A History |publisher=Carnegie Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781859361894 |location=Lancaster |publication-date=2009 |pages=}}</ref>{{rp|32}} In 1689, Catholic [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] forces, briefly in command of the town,<ref>Childs, John (2007). ''The Williamite Wars in Ireland''. London: Hambledon Continuum, p. 150. {{ISBN|978-1-85285-573-4 }}</ref> abandoned it in advance of the landing at Carrickfergus of [[William III of England|William, Prince of Orange]], who proceeded through Belfast to his celebrated victory on 12 July 1690 at [[Battle of the Boyne|the Boyne]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=King William in Ulster {{!}} Museum of Orange Heritage |url=https://www.orangeheritage.co.uk/king-william-in-ulster |access-date=3 March 2024 |website=Museum |archive-date=3 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303145641/https://www.orangeheritage.co.uk/king-william-in-ulster |url-status=live }}</ref>

Together with French [[Huguenots]], the Scots introduced the production of [[linen]], a [[flax]]-spinning industry that in the 18th century carried Belfast trade to the Americas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bardon |first=Jonathon Bardon |title=The Plantation of Ulster |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7171-4738-0 |location=Dublin |pages=322 }}</ref> Fortunes were made carrying rough linen clothing and salted provisions to the [[slave plantation]]s of the [[West Indies]]; sugar and rum to [[Baltimore]] and New York City; and for the return to Belfast [[flax]]seed and tobacco from [[Thirteen Colonies|the colonies]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McMaster |first=Richard |date=2011 |title=Scotch-Irish Merchants in Colonial America: The Flaxseed Trade and Emigration from Ireland, 1718–1755 |url=http://www.booksireland.org.uk/store/all-departments/scotch-irish-merchants-in-colonial-america-ebook |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522182339/http://www.booksireland.org.uk/store/all-departments/scotch-irish-merchants-in-colonial-america-ebook |archive-date=22 May 2021 |access-date=22 May 2021 |website=Ulster Historical Foundation }}</ref> From the 1760s, profits from the trade financed improvements in the town's commercial infrastructure, including the [[Lagan Canal]], new docks and quays, and the construction of the White Linen Hall which together attracted to Belfast the linen trade that had formerly gone through [[Dublin]]. [[Abolitionism|Abolitionist]] sentiment, however, defeated the proposal of the greatest of the merchant houses, [[Waddell Cunningham|Cunningham and Greg]], in 1786 to commission ships for the [[Middle Passage]].<ref name="Rodgers">{{cite journal |last1=Rodgers |first1=Nini |date=1997 |title=Equiano in Belfast: a study of the anti-slavery ethos in a northern town |journal=Slavery and Abolition |volume=xviii |pages=82–84 }}</ref>[[File:Bastille-day-belfast-1791.jpg|upright=0.90|thumb|left|Volunteer Corps parade down High Street, [[Bastille Day]], 1792|200x200px]]As "Dissenters" from the [[Church of Ireland|established Anglican church]] (with its [[episcopacy]] and ritual), [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterians]] were conscious of sharing, if only in part, the [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|disabilities]] of Ireland's dispossessed [[Catholic Church in Ireland|Roman Catholic]] majority; and of being denied representation in the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]]. Belfast's two [[Member of parliament|MPs]] remained nominees of the Chichesters ([[Marquess of Donegall|Marquesses of Donegall]]). With their emigrant kinsmen in America, the region's Presbyterians were to share a growing disaffection from [[The British Crown|the Crown.]]<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Cochrane |first=Feargal |title=Belfast, the Story of a City and its People |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-300-26444-9 |location=London |publication-date=2023 }}</ref>{{rp|55–61}}<ref>{{cite book |last=F.X. Martin |first=T.W. Moody |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781856351089/page/232 |title=The Course of Irish History |publisher=Mercier Press |year=1980 |isbn=1-85635-108-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781856351089/page/232 232–233] }}</ref>

When early in the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]], [[North Channel Naval Duel|Belfast Lough was raided]] by the [[privateer]] [[John Paul Jones]], the townspeople assembled their own [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Volunteer militia]]. Formed ostensibly for defence of [[Kingdom of Ireland|the Kingdom]], Volunteer corps were soon pressing their own protest against "taxation without representation". Further emboldened by the [[French Revolution]], a more radical element in the town, the [[Society of United Irishmen]], called for [[Catholic emancipation]] and a representative national government.<ref name="Connolly">{{Cite book |title=Divided Kingdom; Ireland 1630–1800 |first=Sean J. |last=Connolly |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-958387-4 |pages=434–449 }}</ref> In hopes of French assistance, in 1798 the Society organised a republican insurrection. The rebel tradesmen and tenant farmers were defeated north of the town at the [[Battle of Antrim]] and to the south at the [[Battle of Ballynahinch]].<ref name=":11">[[ATQ Stewart|Stewart, A.T.Q.]] (1995), ''The Summer Soldiers: The 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down'' Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 1995,{{ISBN|978-0-85640-558-7}}.</ref>

Britain seized on the rebellion to abolish the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]], unlamented in Belfast, and to [[Acts of Union 1800|incorporate Ireland]] in a [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]].<ref name=":25">{{Cite web |last=Bardon |first=Jonathan |date=2012 |title=The Act of Union |url=http://www.actofunion.ac.uk/actofunion.htm |access-date=30 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415061235/http://www.actofunion.ac.uk/actofunion.htm |archive-date=15 April 2012 }}</ref> In 1832, British [[Reform Act 1832|parliamentary reform]] permitted the town its first electoral contest<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/belfast |access-date=10 February 2022 |website=historyofparliamentonline.org |archive-date=10 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210164506/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/belfast |url-status=live }}</ref> – an occasion for an early and lethal [[Sectarianism|sectarian]] riot.<ref name=":18">{{Cite book |last=Bardon |first=Jonathan |title=Belfast, An Illustrated History |publisher=The Balckstaff Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-85640-272-9 |location=Belfast |pages= }}</ref>{{rp|87}}

=== Industrial expansion, sectarian division ===
[[File:High Street, Belfast (5785358121).jpg|thumb|right|High Street, c. 1906]]
While other Irish towns experienced a loss of manufacturing, from the 1820s Belfast underwent rapid industrial expansion. After a cotton boom and bust, the town emerged as the global leader in the production of [[linen]] goods (mill, and finishing, work largely employing women and children),<ref name="Belfast, The Making of the City 32">{{cite book |last=Beckett |first=JC |title=Belfast, The Making of the City. Chapter 3: "Linenopolis": the rise of the textile industry |author2=Boyle, E |publisher=Appletree Press Ltd |year=2003 |isbn=0-86281-878-8 |location=Belfast |pages=41–56 }}</ref> winning the moniker "[[Economy of Belfast|Linenopolis]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=ConnollyCove |date=12 August 2019 |title=Linenopolis: The Linen Quarter of Belfast {{!}} Connolly Cove {{!}} |url=https://www.connollycove.com/linenopolis-linen-quarter-belfast/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214064424/https://www.connollycove.com/linenopolis-linen-quarter-belfast/ |archive-date=14 February 2021 |access-date=6 November 2019 |website=Connolly Cove }}</ref> Shipbuilding led the development of heavier industry.<ref name="Johnson2020">{{cite book |author1-last=Johnson |author1-first=Alice |title=Middle-Class Life in Victorian Belfast |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78962-449-6 |series=Reappraisals in Irish History LUP |page=277 |chapter=A British or an Irish city? The identity of Victorian Belfast }}</ref> By the 1900s, her shipyards were building up to a quarter of the total United Kingdom tonnage,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eoin |first=O'Malley |date=1981 |title=The Decline of Irish Industry in the Nineteenth Century |url=http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/68696/v13n11981_2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=The Economic and Social Review |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=(21–42) 22 |via=Trinity College Dublin |archive-date=28 January 2024 |access-date=28 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128100059/http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/68696/v13n11981_2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref> and on the eve of the [[World War I|Great War]], in 1914, close one eighth of world production.<ref name=":26" />{{rp|167}} This included from the yard of [[Harland & Wolff]] the ill-fated RMS ''[[Titanic]],'' at the time of her launch in 1911 the largest ship afloat.''<ref name="Titanic In History">{{cite web |title=Introduction To Titanic – Titanic in History |url=http://www.titanicinbelfast.com/template.aspx?pid=342&area=1&parent=321 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817040144/http://www.titanicinbelfast.com/template.aspx?pid=342&area=1&parent=321 |archive-date=17 August 2007 |access-date=18 May 2007 |work=Titanic. Built in Belfast |publisher=Ulster Folk and Transport Museum }}</ref>'' Other major export industries included textile machinery, rope, tobacco and mineral waters.<ref name=":21" />{{rp|59–88}}

Industry drew in a new Catholic population settling largely in the west of the town—refugees from a rural poverty intensified by Belfast's mechanisation of spinning and weaving and, in the 1840s, by [[Great Famine (Ireland)|famine]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=Mary |date=April 2013 |title=Historical Internal Migration in Ireland |url=https://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/~gisteac/proceedingsonline/GISRUK2013/gisruk2013_submission_63.pdf |url-status=live |journal=GIS Research UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817225743/https://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/~gisteac/proceedingsonline/GISRUK2013/gisruk2013_submission_63.pdf |archive-date=17 August 2018 |access-date=17 August 2018 }}</ref> The plentiful supply of cheap labour helped attract English and Scottish capital to Belfast, but it was also a cause of insecurity.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Heatley |first=Fred |title=Belfast, The Making of the City |publisher=Appletree Press |year=1983 |isbn=0-86281-100-7 |editor-last=Beckett |display-editors=etal |editor-first=J. C. |location=Belfast |pages=129–142 |chapter=Community relations and religious geography 1800-86 }}</ref> Protestant workers organised and dominated the apprenticed trades<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Munck |first=Ronald |date=1985 |title=Class and Religion in Belfast – A Historical Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/260533 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=241–259 |doi=10.1177/002200948502000203 |jstor=260533 |s2cid=159836923 |issn=0022-0094 }}</ref> and gave a new lease of life to the once largely rural [[Orange Order]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Foster |first=R. F. |title=Modern Ireland 1600–1972 |publisher=Allen Lane |year=1988 |isbn=0-7139-9010-4 |location=London |pages=389–396 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Farrell |first=Sean |url=https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=upk_european_history |title=Rituals and Riots: Sectarian Violence and Political Culture in Ulster, 1784–1886 |date=2000 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |pages=125–150 |access-date=19 January 2024 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506135301/https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=upk_european_history |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> Sectarian tensions, which frequently broke out in riots and workplace expulsions, were also driven by the "constitutional question": the prospect of a restored Irish parliament in which Protestants (and northern industry) feared being a minority interest.<ref name=":9" />

On 28 September 1912, [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]] massed at [[Belfast City Hall|Belfast's City Hall]] to sign the [[Ulster Covenant]], pledging to use "all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present [[Conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]] to set up a [[Home Rule]] Parliament in Ireland".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Connell Jr |first=Joseph E.A. |date=2012 |title=The 1912 Ulster Covenant by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr |url=https://www.historyireland.com/the-1912-ulster-covenant-by-joseph-e-a-connell-jr/ |access-date=19 January 2024 |website=History Ireland |archive-date=19 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119202415/https://www.historyireland.com/the-1912-ulster-covenant-by-joseph-e-a-connell-jr/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was followed by the drilling and eventual arming of a 100,000-strong [[Ulster Volunteers|Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bowman |first=Timothy |date=2013 |title=The Ulster Volunteers 1913–1914: force or farce? |url=https://www.historyireland.com/the-ulster-volunteers-1913-1914-force-or-farce/ |access-date=19 January 2024 |website=History Ireland |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208103037/https://www.historyireland.com/the-ulster-volunteers-1913-1914-force-or-farce/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The immediate crisis was averted by the onset of the [[World War I|Great War]]. The UVF formed the [[36th (Ulster) Division]] whose sacrifices in the [[Battle of the Somme]] continue to be commemorated in the city by unionist and [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] organisations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evershed |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpg869s |title=Ghosts of the Somme: Commemoration and Culture War in Northern Ireland |date=2018 |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvpg869s |jstor=j.ctvpg869s |s2cid=243890001 }}</ref>

In 1920–22, as Belfast emerged as the capital of the six counties remaining as [[Northern Ireland]] in the United Kingdom, there was [[The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922)|widespread violence]]. 8,000 "disloyal" workers were driven from their jobs in the shipyards:<ref>Lynch, Robert. ''The Partition of Ireland: 1918–1925''. Cambridge University Press, 2019. pp.92–93</ref> in addition to Catholics, "rotten Prods" – Protestants whose labour politics disregarded sectarian distinctions.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Cochrane |first=Feargal |title=Belfast, the Story of a City and its People |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-300-26444-9 |location=New Haven }}</ref>{{rp|104–108}} Gun battles, grenade attacks and house burnings contributed to as many as 500 deaths.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Glennon |first=Kieran |date=2020 |title=Facts and fallacies of the Belfast pogrom |url=https://www.historyireland.com/facts-and-fallacies-of-the-belfast-pogrom/ |access-date=19 January 2024 |website=History Ireland |archive-date=19 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119202415/https://www.historyireland.com/facts-and-fallacies-of-the-belfast-pogrom/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A curfew remained in force until 1924.<ref name=":25" />{{rp|194}} The lines drawn saw off the challenge to "unionist unity" posed by [[Belfast Labour Party|labour]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Graham |date=1984 |title=The Northern Ireland Labour Party in the 1920s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23195875 |url-status=live |journal=Saothar |volume=10 |pages=19–30 |issn=0332-1169 |jstor=23195875 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222173839/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23195875 |archive-date=22 December 2023 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> Industry had been paralysed by [[1907 Belfast Dock strike|strikes in 1907]] and again in 1919 (when the city was effectively policed by strikers).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burke |first=Jason |date=2025-04-18 |title='Belfast became an idle place in darkness': Forgotten event brought city to a halt amid an economic crisis |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/belfast-became-an-idle-place-in-darkness-forgotten-event-brought-city-to-a-halt-amid-an-economic-crisis/a334573543.html# |access-date=2025-04-20 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> Until "troubles" returned at the end of the 1960s, it was not uncommon in Belfast for the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] to have its [[:Category:Belfast City Council elections|council]] and [[:Category:General elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland|parliamentary]] candidates returned unopposed.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Budge |first1=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jIWMCwAAQBAJ |title=Belfast: Approach to Crisis: A Study of Belfast Politics 1613–1970 |last2=O'Leary |first2=Cornelius |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-00126-2 |location=173-197 }}</ref><ref>Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). ''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922''. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 331. {{ISBN|0-901714-12-7 }}</ref>

In 1932, the opening of the new buildings for [[Parliament of Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland's devolved Parliament]] at [[Stormont Buildings|Stormont]] was overshadowed by the protests of the unemployed and ten days of running street battles with the police. The government conceded increases in [[Outdoor relief|Outdoor Relief]], but labour unity was short lived.<ref name=":18" />{{rp|219–220}} In 1935, celebrations of [[George V|King George V]]'s Jubilee and of the annual Twelfth were followed by deadly riots and expulsions, a sectarian logic that extended itself to the interpretation of darkening events in Europe.<ref name=":18" />{{rp|226–233}} [[Northern Ireland Labour Party|Labour candidates]] found  support for the [[Anti-clericalism|anti-clerical]] [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]] (marked today by a [[No Pasaran|''No Pasaran!'']] stained glass window in City Hall)<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 2015 |title=Honouring Belfast men who died for democracy of Spain |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/honouring-belfast-men-who-died-for-democracy-of-spain/34183759.html |access-date=15 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> characterised as another instance of [[Popery|No-Popery]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harbinson |first=John Fitzsimons |date=1966 |title=Extract from A History of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, 1891-1949 (Queens University Belfast thesis). |url=http://geocities.com/irelandscw/docs-Midgley.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028150414/http://geocities.com/irelandscw/docs-Midgley.htm |archive-date=28 October 2009 |access-date=15 February 2024 }}</ref>

In 1938, nearly a third of industrial workers were unemployed, [[malnutrition]] was a major issue, and at 9.6% the city's [[infant mortality]] rate (compared with 5.9% in [[Sheffield]], England) was among the highest in United Kingdom.<ref name="episode 48">{{cite episode |series=A Short History of Ireland |author=Dr. Jonathan Bardon |number=48 |publisher=BBC Audio |year=2006 }}</ref>

=== The Blitz and post-war development ===
{{Main|Belfast Blitz}}
[[File:AIR RAID DAMAGE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1939-1945 - H 9476.jpg|thumb|Aftermath of the Blitz in May 1941|left|160x160px]]
In the spring of 1941, the German ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' appeared twice over Belfast. In addition to the shipyards and the [[Short and Harland|Short & Harland]] aircraft factory, the [[Belfast Blitz]] severely damaged or destroyed more than half the city's housing stock, and devastated the old town centre around High Street.<ref name="BBC11042001">{{cite news |date=11 April 2001 |title=The Belfast blitz is remembered |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1269206.stm |url-status=live |access-date=12 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111212052/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1269206.stm |archive-date=11 January 2009 }}</ref> In the greatest loss of life in any air raid outside of London, more than a thousand people were killed.<ref name="BBC11042001"/>

At the end of the [[Second World War]], the Unionist government undertook programmes of [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|"slum clearance]]" (the Blitz had exposed the "uninhabitable" condition of much of the city's housing) which involved decanting populations out of mill and factory built red-brick terraces and into new peripheral housing estates.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Post-War Housing in Northern Ireland |url=http://www.progressivepulse.org/post-war-housing-in-northern-ireland |access-date=25 May 2021 |website=Progressive Pulse |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525205938/http://www.progressivepulse.org/post-war-housing-in-northern-ireland |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Gaffikin |first=Frank |title=New and Shifting Populations in Belfast: Analysis and Impact |date=2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBfXRLB8hek |access-date=21 January 2024 |publisher=Northern Ireland Assembly |archive-date=4 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204160628/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBfXRLB8hek |url-status=live }}</ref> At the same time, a British-funded [[welfare state]] "revolutionised access" to education and health care.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wichert |first=Sabine |title=Northern Ireland Since 1945 |publisher=Longman |year=1991 |isbn=0-582-02392-0 |location=London |pages=43–49 }}</ref> The resulting rise in expectations; together with the uncertainty caused by the decline of the city's [[Victorian era|Victorian-era]] industries, contributed to growing protest, and counter protest, in the 1960s over the [[Government of Northern Ireland (1921–1972)|Unionist government]]'s record on civil and political rights.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Northern Ireland 1963–1998 {{!}} Irish history Live |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/irishhistorylive/IrishHistoryResources/Articlesandlecturesbyourteachingstaff/NorthernIreland1963-1998/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524213142/https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/irishhistorylive/IrishHistoryResources/Articlesandlecturesbyourteachingstaff/NorthernIreland1963-1998/ |archive-date=24 May 2021 |access-date=24 May 2021 |website=qub.ac.uk }}</ref>

=== The Troubles ===
{{Main|The Troubles}}
For reasons that [[Irish nationalism|nationalists]] and [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]] dispute,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Roche |first1=Patrick |title=The Northern Ireland Question: Perspectives on Nationalism and Unionism |last2=Brian Barton |publisher=Wordzworth Publishing |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78324-145-3 }}</ref> the public protests of the late 1960s soon gave way to communal violence (in which as many as 60,000 people were intimidated from their homes)<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Shirlow |first1=Peter |title=Belfast: Segregation, Violence and the City |last2=Murtagh |first2=Brendan |publisher=Pluto |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7453-2480-7 |location=London |pages= }}</ref>{{rp|70}} and to [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] and [[Irish republicanism|republican]] [[Paramilitary|paramilitarism]]. Introduced onto the streets in August 1969, the [[Operation Banner|British Army]] committed to the longest continuous deployment in its history, [[Operation Banner]]. Beginning in 1970 with the [[Falls Curfew|Falls curfew]], and followed in 1971 by [[Operation Demetrius|internment]], this included [[counterinsurgency]] measures directed chiefly at the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]]. The PIRA characterised their operations, including the bombing of Belfast's commercial centre, as a struggle against British occupation.<ref>Holland, Jack (1999). ''Hope Against History: The Course of Terrorist trouble in Northern Ireland''. [[Henry Holt and Company]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8050-6087-4 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Background Essay on the Northern Ireland Conflict |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/landon.htm |access-date=26 May 2021 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508154443/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/landon.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Preceded by loyalist and republican ceasefires, the 1998 [[Good Friday Agreement|"Good Friday" Belfast Agreement]] returned a new [[Power sharing|power-sharing]] [[Northern Ireland Assembly|legislative assembly]] and [[Northern Ireland Executive|executive]] to Stormont.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 January 2019 |title=20 years on: What was agreed in the Good Friday Agreement? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/good-friday-agreement-what-it-northern-ireland-belfast-1998-sinn-fein-troubles-a8278156.html |access-date=26 May 2021 |website=The Independent |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922211443/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/good-friday-agreement-what-it-northern-ireland-belfast-1998-sinn-fein-troubles-a8278156.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the intervening years in Belfast, some 20,000 people had been injured, and 1,500 killed.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|73}}<ref>{{cite news |date=11 April 2001 |title=Sutton Index of Deaths |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/search.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927075228/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/search.html |archive-date=27 September 2011 |access-date=9 July 2013 |publisher=CAIN |quote=Search for Belfast in "Text Search of Description (and key words)" }}</ref>

Eighty-five percent of the conflict-related deaths had occurred within 1,000 metres of the communal [[Interface area|interfaces]], largely in the north and west of the city.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|73}} The security barriers erected at these interfaces are an enduring physical legacy of the Troubles.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Bryan |first=Dominic |title=Titanic Town: Living in a Lndscape of Conflict |date=2012 |url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/titanic-town-living-in-a-lndscape-of-conflict |work=Belfast 400: People Place and History |pages=317–353 |editor-last=Connolly |editor-first=Sean |access-date=17 January 2024 |place=Liverpool |publisher=Liverpool University Press (BHS) |isbn=978-1-84631-636-4 }}</ref> The 14 neighbourhoods they separate are among the 20 most deprived [[Ward (electoral subdivision)|wards]] in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A history of the peace walls in Belfast |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/northern-ireland/952591/a-history-of-the-peace-walls-in-belfast |access-date=22 June 2021 |website=The Week UK |date=21 April 2021 |archive-date=11 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711192824/https://www.theweek.co.uk/northern-ireland/952591/a-history-of-the-peace-walls-in-belfast |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2013, the [[Northern Ireland Executive]] committed to the removal of all peace lines by mutual consent.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 July 2017 |title=Department of Justice Interface Programme – Department of Justice |url=https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/articles/department-justice-interface-programme |access-date=13 April 2019 |website=Justice |archive-date=31 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531115700/https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/articles/department-justice-interface-programme |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Duncan Morrow and Jonny Byrne |title=Removing Peace Walls and Public Policy Brief (1): the challenge of definition and design |publisher=Northern Ireland Assembly |year=2015 }}</ref> The target date of 2023 was passed with only a small number dismantled.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leebody |first=Christopher |date=9 December 2020 |title=Belfast interface residents remain divided over peace walls |work=belfasttelegraph |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-interface-residents-remain-divided-over-peace-walls-39846514.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=11 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711194325/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-interface-residents-remain-divided-over-peace-walls-39846514.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Rory |date=7 April 2023 |title=Belfast's peace walls: potent symbols of division are dwindling – but slowly |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/07/belfasts-peace-walls-potent-symbols-of-division-are-dwindling-but-slowly |access-date=16 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 }}</ref>

The more affluent districts escaped the worst of the violence, but the city centre was a major target. This was especially so during the first phase of the PIRA campaign in the early 1970s, when the organisation hoped to secure quick political results through maximum destruction.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|331–332}} Including [[car bomb]]s and incendiaries, between 1969 and 1977 the city experienced 2,280 explosions.<ref name=":16" />{{rp|58}} In addition to the death and injury caused, they accelerated the loss of the city's Victorian fabric.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Patton |first=Marcus |title=Central Belfast, A Historical Gazetteer |publisher=Ulster Architectural Heritage Society |year=1993 |isbn=0-900457-44-9 |location=Belfast |pages=xii }}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
Since the turn of the century, the loss of employment and population in the city centre has been reversed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peyronel |first=Valérie |date=2009 |title=Urban Regeneration in Belfast: Landscape and Memory |url=https://www.efacis.eu/sites/default/files/ISE%202_Olinder,%20Huber%20vol%20II-37-46.pdf |journal=Irish Studies in Europe |volume=2 |pages=37–46 |archive-date=18 January 2024 |access-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118162514/https://www.efacis.eu/sites/default/files/ISE%202_Olinder%2C%20Huber%20vol%20II-37-46.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This reflects the growth of the [[service economy]], for which a new district has been developed on former dockland, the [[Titanic Quarter]]. The growing tourism sector paradoxically lists as attractions the [[Murals in Northern Ireland|murals]] and peace walls that echo the violence of the past.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|350.352}} In recent years, "Troubles tourism"<ref name=":3" />{{rp|180–189}} has presented visitors with new territorial markers: flags, murals and graffiti in which [[Ulster loyalism|loyalists]] and [[Irish republicanism|republicans]] take opposing sides in the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israeli-Palestinian conflict]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 October 2023 |title=Flags and murals as N. Irish pick sides in Israel-Hamas war |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231031-flags-and-murals-as-n-irish-pick-sides-in-israel-hamas-war |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=France 24 }}</ref>

The demographic balance of some areas has been changed by immigration (according to the 2021 census just under 10% of the city's population was born outside the British Isles),<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-1-statistical-bulletin-country-of-birth.pdf |title=Census 2022: Main statistics for Northern Ireland, Statistical bulletin, Country of birth |year=2022 |location=Belfast |pages=7 |archive-date=22 September 2022 |access-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922093436/https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-1-statistical-bulletin-country-of-birth.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> by local differences in births and deaths between Catholics and Protestants, and by a growing number of, particularly younger, people no longer willing to self-identify on traditional lines.<ref name=":2" />

In 1997, unionists lost overall control of [[Belfast City Council]] for the first time in its history. The election in 2011 saw Irish nationalist councillors outnumber unionist councillors, with [[Sinn Féin]] becoming the largest party, and the cross-community [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance Party]] holding the balance of power.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast City Council, 1993–2011 |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgbelfast.htm |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=ark.ac.uk |archive-date=25 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625115017/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgbelfast.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|2016 Brexit referendum]], Belfast's four parliamentary constituencies returned a substantial majority (60 percent) for remaining within the [[European Union]], as did Northern Ireland as a whole (55.8), the only [[UK regions|UK region]] outside London and Scotland to do so.<ref>{{Cite web |title=EU Referendum Results – BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=bbc.co.uk |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110082319/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results |url-status=live }}</ref> In February 2022, the [[Democratic Unionist Party]], which had actively campaigned for Brexit, withdrew from the power-sharing executive and collapsed the Stormont institutions to protest the 2020 UK-EU [[Northern Ireland Protocol]]. With the promise of equal access to the British and European markets, this designates Belfast as a point of entry to the [[European single market|European Single Market]] within whose regulatory framework local producers will continue to operate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Carroll |first=Lisa |date=3 February 2022 |title=Northern Ireland first minister resigns over Brexit checks on goods |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/03/northern-ireland-first-minister-poised-to-quit-over-brexit-reports-say |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=the Guardian |archive-date=4 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204042921/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/03/northern-ireland-first-minister-poised-to-quit-over-brexit-reports-say |url-status=live }}</ref> After two years, the standoff was resolved with an agreement to eliminate routine checks on UK-destined goods.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 January 2024 |title=Northern Ireland: Stormont stage set for return of devolution |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68136950 |access-date=31 January 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=30 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130221810/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68136950 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Cityscape ==
{{clear}}

=== Location and topography ===
[[File:Belfast with Lough by Sentinel-2.jpg|left|thumb|Satellite image of Belfast with Lough|200x200px]]
Belfast is at the mouth of the River Lagan at the head of Belfast Lough open through the [[North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland)|North Channel]] to the [[Irish Sea]] and to the North Atlantic. In the course of the 19th century, the location's estuarine features were re-engineered. With dredging and reclamation, the lough was made to accommodate a deep sea port, and extensive shipyards.<ref name=":20">{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=E Estyn |title=Belfast: The Origin and Growth of the Industrial City |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |year=1967 |editor-last=Beckett |editor-first=J. C. |location=London |pages=1–13 |chapter=The Geographical Setting |editor-last2=Glasscock |editor-first2=R. E. }}</ref> The Lagan was banked (in 1994 a [[Lagan Weir|weir]] raised its water level to cover what remained of the tidal mud flats)<ref>{{cite web |title=Lagan Weir – Why it exists |url=http://www.laganside.com/laganweir.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418044643/http://www.laganside.com/laganweir.asp |archive-date=18 April 2007 |access-date=25 May 2007 |publisher=Laganside }}</ref> and its various tributaries were culverted<ref>Des O'Reilly, [http://www.colourpointbooks.co.uk/more_details.php?id=1016 Rivers of Belfast – A History] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723042224/http://www.colourpointbooks.co.uk/more_details.php?id=1016|date=23 July 2013 }}</ref> On the model pioneered in 2008 by the Connswater Community Greenway some, including the course of the Farset, are now being considered for "daylighting".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 May 2018 |title=Living With Water Programme {{!}} Department for Infrastructure |url=https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/topics/living-water-programme |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=Infrastructure |archive-date=19 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119111339/https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/topics/living-water-programme |url-status=live }}</ref>

It remains the case that much of the city centre is built on an estuarine bed of "sleech": silt, peat, mud and—a source the city's ubiquitous red brick— soft clay, that presents a challenge for high-rise construction.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hancock |first=Michaila |date=2019 |title=Ground improvement: Slaying the sleech |url=https://www.geplus.co.uk/features/ground-improvement-slaying-sleech-20-11-2019/ |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=Ground Engineering |archive-date=28 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128233403/https://www.geplus.co.uk/features/ground-improvement-slaying-sleech-20-11-2019/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (In 2007 this unstable foundation persuaded [[St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Cathedral]] to abandon plans for a bell tower and substitute a lightweight steel spire).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Spire of Hope |url=https://www.belfastcathedral.org/tourism/the-spire-of-hope |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=Belfast Cathedral |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221134638/https://www.belfastcathedral.org/tourism/the-spire-of-hope |url-status=live }}</ref> The city centre is also subject to tidal flood risk. Rising sea levels could mean, that without significant investment, flooding in the coming decades will be persistent.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Deeney |first=Naill |date=20 August 2021 |title=Experts predict rising sea levels will flood much of Belfast by 2050 |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/environment/large-parts-of-belfast-underwater-by-2050-climate-map-shows-3353261 |work=News Letter, Belfast |archive-date=28 January 2024 |access-date=28 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128233402/https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/environment/large-parts-of-belfast-underwater-by-2050-climate-map-shows-3353261 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city is overlooked on the [[County Antrim]] side (to the north and northwest) by a precipitous [[basalt]] [[escarpment]]—the near continuous line of [[Divis]] Mountain (478&nbsp;m), [[Black Mountain (Belfast)|Black Mountain]] (389&nbsp;m) and [[Cavehill]] (368&nbsp;m)—whose "heathery slopes and hanging fields are visible from almost any part of the city".<ref name=":20" />{{rp|13}} From [[County Down]] side (on the south and south east) it is flanked by the lower-lying [[Castlereagh (borough)|Castlereagh]] and [[Holywood, County Down|Hollywood]] hills. The sand and gravel [[Malone Road|Malone]] Ridge extends up river to the south-west.

=== North Belfast and Shankill ===
From 1820, Belfast began to spread rapidly beyond its 18th century limits. To the north, it stretched out along roads which drew into the town migrants from Scots-settled hinterland of [[County Antrim]].<ref name=":4" /> Largely Presbyterian, they enveloped a number of Catholic-occupied "[[Tied cottage|mill-row]]" clusters: [[New Lodge, Belfast|New Lodge]], [[Ardoyne]] and "the Marrowbone".<ref>{{Cite web |last=P&P |date=13 November 2021 |title=Ardoyne – The Story of a Village |url=https://www.belfastentries.com/places/ardoyne/ |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=Belfast Entries |archive-date=30 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130012830/https://www.belfastentries.com/places/ardoyne/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Liggett |first=Michael |title=District Called the Bone: Brief History of the 'Marrowbone' Area of Belfast |publisher=Glenravel Publications |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-9519261-2-3 |location=Belfast }}</ref> Together with areas of more substantial housing in the [[Oldpark (District Electoral Area)|Oldpark district]], these are wedged between Protestant working-class housing stretching from [[Shore Road, Belfast|Tiger's Bay]] out the Shore Road on one side, and up the [[Shankill Road|Shankill]] (the original Antrim Road) on the other.<ref>{{Cite web |title=City of Belfast – Industry, Tourism, Religious Segregation, Map |url=https://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/geography/belfast.html |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=wesleyjohnston.com |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926092223/http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/geography/belfast.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Greater Shankill area, including [[Crumlin Road|Crumlin]] and [[Court (District Electoral Area)|Woodvale]], is over the line from the [[Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast North]] parliamentary/assembly constituency, but is physically separated from the rest of [[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast West]] by an extensive series of separation barriers<ref>{{Citation |last=Naked Ireland |title=The West Belfast Peace Wall between the Nationalist Falls/Springfield road and the Loyalist Shankill |date=2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3xls7PLnAM |access-date=10 February 2024 |archive-date=17 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117210943/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3xls7PLnAM |url-status=live }}</ref>—[[Peace lines|peace walls]]—owned (together with five daytime gates into the [[Falls Road, Belfast|Falls area]]) by the [[Department of Justice (Northern Ireland)|Department of Justice]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=FactCheckNI |date=16 December 2016 |title=Who opens and closes interface gates? |url=https://factcheckni.org/topics/peace/who-opens-and-closes-interface-gates/ |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=FactCheckNI |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204171938/https://factcheckni.org/topics/peace/who-opens-and-closes-interface-gates/ |url-status=live }}</ref> These include Cupar Way where tourists are informed that, at 45 feet, the barrier is "three times higher than the [[Berlin Wall]] and has been in place for twice as long".<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 July 2023 |title=What is a peace wall? An explainer |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2023/07/27/news/what_is_a_peace_line_-3474436/ |access-date=7 February 2024 |website=The Irish News |archive-date=6 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406112047/https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2023/07/27/news/what_is_a_peace_line_-3474436/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

With other working-class districts, Shankill suffered from the "collapse of old industrial Belfast".<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=The Rape and Plunder of the Shankill Revisited |url=https://archive.northernvisions.org/specialcollections/ogfeatures/the-rape-and-plunder-of-the-shankill-revisited/ |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=Northern Visions |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927173748/https://archive.northernvisions.org/specialcollections/ogfeatures/the-rape-and-plunder-of-the-shankill-revisited/ |url-status=live }}</ref> But it was also greatly affected from the 1960s by the city's most ambitious programme of "slum clearance". Red-brick, "two up, two down" terraced streets, typical of 19th century working-class housing, were replaced with flats, maisonettes, and car parks but few facilities. In a period of twenty years, due largely to redevelopment, 50,000 residents left the area leaving an aging population of 26,000<ref>{{Cite web |last=Redpath |first=Jackie |date=1995 |title=CAIN: Templegrove: Fifth Public Discussion – The Shankill and the Falls: The Minority Experiences |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/segregat/temple/discus5.htm |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=21 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021225718/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/segregat/temple/discus5.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":03" /> and more than 100 acres of wasteland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fitzmaurice |first=Maurice |date=29 June 2021 |title=Project highlights over 100 acres of wasteground in Greater Shankill |url=https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/shankill-road-project-highlights-acres-20929613 |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=Belfast Live |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221010619/https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/shankill-road-project-highlights-acres-20929613 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Meanwhile, [[Belfast Urban Motorway|road schemes]], including the terminus of the [[M1 motorway (Northern Ireland)|M1 motorway]] and the [[Westlink (road)|Westlink]], demolished a mixed dockland community, [[Sailortown (Belfast)|Sailortown]], and severed the streets linking the Shankill area and the rest of both north and west Belfast to the city centre.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Martire |first=Agustina |date=2017 |title=Walking the Streets: No More Motorways for Belfast |url=https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/162507950/F17_57502_Final_OA.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Spaces and Flows |volume=8 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610231419/https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/162507950/F17_57502_Final_OA.pdf |archive-date=10 June 2020 |access-date=25 May 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Wesley |url= |title=The Belfast Urban Motorway: Engineering, Ambition and Social Conflict |date=2014 |publisher=Colourpoint Books |isbn=978-1-78073-047-9 }}</ref>

New "green field" housing estates were built on the outer edges of the city. The onset of the Troubles overwhelmed attempts to promote these as "mixed" neighbourhoods so that the largest of these developments on the city's northern edge, [[Rathcoole (Newtownabbey)|Rathcoole]], rapidly solidified as a [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] community.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Housing – Intimidation in Housing by John Darby (1974) – Chapter 6 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/housing/docs/nicrc6.htm |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=18 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918212811/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/housing/docs/nicrc6.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, it was estimated that 98% of public housing in Belfast was divided along religious lines.<ref name="SelfImposed">"[https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1191027,00.html Self-imposed Apartheid] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515173208/https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1191027,00.html |date=15 May 2020 }}", by [[Mary O'Hara]], published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on Wednesday 14 April 2004. Accessed on Sunday, 22 July 2007.</ref>

Among the principal landmarks of north Belfast are the [[HM Prison Belfast|Crumlin Road Gaol]] (1845) now a major visitor attraction, [[Belfast Royal Academy]] (1785) - the oldest school in the city, [[St Malachy's College]] (1833), [[Holy Cross Church, Ardoyne]] (1902), [https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/things-to-do/parks-and-open-spaces/a-z-parks/waterworks Waterworks Park] (1889), and [[Belfast Zoo]] (1934).

=== West Belfast ===
In the mid-19th century rural poverty and famine drove large numbers of Catholic tenant farmers, landless labourers and their families toward Belfast. Their route brought them down the [[Falls Road, Belfast|Falls Road]] and into what are now remnants of an older Catholic enclave around [[St Mary's Church, Belfast|St Mary's Church]], the town's first Catholic chapel (opened in 1784 with Presbyterian subscriptions),<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 February 2020 |title=First Ecumenical Ash Wednesday Service to take place in Belfast |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/02/24/news/first-ecumenical-ash-wednesday-service-to-take-place-in-belfast-1849878/ |access-date=10 February 2024 |website=The Irish News |archive-date=17 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917001531/https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/02/24/news/first-ecumenical-ash-wednesday-service-to-take-place-in-belfast-1849878/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Smithfield Market and Library Quarter, Belfast|Smithfield Market]].<ref name=":4" /> Eventually, an entire west side of the city, stretching up the Falls Road, along the [[Springfield Road]] (encompassing the new housing estates built 1950s and 60s: Highfield, New Barnsley, Ballymurphy, Whiterock and Turf Lodge) and out past [[Andersonstown]] on the Stewartstown Road toward [[Poleglass]], became near-exclusively Catholic and, in political terms, nationalist.

Reflecting the nature of available employment as mill workers, domestics and shop assistants, the population, initially, was disproportionately female. Further opportunities for women on the Falls Road arose through developments in education and public health. In 1900, the [[Dominican Order]] opened [[St Mary's University College, Belfast|St Mary's [Teacher] Training College]], and in 1903 [[Edward VII|King Edward VII]] opened the [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast|Royal Victoria Hospital]] at the junction with the Grosvenor Road.<ref name="clarke">{{cite web |last=Clarke |first=Richard |year=1997 |title=History of the Royal Victoria Hospital |url=https://www.ums.ac.uk/inst/hrvh_rc.pdf |access-date=1 April 2019 |publisher=Ulster Medical Society }}</ref> Extensively redeveloped and expanded, the hospital has a staff of more than 8,500.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 2023 |title=Royal Victoria Hospital staff parking in 80% of visitor spaces |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67380561 |access-date=8 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=26 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326231426/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67380561 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Landmarks in the area include the [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic-revival]] [[St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast|St Peter's Cathedral]] (1866, signature twin spires added in 1886);<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Peter's Roman Catholic Cathedral &#124; What to See &#124; Belfast & Northern Ireland |url=https://www.inyourpocket.com/belfast/St.-Peter-s-Roman-Catholic-Cathedral_27946v |access-date=9 February 2024 |archive-date=27 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327023812/https://www.inyourpocket.com/belfast/St.-Peter-s-Roman-Catholic-Cathedral_27946v |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Clonard Monastery]] (1911), the Conway Mill (1853/1901, re-developed as a community enterprise, arts and education centre in 1983);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conway Mill |url=https://conway-mill.ie/ |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=Conway Mill |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211053906/https://conway-mill.ie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Belfast City Cemetery]] (1869) and, best known for its republican graves, [[Milltown Cemetery]] (1869).

The area's greatest visitor attractions are its wall and gable-end murals. In contrast to those in loyalist areas, where Israel is typically the only outside reference, these range more freely beyond the local conflict frequently expressing solidarity with [[Palestinians]], with [[Cuba]], and with [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque]] and [[Catalonia|Catalan]] separatists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Murals: Rolston, Bill. Drawing Support: Murals in the North of Ireland |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/rolston1.htm#murals |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=17 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917061019/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/rolston1.htm#murals |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Rolston, Bill. Contemporary Murals in Northern Ireland – Republican Tradition |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/slide9.htm |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240803100613/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/slide9.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== South Belfast ===
West Belfast is separated from South Belfast, and from the otherwise abutting loyalist districts of [[Sandy Row]] and the [[Donegall Road]], by rail lines, the [[M1 motorway (Northern Ireland)|M1 Motorway]] (to Dublin and the west); industrial and retail parks, and the remnants of the [[Blackstaff River|Blackstaff]] (Owenvarra) bog meadows.

Belfast began stretching up-river in the 1840s and 50s: out the [[Ormeau Road|Ormeau]] and [[Lisburn Road|Lisburn roads]] and, between them, running along a ridge of higher ground, the [[Malone Road]]. From "leafy" avenues of increasingly substantial (and in the course of time "mixed") housing, the Upper Malone broadened out into areas of parkland and villas.

Further out still, where they did not survive as public parks, from the 1960s the great-house demesnes of the city's former mill-owners and industrialists were developed for public housing: loyalist estates such as Seymour Hill and Belvoir. Meanwhile, in Malone and along the river embankments, new houses and apartment blocks have been squeezed in, increasing the general housing density.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weatherall |first=Norman |title=South Belfast, Terrace and Villa |publisher=Cottage Publications |year=2002 |isbn=1-900935-28-7 |location=Donaghadee |pages=7 }}</ref>

Beyond the Queen's University area the area's principal landmarks are the 15-storey tower block of [[Belfast City Hospital]] (1986) on the Lisburn Road, and the Lagan Valley Regional Park through which a [[towpath]] extends from the City-centre quayside to Lisburn.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Lagan Valley Regional Park {{!}} |url=https://www.laganvalley.co.uk/ |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=laganvalley.co.uk |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227103656/https://www.laganvalley.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Northern Ireland's [[List of diplomatic missions in Northern Ireland|three permanent diplomatic missions]] are situated on the Malone Road, the consulates of China,<ref>{{Cite web |title=CONSULATE-GENERAL OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN BELFAST |url=http://belfast.china-consulate.gov.cn/eng/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=belfast.china-consulate.gov.cn |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201220214/http://belfast.china-consulate.gov.cn/eng/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Poland<ref>{{Cite web |title=Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Belfast – Poland in the UK – Gov.pl website |url=https://www.gov.pl/web/unitedkingdom/consulate-belfast |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=Poland in the UK |archive-date=5 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205201942/https://www.gov.pl/web/unitedkingdom/consulate-belfast |url-status=live }}</ref> and the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Consulate General Belfast |url=https://uk.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/belfast/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom |archive-date=5 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105122954/https://uk.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/belfast/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== East Belfast ===
The first district on the right bank of the Lagan (the [[County Down]] side) to be incorporated in Belfast was [[Ballymacarrett]] in 1853.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Orr |first=Philip |title=Down by Avalon, Reflections on East Belfast |publisher=East Side Partnership |year=2019 |isbn=9781527238718 |publication-date=2019 |pages=7}}</ref> [[Harland & Wolff]], whose gantry cranes, [[Samson and Goliath (cranes)|Samson & Goliath]], tower over the area, was long the mainstay of employment — although less securely so for the [[townland]]'s Catholics (In 1970, when the yard still had a workforce of 10,000, only 400 Catholics were employed).<ref name=":18" />{{rp|280}} Tolerated in periods of expansion as [[Navvy|navvies]] and casual labourers,<ref name=":13" />{{rp|87–88}} they concentrated in a small enclave, the [[Short Strand]], which has continued into this century to feature as a sectarian flashpoint.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |date=22 June 2011 |title=Belfast riots: a setback for area barely reshaped by peace process |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/22/belfast-riots-setback-peace-process |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Short Strand, Catholic enclave SURVIVING over a century in the midst of Protestant East Belfast. |date=9 November 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMKOZSZc4l8 |access-date=9 February 2024 |archive-date=6 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241206152416/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMKOZSZc4l8 |url-status=live }}</ref> Home to around 2,500 people, it is the only distinctly nationalist area in the east of the river.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research |first=Sheffield Hallam University |date=2014 |title=Project overview {{!}} Recession, resilience and rebalancing {{!}} Inner East Belfast |url=https://research.shu.ac.uk/cresr/recession-resilience-rebalancing/east-belfast.htm |access-date=26 February 2024 |website=research.shu.ac.uk |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226220711/https://research.shu.ac.uk/cresr/recession-resilience-rebalancing/east-belfast.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

East Belfast developed from the [[Queen's Bridge, Belfast|Queens Bridge]] (1843), through Ballymacarrett, east along the [[Newtownards Road]] and north (along the east shore of the Lough) up the [[Holywood, County Down|Holywood]] Road; and from the [[Albert Bridge, Belfast|Albert Bridge]] (1890) south east out the [[Cregagh]] and Castlereagh roads. The further out, the more substantial, and less religiously segregated, the housing until again encountering the city's outer ring of public housing estates: loyalist Knocknagoney, [[Lisnasharragh (District Electoral Area)|Lisnasharragh]], and [[Tullycarnet]].

This century, efforts have been made to add to East Belfast's two obvious visitor attractions: Samson & Goliath (the "banana yellow" Harland & Wolff cranes date only from the early 1970s)<ref name=":13" />{{rp|79}} and the [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Parliament Buildings at Stormont]]. What is marketed now as EastSide, features, at the intersection of the Connswater and Comber Greenways and next to the EastSide Visitor Centre, [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] Square (2017), named and themed in honour of the local author of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]].''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visit EastSide {{!}} Information Services |url=https://visitbelfast.com/partners/visit-east-belfast/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=Visit Belfast |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105064051/https://visitbelfast.com/partners/visit-east-belfast/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Next to the former the Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices (now an hotel), stands the "cultural nucleus to Titanic Quarter", [[Titanic Belfast|''Titanic'' Belfast]] (2012) whose interactive galleries tell the liner's ill-fated story.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Titanic Belfast – Explore – Titanic Belfast |url=https://www.titanicbelfast.com/explore/about-titanic-belfast/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=titanicbelfast.com |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221021625/https://www.titanicbelfast.com/explore/about-titanic-belfast/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2015, the [[Orange Order]] opened the Museum of Orange Heritage on the Cregagh Road with the aim of educating the wider public about "the origins, traditions and continued relevance" of the parading institution.<ref name=":24" />

=== City Centre ===
[[Image:St. Georges Market in Belfast 2017.jpg|thumb|Inside St. Georges Market in 2017]]
[[Belfast City Centre]] is roughly bounded by the ring roads constructed since the 1970s: the [[M3 motorway (Northern Ireland)|M3]] which sweeps across the dockland to the north; the Westlink that connects to the [[M1 motorway (Northern Ireland)|M1]] for points south and west; and, with less certainty, the Bruce Street and Bankmore connectors that tie back toward the Lagan at the Gasworks Business Park and the beginning of the Ormeau Road. This embraces "the Markets", the one remaining inner-city area of housing. Of the various markets, including those for the sale and shipping of livestock, from which it derives its name, only one survives, the former produce market, [[St George's Market]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Development of the Area – Market Social History |url=https://www.marketsocialhistory.com/the-area/ |access-date=10 February 2024 |archive-date=20 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620185202/https://www.marketsocialhistory.com/the-area/ |url-status=live }}</ref> now a food and craft market popular with visitors to the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. George's Market – Belfast |url=https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/st-georges-market-p676791 |access-date=10 February 2024 |website=Discover Northern Ireland |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225135750/https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/st-georges-market-p676791 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Architectural heritage ====
[[File:Clifton House, Belfast, July 2010 (03).JPG|right|thumb|Belfast Charitable Society, [[Clifton House, Belfast|Clifton House]], 1774]]
Among surviving elements of the pre-Victorian town are the [[The Belfast Entries|Belfast Entries]], 17th-century alleyways off High Street, including, in Winecellar Entry, White's Tavern (rebuilt 1790); the elliptical First [[Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland|Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing)]] Church (1781–83) in Rosemary Street (whose members led the abolitionist charge against Greg and Cunningham);<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Regan |first1=Raymond |title=Hidden Belfast |date=2010 |publisher=Mercier Press |isbn=978-1-85635-683-1 |location=Cork |pages=60–63 }}</ref> the [[Assembly Rooms, Belfast|Assembly Rooms]] (1769, 1776, 1845) on Bridge Street; [[St George's Church, Belfast|St George's Church of Ireland]] (1816) on the High Street site of the old Corporation Church; [[St Mary's Church, Belfast|St Mary's Church]] (1782) in Chapel Lane, which is the oldest Catholic church in the city. The oldest public building in Belfast, [[Clifton House, Belfast|Clifton House]] (1771–74), the [[Belfast Charitable Society]] [[poorhouse]], is on North Queen Street. It is now partly cut off from the city centre by arterial roads. In addition there are small sets of city-centre [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] terraces.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Patton |first=Marcus |title=Central Belfast: An Historical Gazetteer |publisher=Ulster Architectural Heritage Society |year=1993 |isbn=0-900457-44-9 |location=Belfast }}</ref>

Of the much larger Victorian city a substantial legacy has survived the [[Belfast Blitz|Blitz]], The Troubles and planning and development. Among the more notable examples are [[St Malachy's Church, Belfast|St Malachy's Roman Catholic Church]] (1844) and the original college building of [[Queen's University Belfast]] (1849), both in a [[Tudor style architecture|Tudor style]]; the Palm House in the [[Botanic Gardens (Belfast)|Botanic Gardens]] (1852); the [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Renaissance revival]] [[Union Theological College]] (1853) and Ulster Bank (now [[Merchant Hotel (Belfast)|Merchant Hotel]]) (1860); the [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] [[Ulster Hall]] (1862), and the National Trust restored ornate [[Crown Liquor Saloon]] (1885, 1898) (a setting for the classic film, ''[[Odd Man Out]]'', starring [[James Mason]]);<ref>{{cite news |date=23 February 2007 |title=BBC seeks stars of Belfast film noir |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6388303.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226113327/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6388303.stm |archive-date=26 February 2007 |access-date=23 May 2007 |publisher=BBC News Northern Ireland }}</ref> the oriental-themed [[Grand Opera House (Belfast)|Grand Opera House]] (1895) (bombed several times during the Troubles), and the Romanesque revival [[St Patrick's Church, Belfast|St. Patrick's Catholic Church]] in Donegall Street (1877).<ref name=":42" />

[[File:Scottish Provident Institution, Belfast.jpg|left|thumb|Scottish Provident Institution, 1902]]
The [[Baroque Revival architecture|Baroque revival]] [[Belfast City Hall|City Hall]] was finished in 1906 on the site of the former White Linen Hall, and was built to reflect Belfast's city status, granted by [[Queen Victoria]] in 1888. Its [[Edwardian Baroque architecture|Edwardian]] design influenced the [[Victoria Memorial (India)|Victoria Memorial]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], India, and [[Durban]] City Hall in South Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Krishna |first=Dutta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKfoHi5412UC&pg=PA132 |title=Calcutta: A Cultural and Literary History |publisher=Signal Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-902669-59-5 |page=132 |access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529144512/https://books.google.com/books?id=UKfoHi5412UC&pg=PA132 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> The dome is {{cvt|173|ft|m}} high and figures above the door state "[[Hibernia]] encouraging and promoting the Commerce and Arts of the City".<ref name="Go To Historic Buildings2">{{cite web |title=Historic Belfast: A guide to the City's landmark buildings |url=http://www.gotobelfast.com/index.cfm/level/page/category_key/197/Page_Key/428/Parent_Key/0/type/Page/PaGeName/Historic_Buildings_of_Belfast |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070618164651/http://www.gotobelfast.com/index.cfm/level/page/category_key/197/Page_Key/428/Parent_Key/0/type/Page/PaGeName/Historic_Buildings_of_Belfast |archive-date=18 June 2007 |access-date=23 May 2007 |publisher=Go To Belfast }}</ref>

Nearby is the Renaissance and Baroque revival Scottish Provident Institution (1902). Opposite is a branch of the [[Ulster Bank]] which is built behind the classical facade of a former Methodist church dating from 1846.

Built in the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque-style]] on the site of an earlier [[Neoclassical architecture|neo-classical]] church, [[St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Church of Ireland Cathedral]] was consecrated in 1904. The north transept, featuring on its exterior "the largest [[Celtic cross]] in Ireland",<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XrTqRDWcek |title=The Largest Celtic Cross in Ireland: Ancient Heritage Unveiled {{!}} Belfast {{!}} Northern Ireland |date=2024-11-29 |last=ConnollyCove |access-date=2025-02-26 |via=YouTube}}</ref> was completed in 1981, and a final addition, a 40-metre stainless steel "Spire of Hope" was installed in 2007.<ref>{{Cite news |last=BBC News |date=2007-04-12 |title=Spire of hope to light up city |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6549473.stm |access-date=2025-02-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The neoclassical [[Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast|Royal Courts of Justice]] were opened on Oxford Street in 1933.<ref name="Royal Courts of Justice">[[Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service]], ''[http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/AboutUs/CommunityProgrammes/Heritage/heritagetour_rcj.htm Heritage Tour - Royal Courts of Justice]'' (Belfast, 6 October 2010) (accessed: 6 June 2011)</ref>

==== Redevelopment ====
The opening [[Victoria Square Shopping Centre]] in 2008 was to symbolise the rebound of the city centre since its days as a restricted security zone during the Troubles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arminas |first=David |date=2008 |title=Belfast's Victoria Square marks retail revival with showpiece dome |url=https://www.building.co.uk/belfasts-victoria-square-marks-retail-revival-with-showpiece-dome/3117116.article |access-date=10 February 2024 |website=Building }}</ref> But retail footfall in the centre is limited by competition with out-of-town shopping centres and with internet retailing. As of November 2023, footfall had not recovered pre-[[COVID-19 pandemic|COVID pandemic]] levels.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 November 2023 |title=Belfast city centre footfall has not recovered to pre-Covid levels, councillors told |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/belfast-city-centre-footfall-has-not-recovered-to-pre-covid-levels-councillors-told/a1320191857.html |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=19 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919032428/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/belfast-city-centre-footfall-has-not-recovered-to-pre-covid-levels-councillors-told/a1320191857.html |url-status=live }}</ref> There are compensating trends: the growth in tourism and hospitality which has included a sustained boom in hotel construction.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hospitality and tourism {{!}} Invest in Belfast |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/investinbelfast/key-sectors/hospitality-and-tourism |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref>

The City Council also talks of a "residential-led regeneration".<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 March 2023 |title=A vision for Belfast city living |url=https://www.irishnews.com/business/2023/03/14/news/a_vision_for_belfast_city_living-3124020/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=The Irish News |archive-date=28 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128020147/https://www.irishnews.com/business/2023/03/14/news/a_vision_for_belfast_city_living-3124020/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Council seeks development partner to boost city population through £630million housing-led regenerat |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/news/council-seeks-development-partner-to-boost-city-po |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=Belfast City Council |archive-date=19 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319184412/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/news/council-seeks-development-partner-to-boost-city-po |url-status=live }}</ref> New townhouse and apartments schemes are being developed for the city's quays,<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 January 2024 |title=Belfast city centre: Almost 700 apartments get go ahead |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68004725 |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=22 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122023029/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68004725 |url-status=live }}</ref> and for Titanic Quarter.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 September 2023 |title=Loft Lines: Fears towers will block Belfast's Titanic building |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66867823 |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402005504/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66867823 |url-status=live }}</ref> The completion in 2023 of Ulster University's enhanced Belfast campus (in "one of the largest higher education capital builds in Europe")<ref name="Ulster280723">{{Cite web |date=28 July 2023 |title=Ulster University's Enhanced Belfast Campus Prepares to Welcome Students and Staff |url=https://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/2022/september/ulster-universitys-enhanced-belfast-campus-prepares-to-welcome-students-and-staff |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131202347/https://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/2022/september/ulster-universitys-enhanced-belfast-campus-prepares-to-welcome-students-and-staff |url-status=live }}</ref> and the determination of Queen's University to compete with the private sector in the provision of student housing,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canning |first=Margaret |date=21 September 2023 |title=Is Queen's going beyond its remit by competing with private sector on student housing? |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/analysis/is-queens-going-beyond-its-remit-by-competing-with-private-sector-on-student-housing/a2022426468.html |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=Belfast Telegraph |issn=0307-1235 }}</ref> has fostered the construction downtown of multiple new student residences.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cartmill |first=Claire |date=7 February 2023 |title=The construction of new university buildings and student housing were key drivers of development in Belfast last year, Deloitte report reveals |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/business/the-construction-of-new-university-buildings-and-student-housing-were-key-drivers-of-development-in-belfast-last-year-deloitte-report-reveals-4016628 |website=News Letter }}</ref>

==== Rough sleeping and homelessness ====
People can be found sleeping rough on the streets of the city centre. Numbers, while growing, may be comparatively small for a city of its size in the British Isles. In 2022, counts and estimates by the [[Northern Ireland Housing Executive]] identified a total of 26 rough sleepers in Belfast.<ref>{{Cite web |last=The Housing Executive |date=2024 |title=Rough sleeping: Tackling Rough Sleeping in Belfast |url=https://www.nihe.gov.uk/housing-help/homelessness/rough-sleeping |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=nihe.gov.uk |archive-date=13 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313200647/https://www.nihe.gov.uk/housing-help/homelessness/rough-sleeping |url-status=live }}</ref> This is against a background (in 2023) of 2,317 people (0.67% of residents) presenting as homeless, many of whom are in temporary accommodation and shelters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Homeless Connect |date=21 September 2023 |title=Latest Homelessness Statistics show over 4,500 children living in temporary accommodation – Homeless Connect |url=https://homelessconnect.org/latest-homelessness-statistics-show-over-4500-children-living-in-temporary-accommodation/ |access-date=23 March 2024 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323165545/https://homelessconnect.org/latest-homelessness-statistics-show-over-4500-children-living-in-temporary-accommodation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Such figures, however, do not include all those living in severely overcrowded conditions, involuntarily sharing with other households on a long-term basis, or sleeping rough in hidden locations.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gray |first1=Ann Marie |url=https://simoncommunity.org/assets/pdfs/Hidden-Homelessness_Report_FINAL_2022-03-04-122611_qzze.pdf |title=Hidden Homelessness in Northern Ireland |last2=Hamilton |first2=Jennifer |publisher=Simon Community, Ulster University |year=2022 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |access-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323165545/https://simoncommunity.org/assets/pdfs/Hidden-Homelessness_Report_FINAL_2022-03-04-122611_qzze.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2 March 2022 |title=Northern Ireland's 'hidden homeless' living life in limbo |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-60576166 |access-date=23 March 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref>

=== The "Quarters" ===
[[File:Cathedral St. Anne Belfast.jpg|left|thumb|St Anne's Cathedral]]
Since 2001, buoyed by increasing numbers of tourists, the city council has promoted a number of cultural [[Belfast quarters|quarters]].

The [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]] comprises much of Belfast's old trade and warehousing district in the narrow streets and entries around [[St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Cathedral]], with a concentration of bars, beer gardens, clubs and restaurants (including two establishments claiming descent from the early town, White's and The Duke of York)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neil |first=Shasha |date=14 April 2023 |title=10 Oldest Pubs in Belfast |url=https://www.oldest.org/food/oldest-pubs-in-belfast/ |access-date=17 February 2024 |website=Oldest.org |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217141417/https://www.oldest.org/food/oldest-pubs-in-belfast/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and performance spaces (most notably the Black Box and [[Oh Yeah (music centre)|Oh Yeah]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cathedral Quarter |url=https://visitbelfast.com/cathedral-quarter/ |access-date=17 February 2024 |website=Visit Belfast }}</ref><ref name="Cathedral Quarter2">{{cite web |year=2014 |title=The Cathedral Quarter, Belfast |url=http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/belfast/The-Cathedral-Quarter-Belfast-A2042 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518205008/http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/belfast/The-Cathedral-Quarter-Belfast-A2042 |archive-date=18 May 2014 |access-date=18 May 2014 |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Tourist Board]] }}</ref> It hosts a yearly [[Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival|visual and performing arts festival]]. The adjoining [[Custom House, Belfast|Custom House]] Square is one of the city's main outdoor venues for free concerts and street entertainment.

Without defined geographical boundaries, the [[Gaeltacht Quarter, Belfast|Gaeltacht Quarter]] encompasses [[Irish language|Irish-speaking]] Belfast. (According to the 2021 census, 15.5% of people in the city have [[Irish language in Northern Ireland|some knowledge of Irish]], 4% speak it daily).<ref name=":02" /> It is generally understood as an area around the Falls Road in west Belfast served by the [[Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich]] cultural centre.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gaeltacht Quarter |url=https://visitbelfast.com/gaeltacht-quarter/ |access-date=26 January 2024 |website=Visit Belfast |archive-date=26 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240126181614/https://visitbelfast.com/gaeltacht-quarter/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It can be said to include, at the Skainos Centre in unionist east Belfast, [[Turas]], a project that promotes Irish through night classes and cultural events in the belief that "the language belongs to all".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lynch |first=Connor |date=30 April 2023 |title=Turas celebrates 10 years of the Irish language in East Belfast |url=https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/turas-celebrates-10-years-irish-26805790 |access-date=17 February 2024 |website=Belfast Live |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217141417/https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/turas-celebrates-10-years-irish-26805790 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Belfast Aerial.jpg|alt=Aerial photo of urban sprawl, edged by green hills and sea shore, and bisected by a winding river.|thumb|upright=0.75|Aerial view of Belfast (2004)]]
The [[Linen Quarter, Belfast|Linen Quarter]]', an area south of City Hall once dominated by linen warehouses, now includes, in addition to cafés, bars and restaurants, a dozen hotels (including the 23-storey [[Grand Central Hotel Belfast|Grand Central Hotel]]), and the city's two principal Victorian-era cultural venues, the [[Grand Opera House, Belfast|Grand Opera House]] and the [[Ulster Hall]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Linen Quarter {{!}} Attractions, See & Do |url=https://visitbelfast.com/partners/linen-quarter/ |access-date=17 February 2024 |website=Visit Belfast |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217105537/https://visitbelfast.com/partners/linen-quarter/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Moving further south along the so-called [[Golden Mile (Belfast)|"Golden Mile"]] of bars and clubs through [[Shaftesbury Square]], there is the [[Queen's Quarter, Belfast|Queen's [University] Quarter]]. In addition to the university (spread over 250 buildings, of which 120 are listed as being of architectural merit),<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=About Queen's: Facts and Figures |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/TheUniversity/AboutQueens/UniversityInformation/FactsandFigures/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513043014/http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/TheUniversity/AboutQueens/UniversityInformation/FactsandFigures/ |archive-date=13 May 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Queen's University Belfast }}</ref> it is home to [[Belfast Botanic Gardens|Botanic Gardens]] and the [[Ulster Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Contact Details |url=http://www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/contact-us/contact-details/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529080126/http://www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/contact-us/contact-details/ |archive-date=29 May 2007 |access-date=18 May 2007 |publisher=The Ulster Museum }}</ref>

Finally, the [[Titanic Quarter, Belfast|Titanic Quarter]] covers {{cvt|0.75|km²|acre|0}} of reclaimed land adjacent to [[Port of Belfast|Belfast Harbour]], formerly known as ''Queen's Island''. Named after [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']], launched here in 1911,<ref name="Titanic In History"/> work began in 2003 to transform some former shipyard land into "one of the largest waterfront developments in Europe".<ref name="Titanic Quarter2">{{cite web |year=2006 |title=Corporate Message: The Vision |url=http://www.titanic-quarter.com/about.php?ID=3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503202406/http://www.titanic-quarter.com/about.php?ID=3 |archive-date=3 May 2007 |access-date=18 May 2007 |website=About Us at Titanic Quarter |publisher=Titanic Quarter }}</ref> The current area houses [[Titanic Belfast|''Titanic'' Belfast]], the [[Public Record Office of Northern Ireland|Public Records Office of Northern Ireland]] (PRONI), two hotels, and multiple condo towers and shops, and the Titanic [film] Studios.<ref name=":15">{{Cite web |title=Titanic Studios |url=https://harcourtdev.com/titanic-studios |access-date=10 February 2024 |website=Harcourt {{!}} Design, Develop, Deliver {{!}} New Homes {{!}} Offices {{!}} Retail |archive-date=23 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723120737/https://harcourtdev.com/titanic-studios |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Belfast}}

=== Arts venues and festivals ===
From [[Georgian era|Georgian]] Belfast, the city retains a civic legacy. In addition to [[Clifton House, Belfast|Clifton House]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |title=Home – Clifton House |url=https://cliftonbelfast.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |archive-date=6 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806084643/https://cliftonbelfast.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (Belfast Charitable Society, 1774), this includes the [[Linen Hall Library]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 January 2024 |title=Homepage |url=https://www.linenhall.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Linen Hall, Belfast |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206135224/https://www.linenhall.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge, 1788), the [[Ulster Museum]] (founded in 1833 by the [[Belfast Natural History Society]] as the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery), and the [[Botanic Gardens (Belfast)|Botanic Gardens]]<ref name="Botanic Gardens">{{Cite web |title=Botanic Gardens |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/botanicgardens |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council |archive-date=22 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222203042/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/botanicgardens |url-status=live }}</ref> (established in 1828 by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society).<ref name="Botanic Gardens" /> These remain important cultural venues: in the case of the Gardens, for outdoor festivities including the Belfast [[Melā]], the city's annual August celebration of global cultures.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 August 2023 |title=Belfast Mela: Thousands celebrate diversity at Botanic Gardens |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66634910 |access-date=2 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202191746/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66634910 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Of the many stage venues built in the nineteenth century, and film theatres built in the twentieth, there remains the [[Ulster Hall]] (1862),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ulster Hall, Belfast – Live Music, Comedy and Entertainment Events |url=https://www.ulsterhall.co.uk/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Ulster Hall |archive-date=3 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203005236/https://www.ulsterhall.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which hosts concerts (including those of the [[Ulster Orchestra]]), [[European classical music|classical]] [[Concert#Recital|recital]]s and party-political meetings; the [[Grand Opera House, Belfast|Grand Opera House]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grand Opera House {{!}} Belfast Theatre {{!}} Theatre Tickets |url=https://www.goh.co.uk/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Grand Opera House |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202152155/https://www.goh.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (1895) badly damaged in bomb blasts in the early 1990s, restored and enlarged 2020; the [[Strand Cinema]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=What's On – Strand Cinema Belfast |url=https://www.strandartscentre.com/whats-on/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |archive-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240415225841/https://strandartscentre.com/whats-on/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (1935) now being developed as an arts centre;<ref name="Leebody">{{Cite news |last=Leebody |first=Christopher |date=2 November 2023 |title=Iconic Belfast cinema building set to undergo £6.5m redevelopment |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/iconic-belfast-cinema-building-set-to-undergo-65m-redevelopment/a1947551204.html |access-date=16 December 2023 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216174222/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/iconic-belfast-cinema-building-set-to-undergo-65m-redevelopment/a1947551204.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Queen's Film Theatre|Queens Film Theatre]] (QFT) (1968) focussed on [[Art film|art house]] and [[world cinema]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Independent Cinema in Northern Ireland |url=https://queensfilmtheatre.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Queen's Film Theatre |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201173643/https://queensfilmtheatre.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The two independent cinemas offer their screens for the [[Belfast Film Festival]] and the [[Belfast Festival at Queen's|Belfast International Arts Festival]].

The principal stage for drama remains the [[Lyric Theatre, Belfast|Lyric Theatre]] (1951, 2011), the largest employer of actors and other theatre professionals in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 February 2018 |title=Lyric Theatre announces plans to celebrate 50 years on the banks of the Lagan |url=https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/content/lyric-theatre-announces-plans-celebrate-50-years-banks-lagan |website=Culture Northern Ireland |access-date=6 February 2024 |archive-date=14 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014140327/https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/content/lyric-theatre-announces-plans-celebrate-50-years-banks-lagan |url-status=dead }}</ref> At Queens University, drama students stage their productions at the [[Brian Friel]] Theatre, a 120-seat studio space (named after the renowned playwright).<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 September 2019 |title=Brian Friel Theatre {{!}} School of Arts, English and Languages {{!}} Queen's University Belfast |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Discover/facilities/BrianFrielTheatre/index.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226173112/https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Discover/facilities/BrianFrielTheatre/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In November 2011, Belfast became the smallest city to host the [[2011 MTV Europe Music Awards|MTV Europe Music Awards]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Henry |first=Lesley-Ann |date=2 March 2011 |title=MTV Europe Music Awards to be held in Belfast |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/mtv-awards/mtv-europe-music-awards-to-be-held-in-belfast-28665779.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103141140/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/mtv-awards/mtv-europe-music-awards-to-be-held-in-belfast-28665779.html |archive-date=3 November 2013 |access-date=14 November 2011 |newspaper=The Belfast Telegraph }}</ref> The event was made possible by the 11,000-seat Odyssey Arena (today the [[SSE Arena, Belfast|SSE Arena]]) which opened in 2000 at the entrance to the [[Titanic Quarter]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Lucy |date=6 November 2011 |title=MTV Europe Music Awards 2011: as it happened |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8871749/MTV-EMAs-2011-as-it-happened.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230223659/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8871749/MTV-EMAs-2011-as-it-happened.html |archive-date=30 December 2013 |access-date=20 May 2014 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] }}</ref> A further large-scale venue is the [[Waterfront Hall]], a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre that first opened in 1997. The main circular Auditorium seats 2,241 and is modelled on the [[Berliner Philharmonie|Berlin Philharmonic Hall]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast Waterfront |url=https://www.virtualvisittours.com/belfast-waterfront/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Virtual Visit Tours |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225182822/https://www.virtualvisittours.com/belfast-waterfront/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the [[Metropolitan Arts Centre]], the "MAC", was opened in the [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]], offering a performance mix of music, theatre, dance and visual art.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The MAC – Belfast |url=https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/the-mac-p672741 |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Discover Northern Ireland |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142908/https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/the-mac-p672741 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The city has a number of community arts, and arts education, centres, among them the [[Crescent Arts Centre]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome To The Crescent, Belfast Northern Ireland |url=https://crescentarts.org/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Crescent |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202194119/https://crescentarts.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in south Belfast, the Irish-language [[Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Home |url=https://www.culturlann.ie/en |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=Cultúrlann }}</ref> in west Belfast, The Duncairn<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 January 2024 |title=The Duncairn |url=https://www.theduncairn.com/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Duncairn |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202194118/https://www.theduncairn.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in north Belfast and, in the east of the city, EastSide Arts.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 2021 |title=Eastside Arts: Belfast, Northern Ireland |url=https://www.eastsidearts.net/ |access-date=2 February 2024 }}</ref>

[[Féile an Phobail]], a community arts organisation born out of the Internment Commemorations in the west of the city, stages one of the largest community festivals in Europe.<ref name="BBC">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/tv/programmes/feile/index.shtml Féile an Phobail: 20 Years On] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102183925/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/tv/programmes/feile/index.shtml|date=2 January 2009}} – [[BBC]]</ref> It has grown from its original ''August Féile'' on the Falls Road, to a year-round programme with a broad range of arts events, talks and discussions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 November 2021 |title=Féile an Phobail – Ireland's Biggest Community Arts Festival |url=https://feilebelfast.com/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |archive-date=8 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208124058/https://feilebelfast.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== UNESCO City of Music ===
In November 2021, Belfast became the third city in the British Isles to be designated by [[UNESCO]] as [[City of Music (UNESCO)|City of Music]] (after Glasgow in 2008 and Liverpool in 2016) and is one of 59 cities worldwide participating in the [[Creative Cities Network|UNESCO Creative Cities Network]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Culture: Belfast music |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastmusic |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142909/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastmusic |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=8 November 2021 |title=Belfast awarded Unesco City of Music status |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59213363 |website=BBC News |access-date=26 February 2024 |archive-date=26 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226220710/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59213363 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The greater part of Belfast's music scene is accommodated in the city's [[pub]]s and clubs. [[Irish traditional music]] ("trad") is a staple, and is supported, along with [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster-Scots]] [[snare drum]] and [[Bagpipes|pipe]] music, by the city's TradFest summer school.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast TradFest {{!}} Arts and Entertainment |url=https://visitbelfast.com/partners/belfast-tradfest/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Visit Belfast |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142908/https://visitbelfast.com/partners/belfast-tradfest/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast TradFest |url=https://www.belfasttraditionalmusic.com/music-masterclasses |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast TradFest |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206142908/https://www.belfasttraditionalmusic.com/music-masterclasses |url-status=live }}</ref>

Music offerings also draw on the legacy of the punk<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Garth |date=10 September 2020 |title=Belfast and the Furious: How punk made its mark on Northern Ireland |url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-punk-in-troubles-torn-northern-ireland-91176/ |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The New European |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202192328/https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-punk-in-troubles-torn-northern-ireland-91176/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the underground club scene that developed during [[The Troubles]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Belfast Underground Clubs |url=http://www.belfastundergroundclubs.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216113737/http://www.belfastundergroundclubs.com/ |archive-date=16 February 2016 |access-date=7 February 2016 |website=belfastundergroundclubs.com }}</ref> (associated with the groups [[Stiff Little Fingers]] and [[The Undertones]], and celebrated in the award-winning 2013 film, [[Good Vibrations (film)|Good Vibrations]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Clare |date=3 July 2014 |title=Belfast's punk scene brings Good Vibrations … and Troubles |url=http://theconversation.com/belfasts-punk-scene-brings-good-vibrations-and-troubles-28708 |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Conversation |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202192327/http://theconversation.com/belfasts-punk-scene-brings-good-vibrations-and-troubles-28708 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Snow Patrol]]'s frontman [[Gary Lightbody]] led a line up of private donors that together with public funders established the [[Oh Yeah (music centre)|Oh Yeah music centre]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=5 February 2008 |title=Fate Awards planned for Belfast this month |url=http://www.hotpress.com/news/4413823.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908223157/http://www.hotpress.com/news/4413823.html |archive-date=8 September 2012 |access-date=14 October 2009 |magazine=[[Hot Press]]}}Note: Archived page, can be found.</ref> The Cathedral Quarter non-profit supports young musicians and these have engaged with a range of genres including [[Alternative rock]], [[Indie rock]], [[Electronica]], [[Post rock]], [[Post punk]], [[Crossover (music)|Crossover]], and [[Experimental rock]].

Queens University hosts the [[Sonic Arts Research Centre]] (SARC), an institute for music-based practice and research. Its purpose designed building, Sonic Laboratory and multichannel studios were opened by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], the German composer and "father of electronic music",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Worby |first=Robert |date=2017 |title=Stockhausen: The Father of Electronic Music |url=https://sites.barbican.org.uk/stockhausen/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=sites.barbican.org.uk |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209005044/https://sites.barbican.org.uk/stockhausen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 February 2017 |title=About {{!}} Sonic Arts Research Centre {{!}} Queen's University Belfast |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/sarc/about/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk }}</ref>

=== Media ===
[[File:BBC Northern Ireland Belfast.jpg|thumb|[[Broadcasting House, Belfast]], headquarters of the BBC in Northern Ireland]]
Belfast is the home of the ''[[Belfast Telegraph]]'', ''[[Irish News]]'' and, first printed in 1737,''[[The News Letter]]'', the oldest [[English language|English-language]] daily newspaper in the world still in publication.<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Research Guide: Irish News & Newspapers |url=http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/guides/s-irishnews/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809020149/http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/guides/s-irishnews/ |archive-date=9 August 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Boston College }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Johnston |first=Ruth |title=Belfast News Letter |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/newsletter.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107233738/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/newsletter.shtml |archive-date=7 November 2006 |access-date=24 May 2007 |website=Your Place and Mine |publisher=BBC }}</ref>

The city is the headquarters of [[BBC Northern Ireland]], and [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] station [[Ulster Television|UTV]]. The Irish public service broadcaster, [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann|RTÉ]] has a studio in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://about.rte.ie/contact/contact-details/ |title=RTÉ Studios and Offices - Contact Details |access-date=15 September 2024 |archive-date=15 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915133002/https://about.rte.ie/contact/contact-details/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The national radio station is [[BBC Radio Ulster]] with commercial radio stations such as [[Q Radio Belfast|Q Radio]], [[U105]], [[Blast 106]] and Irish-language station [[Raidió Fáilte]]. [[Queen's Radio]], a student-run radio station broadcasts from [[Queen's University Belfast Students' Union|Queen's University Students' Union]].

One of Northern Ireland's two community TV stations, [[NvTv]], is based in the [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]] of the city. Broadcasting only over the Internet is Homely Planet, the Cultural Radio Station for Northern Ireland, supporting community relations.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Homely Planet |url=http://www.homelyplanet.org/about-homely-planet/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205212122/http://www.homelyplanet.org/about-homely-planet/ |archive-date=5 December 2013 |access-date=20 May 2014 |publisher=Homelyplanet.org }}</ref>

=== Parades ===
Since the lifting in 1872 of a twenty-year [[Party Processions Act 1850|party processions ban]], [[Orange Order|Orange]] parades in celebration of "[[the Twelfth]]" [of July] and the bonfires of the previous evening, the eleventh, have been a fixed fixture of the Belfast calendar.<ref name="Bryan2009"/> On what became a public holiday in 1926,<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 February 2020 |title=Where did bank holidays originate from? |url=https://timetastic.co.uk/blog/history-of-bank-holidays/ |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=Timetastic – A blog about taking and managing time off work. |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210528/https://timetastic.co.uk/blog/history-of-bank-holidays/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Belfast and guest Orange lodges (from both across Ulster and Scotland) with their pipe, flute, drum and accordion bands muster at Carlisle Circus, and parade through the city centre past the City Hall and out the Lisburn Road to a gathering in "the field" at Barnett Demesne.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 November 2023 |title=Orange Order to stick to traditional Belfast route |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67445302 |access-date=5 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210528/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67445302 |url-status=live }}</ref> While some local feeder and return marches have a history of sectarian disturbance, in recent years, events have generally passed off without serious incident.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McParland |first=Conor |date=29 June 2023 |title=Controversial July 12 Orange parade past Ardoyne banned by Parades Commission |url=https://belfastmedia.com/july-12-parade-rejected-north-belfast |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=Belfast Media Group |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://belfastmedia.com/july-12-parade-rejected-north-belfast |url-status=live }}</ref> The tradition is documented and celebrated in the Museum of Orange Heritage on the Cregagh Road in East Belfast.<ref name=":24">{{Cite web |title=ABOUT US {{!}} Museum of Orange Heritage |url=https://www.orangeheritage.co.uk/about-us |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Museum |archive-date=23 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223001224/https://www.orangeheritage.co.uk/about-us |url-status=live }}</ref>

What is sometimes referred to as the Catholic equivalent of the Orangemen,<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Parades: Parading Organisations |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/parade/organis.htm |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |archive-date=22 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722162106/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/parade/organis.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> the much smaller [[Ancient Order of Hibernians]], confines its parades to nationalist areas in west and north Belfast,<ref>{{Cite web |title=viewparade – Northern Ireland Parades Commission |url=https://www.paradescommission.org/viewparade.aspx?id=79089 |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=paradescommission.org |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://www.paradescommission.org/viewparade.aspx?id=79089 |url-status=live }}</ref> as do republicans commemorating the [[Easter Rising]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 April 2023 |title=Republican Easter parades taking place throughout Belfast this week |url=https://belfastmedia.com/easter-parades-a18f01d7-755e-48f0-be5a-2824e987434d |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast Media Group |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206095346/https://belfastmedia.com/easter-parades-a18f01d7-755e-48f0-be5a-2824e987434d |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1993, in a break with a history of nationalist exclusion from the city centre, a parade marking the [[Operation Demetrius|introduction of internment]] in the 1971 proceeded up [[Royal Avenue, Belfast|Royal Avenue]] toward the City Hall, where it was addressed by Sinn Féin president, [[Gerry Adams]], in front of the statue of [[Queen Victoria]].<ref name="Bryan2009">{{Citation |last=Bryan |first=Dominic |title=Negotiating Civic Space in Belfast or The Tricolour: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow' |date=2009 |pages=11 |url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/negotiating-civic-space-in-belfast-or-the-tricolour-here-today-go |access-date=5 February 2024 |publisher=Economic and Social Research Council |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/negotiating-civic-space-in-belfast-or-the-tricolour-here-today-go |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since 1998, the Belfast City Council has funded a city-centre [[Saint Patrick's Day|St. Patrick's Day]] (17 March) celebration. It is organised by [[Féile an Phobail]] as a "carnival" complete with a parade featuring dancers, circus entertainers, floats, and giant puppets. Critical of what they perceive as an evolving nationalist festival, unionists on the City Council observe that "a lot of the Protestant Unionist Loyalist (PUL) community will stay away from the city centre on St Patrick's Day, the same as some stay away on the Twelfth of July".<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 February 2023 |title=St Patrick's Day in Belfast 'turning into St Patrick's Week', says DUP |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/st-patricks-day-in-belfast-turning-into-st-patricks-week-says-dup/1790730276.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206094640/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/st-patricks-day-in-belfast-turning-into-st-patricks-week-says-dup/1790730276.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1991, Belfast hosted its first [[gay pride]] event. Belfast Pride, culminating in a city-centre parade at the end of July, is now one of the biggest annual festivals in the city and, according to its organisers, the largest [[LGBT]]+ festival in Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Belfast Pride |url=https://www.communityni.org/organisation/belfast-pride |website=communityni.org |access-date=5 February 2024 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210528/https://www.communityni.org/organisation/belfast-pride |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 2023 |title=Belfast Pride 2023: Thousands take part in parade |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66313139 |access-date=5 February 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205210529/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66313139 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Irish Congress of Trade Unions]] organises an annual city-centre May Day march and rally.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 May 2002 |title=Parade recalls trade union victims |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/parade-recalls-trade-union-victims/28126477.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206094639/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/parade-recalls-trade-union-victims/28126477.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[International Workers' Day|International Workers Day]] has been a public holiday since 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The history of May Day |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/the-history-of-may-day |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=National Trust |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206094639/https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/the-history-of-may-day |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Demography ==
{{Main|Demographics of Belfast}}

{{Historical populations
|state=collapsed
|percentages=pagr
|1757|8549
|1782|13105
|1791|18320
|1806|22095
|1821|37277
|1831|53287
|1841|75308
|1851|97784
|1861|119393
|1871|174412
|1881|208122
|1891|255950
|1901|349180
|1911|386947
|1926|415151
|1937|438086
|1951|443671
|1961|415856
|1966|398405
|1971|362082
|1981|314270
|1991|279237
|2001|277391
|2006|267374
|2011|280138
|2021|293298
||footnote=2021 figure is for the city within its pre-2015 local government boundaries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wakefield |first=Edward |title=An account of Ireland, statistical and political: in two volumes |volume=2 |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown |location=London |pages=693–694 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeI_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA693 |year=1812 |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231214225/https://books.google.com/books?id=YeI_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA693 |archive-date=31 December 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cso.ie/census |title=Census for post 1821 figures |publisher=CSO|access-date=12 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920090814/http://cso.ie/census |archive-date=20 September 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.histpop.org |title=Home |publisher=Histpop.Org |date=2 April 2007 |access-date=13 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507023856/http://www.histpop.org/ |archive-date=7 May 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census |title=Northern Ireland Census of Population |publisher=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |access-date=12 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100404114651/http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census/ |archive-date=4 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=J. J. |editor-last=Goldstrom |editor-first=J. M. |editor2-last=Clarkson |editor2-first=L. A. |title=Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell |year=1981 |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |location=Oxford, England |chapter=On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mokyr |first1=Joel |author-link=Joel Mokyr |last2=Ó Gráda |first2=Cormac |title=New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850 |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=473–488 |date=November 1984 |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121204160709/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 December 2012 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x |hdl=10197/1406 |hdl-access=free |issn=0013-0117 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/factsandfigures/demographics.asp |title=Belfast City Council. Belfast: A Profile of the City. Demographics |publisher=Belfastcity.gov.uk |access-date=12 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925231740/http://belfastcity.gov.uk/factsandfigures/demographics.asp |archive-date=25 September 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="2021 populations">{{cite web |title=Settlement 2015 |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/viewdata?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151+N11000243+N11000438+N11000447+N11000218+N11000564+N11000559+N11000099+N11000040+N11000537+N11000153 |website=NISRA |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=20 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820072644/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/viewdata?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151+N11000243+N11000438+N11000447+N11000218+N11000564+N11000559+N11000099+N11000040+N11000537+N11000153 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}
In 2021, there were 345,418 residents within the expanded 2015 Belfast local government boundary<ref name=":2"/> and 634,600 in the [[Belfast Metropolitan Area]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Largest UK cities 2023 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/294645/population-of-selected-cities-in-united-kingdom-uk/ |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=Statista |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313091122/https://www.statista.com/statistics/294645/population-of-selected-cities-in-united-kingdom-uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> approximately one third of Northern Ireland's 1.9 million population.

As with many cities, Belfast's inner city is currently characterised by the elderly, students and single young people, while families tend to live on the periphery. Socio-economic areas radiate out from the [[Belfast City Centre|Central Business District]], with a pronounced wedge of affluence extending out the Malone Road and Upper Malone Road to the south.<ref name="Geography in Action Urban Growth">{{cite web |last=Stephen |first=Roulston |year=2006 |title=Urban Structure: Growth of Belfast |url=http://www.geographyinaction.co.uk/Urban_structure/Urban_growth.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415203906/http://geographyinaction.co.uk/Urban_structure/Urban_growth.html |archive-date=15 April 2007 |access-date=18 May 2007 |website=Geography in Action |publisher=National Grid for Learning }}</ref> Deprivation levels are notable in the inner parts of the north and the west of the city. The areas around the [[Falls Road, Belfast|Falls Road]], [[Ardoyne]] and [[New Lodge, Belfast|New Lodge]] (Catholic nationalist) and the [[Shankill Road]] (Protestant loyalist) experience some of the highest levels of social deprivation including higher levels of ill health and poor access to services. These areas remain firmly segregated, with 80 to 90 percent of residents being of the one religious designation.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 July 2018 |title=Revealed: Northern Ireland's 10 most deprived areas |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/revealed-northern-irelands-10-most-deprived-areas-37157128.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708191202/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/revealed-northern-irelands-10-most-deprived-areas-37157128.html |archive-date=8 July 2019 |access-date=8 July 2019 |newspaper=[[Belfast Telegraph]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Anusiak |first=Julia |date=2021 |title=The Effects of Segregation and Deprivation in the Peace-Line Area of Belfast: Mental Health |url=https://thegraticule.wixsite.com/journal/post/the-effects-of-religious-segregation-and-deprivation-on-mental-health-a-peace-line-area-case-study |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=The Graticule |archive-date=24 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124184111/https://thegraticule.wixsite.com/journal/post/the-effects-of-religious-segregation-and-deprivation-on-mental-health-a-peace-line-area-case-study |url-status=live }}</ref>{{bar box
|title = National Identity of Belfast City residents (2021)
|titlebar=#ddd |left1=Nationality |right1=Per cent |float=right
|bars =
{{bar percent|Irish|DarkOrchid|39.4}}
{{bar percent|British|Blue|37.0}}
{{bar percent|Northern Irish|grey|27.5}}
}}
Consistent with the trend across all of Northern Ireland, the Protestant population within the city has been in decline, while the non-religious, other religious and Catholic population has risen. The 2021 census recorded the following: 43% of residents as Catholic, 12% as Presbyterian, 8% as Church of Ireland, 3% as Methodist, 6% as belonging to other Christian denominations, 3% to other religions and 24% as having either no religion or no declared religion.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Belfast Census Data |url=https://explore.nisra.gov.uk/area-explorer-2021/N09000003/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927133256/https://explore.nisra.gov.uk/area-explorer-2021//N09000003/ |archive-date=27 September 2022 |access-date=27 September 2022 |website=explore.nisra.gov.uk }}</ref>

In terms of community background, 47.93% were deemed to belong to, or to have been brought up in, the Catholic faith and 36.45% in a Protestant or other Christian-related denomination.<ref>{{cite web |title=Religion or religion brought up in |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=RELIGION_BELONG_TO_OR_BROUGHT_UP_IN_DVO&%7ESETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |access-date=18 August 2023 |website=NISRA |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818131849/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=RELIGION_BELONG_TO_OR_BROUGHT_UP_IN_DVO&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |url-status=live }}</ref> The comparable figures in 2011 were 48.60% Catholic and 42.28% Protestant or other Christian-related denomination.<ref>{{cite web |title=Census 2011 Population Statistics for Belfast City Settlement |url=https://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/public/AreaProfileReportViewer.aspx?FromAPAddressMulipleRecords=Belfast%20City@Partial%20match%20of%20location%20name:%20@Partial%20Match%20Of%20Location%20Name:%20%20Belfast%20City@23? |access-date=18 August 2023 |website=NISRA }}</ref>

With respondents free to indicate more than one national identity, in 2021 the largest national identity group was "Irish only" with 35% of the population, followed by "British only" 27%, "Northern Irish only" 17%, "British and Northern Irish only" 7%, "Irish and Northern Irish only" 2%, "British, Irish and Northern Irish only" 2%, British and Irish less than 1% and Other identities with 10%.<ref name=":02" />

Insofar as the city's two indigenous minority languages (Irish and [[Ulster Scots dialect|Ulster Scots]]) are concerned, figures are made available from the decennial UK census. On census day, 21 March 2021, 14.93% (43,798) in Belfast claimed to have some knowledge of the Irish language, whilst 5.21% (15,294) claimed to be able to speak, read, write and understand spoken Irish.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=IRISH_SKILLS_INTERMEDIATE&%7ESETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |title=UK Census 2021 Population Statistics for Irish (Ability) in Belfast City Settlement |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency]] (NISRA) |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240803135201/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=IRISH_SKILLS_INTERMEDIATE&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |url-status=live }}</ref> 3.74% (10,963) of residents claimed to use Irish daily and 0.75% (2,192) claimed Irish is their main language.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=IRISH_SKILLS_SPEAK_FREQUENCY&%7ESETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |title=UK Census 2021 Population Statistics for Irish (Speak Frequency) in Belfast City Settlement |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency]] (NISRA) |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-date=19 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819151203/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=IRISH_SKILLS_SPEAK_FREQUENCY&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=MAIN_LANGUAGE_1000&%7ESETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |title=UK Census 2021 Population Statistics for Main Language in Belfast City Settlement |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency]] (NISRA) |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-date=19 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819151201/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=MAIN_LANGUAGE_1000&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |url-status=live }}</ref> 7.17% (21,025) of people in the city claimed to have some knowledge of Ulster Scots, whilst 0.75% (2,207) claimed to be able to speak, read, write and understand spoken Ulster Scots.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=ULSTER_SCOTS_SKILLS_INTERMEDIATE&%7ESETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |title=UK Census 2021 Population Statistics for Ulster-Scots (Ability) in Belfast City Settlement |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency]] (NISRA) |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-date=19 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819151203/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=ULSTER_SCOTS_SKILLS_INTERMEDIATE&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |url-status=live }}</ref> 0.83% (2,430) claimed to use Ulster Scots daily.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=ULSTER_SCOTS_SKILLS_SPEAK_FREQUENCY&%7ESETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |title=UK Census 2021 Population Statistics for Ulster-Scots (Speak Frequency) in Belfast City Settlement |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency]] (NISRA) |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-date=19 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819151202/https://build.nisra.gov.uk/en/custom/data?d=PEOPLE&v=SETTLEMENT15&v=ULSTER_SCOTS_SKILLS_SPEAK_FREQUENCY&~SETTLEMENT15=N11000151 |url-status=live }}</ref>

From the mid to late 19th century, there was a community [[Belfast Jewish Community|of central European Jews]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Belfast Community – Irish Jewish Museum |url=https://jewishmuseum.ie/jews-of-ireland/the-belfast-community/ |access-date=24 January 2024 |archive-date=24 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124115417/https://jewishmuseum.ie/jews-of-ireland/the-belfast-community/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (among its distinguished members, two-time          Lord Mayor [[Otto Jaffe]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish history in Northern Ireland |url=https://belfastjewishheritage.org/ |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=belfastjewishheritage.org |archive-date=10 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241110115335/https://belfastjewishheritage.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and of Italians<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – Legacies – Immigration and Emigration – Northern Ireland – Italians – Radio, Pokes and Marble – Article Page 2 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/northern_ireland/ni_4/article_2.shtml#:~:text=By%20the%20end%20of%20the,is%20revealed%20in%20census%20statistics. |access-date=24 January 2024 |website=bbc.co.uk |archive-date=24 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124115416/https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/northern_ireland/ni_4/article_2.shtml#:~:text=By%20the%20end%20of%20the,is%20revealed%20in%20census%20statistics. |url-status=live }}</ref> in Belfast. Today, the largest immigrant groups are Poles, Chinese and Indians. The 2011 census figures recorded a total non-white population of 10,219 or 3.3%, while 18,420 or 6.6% of the population were born outside the UK and Ireland. Almost half of those born outside the British Isles lived in [[Belfast South (UK Parliament constituency)|south Belfast]], where they comprised 9.5% of the population.<ref name="QS208NI%20(a)">{{cite web |title=Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service |url=http://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/Download/Census%202011_Excel/2011/QS208NI%20(a).xls |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612120812/http://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/Download/Census%202011_Excel/2011/QS208NI%20(a).xls |archive-date=12 June 2015 |access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref> The majority of the estimated 5,000 Muslims<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=About Us |url=http://belfastislamiccentre.org.uk/about_us/about_us.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707070907/http://www.belfastislamiccentre.org.uk/about_us/about_us.htm |archive-date=7 July 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Belfast Islamic Centre }}</ref> and 200 [[Hindu]] families<ref>{{cite web |title=Hinduism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/pfocus/citizenship/spring2001 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313133102/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/pfocus/citizenship/spring2001/ |archive-date=13 March 2007 |access-date=8 October 2007 |website=Primary Focus: Programme 1 – Indian Community |publisher=BBC }}</ref> living in Northern Ireland resided in the [[Greater Belfast]] area. In the 2021 census the percentage of the city's residents born outside the United Kingdom had risen to 9.8.<ref name=":5" />

{{clear}}
<gallery class="center" widths="220" heights="220" caption="The Belfast City Council area in the 2011 census">
File:Religion Belfast City Council 2011 Census.png|Percentage Catholic or brought up Catholic
File:National Identity Belfast City Council 2011 Census.png|Most commonly stated national identity
File:Born Outside UK And Ireland Belfast City Council 2011 Census.png|Percentage born outside the UK and Ireland
</gallery>

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of Belfast}}

[[File:Harlandandwolffcranes.JPG|thumb|[[Samson and Goliath (cranes)|Samson and Goliath]], Harland & Wolff's gantry cranes]]

=== Employment profile ===
Services (including retail, health, professional & scientific) account for three quarters of jobs in the Belfast. Only 6% remain in manufacturing. The balance is in distribution and construction.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/BRES-2021-Publication_1.pdf |title=Business Register and Employment Survey 2021 |publisher=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |year=2021 }}</ref> In recent years, unemployment has been comparatively low (under 3% in the summer of 2023) for the UK. On the other hand, Belfast has a high rate of people economically inactive (close to 30%).<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 September 2023 |title=Labour market statistics |url=https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/labour-market-statistics-56 |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=Economy |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213203340/https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/labour-market-statistics-56 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is a group, encompassing homemakers, full-time carers, students and retirees,<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Duncan |first1=Pamela |last2=Sheehy |first2=Finbarr |last3=Scruton |first3=Paul |last4=Cutler |first4=Sam |date=2 May 2021 |title=Life in Northern Ireland v the rest of the UK: what does the data say? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/02/life-in-northern-ireland-v-the-rest-of-the-uk-what-does-the-data-say |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 }}</ref> that in Belfast has been swollen by the exceptionally large proportion of the population (27%) with [[Disability in Northern Ireland|long-term health problems or disabilities]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-2-statistical-bulletin-health-disability-and-unpaid-care.pdf |title=Census 2021: Main statistics for Northern Ireland Statistical bulletin, Health, disability and unpaid care |date=15 December 2022 |publisher=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |pages=21 }}</ref> (and who, in Northern Ireland generally, are less likely to be employed than in other UK regions).<ref>{{Cite book |last= |url=https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1275811/Disability-and-the-labour-market.pdf |title=Maximising potential: A review of labour market outcomes for people with disabilities in Northern Ireland |publisher=Ulster University Economic Policy Centre |year=2023 |pages=18 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213203339/https://www.ulster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1275811/Disability-and-the-labour-market.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

An early report on the post-Belfast Agreement prospects for the city economy underscored another distinctive feature of its working-age population. While it appeared well qualified, with 24 per cent educated to degree level, at "the other end of the educational spectrum", 26 per cent had no qualifications at all, a much higher share than in English cities.<ref name=":26" />{{rp|251}}

=== Shipbuilding, aerospace and defence ===
Of Belfast's Victorian-era industry, little remains. The last working linen factory—Copeland Linens Limited, based in the Shankill area—closed in 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 January 2013 |title=Copeland Linens, Belfast's last working linen factory closes |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-21192216 |access-date=3 February 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref> In recent years [[Harland & Wolff]], which at peak production in the Second World War had employed around 35,000 people, has had a workforce of no more than two or three hundred refurbishing oil rigs and fabricating off-shore wind turbines. A £1.6 billion [[Royal Navy]] contract has offered the yard a new lease, returning it to shipbuilding in 2025,<ref name=":3" />{{rp|261–262}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=£100 million boost as naval shipbuilding confirms return to Belfast |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/100-million-boost-as-naval-shipbuilding-confirms-return-to-belfast |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=GOV.UK |archive-date=23 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123203452/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/100-million-boost-as-naval-shipbuilding-confirms-return-to-belfast |url-status=live }}</ref> a prospect secured by the purchase of insolvent yard by Spain's state-owned shipbuilder, [[Navantia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 2025 |title=Harland and Wolff: Spanish firm Navantia completes takeover |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24593xe8no |access-date=10 February 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB |archive-date=11 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211194759/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24593xe8no |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1936, Short & Harland Ltd, a joint venture of [[Short Brothers]] and Harland & Wolff, began the manufacture of aircraft in the docks area. In 1989, the British government, which had nationalised the company during the Second World War, sold it to the Canadian aerospace company [[Bombardier Inc.|Bombardier]]. In 2020, it was sold on to the American aerostructure company [[Spirit AeroSystems]].<ref name="spirt-completes">{{cite news |last=McAleer |first=Ryan |date=29 November 2020 |title=Short Brothers' new US owner reports £136m operating loss for third quarter |url=https://www.irishnews.com/business/2020/11/04/news/short-brothers-new-us-owner-reports-136m-operating-loss-for-third-quarter-2118573/ |access-date=29 November 2020 |work=The Irish News |location=Belfast |archive-date=4 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104080024/https://www.irishnews.com/business/2020/11/04/news/short-brothers-new-us-owner-reports-136m-operating-loss-for-third-quarter-2118573/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Producing aircraft components, it remains the largest manufacturing concern in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nics.gov.uk/irtu/research/engineering-4.html |title=Shorts as a "Centre of Excellence" within Bombardier, 2007 |access-date=25 January 2024 |archive-date=24 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924102225/http://www.nics.gov.uk/irtu/research/engineering-4.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Originating in the [[Short Brothers]]' missile division, since 2001 the [[Thales Group]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomson-CSF changes name to Thales |url=https://www.aerospaceonline.com/doc/thomson-csf-changes-name-to-thales-0001 |access-date=3 May 2021 |website=aerospaceonline.com |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319090040/https://www.aerospaceonline.com/doc/thomson-csf-changes-name-to-thales-0001 |url-status=live }}</ref> (owned by the French defense contractor [[Thales Air Defence]] Limited)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our UK locations |url=http://www.thalesgroup.com/en/countries/europe/united-kingdom/about-thales-uk/our-uk-locations |access-date=3 May 2021 |website=Thales Group |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505205250/https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/countries/europe/united-kingdom/about-thales-uk/our-uk-locations |url-status=live }}</ref> has been producing [[short range air defence]] and [[Anti-tank guided missile|anti-tank]] [[missile]]s<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 2019 |title=Economic Impact of Thales in Northern Ireland |url=http://www.thalesgroup.com/sites/default/files/database/document/2019-09/Thales_Belfast_Report%20final.pdf |access-date=2 May 2021 |website=thalesgroup.com |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502144401/http://www.thalesgroup.com/sites/default/files/database/document/2019-09/Thales_Belfast_Report%20final.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> including the [[NLAW]] shoulder-launched system<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 December 2022 |title=Belfast weapons factory receives contract to produce anti-tank missiles |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-weapons-factory-receives-contract-to-produce-anti-tank-missiles/42235861.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213142755/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-weapons-factory-receives-contract-to-produce-anti-tank-missiles/42235861.html |archive-date=13 February 2024 |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> and, from 2025, lightweight multirole missiles (LMMs),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-02 |title=Belfast: Thales missile factory to supply 5,000 air defence missiles to Ukraine |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74knzk9x8zo |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> deployed against the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion]] by [[Ukraine]]..

=== Fintech and cybersecurity ===
From the 1990s, Belfast established itself as a significant location for call centres and for other back-office services.<ref name="The Times">{{cite web |title=Northern Ireland – Overview |url=http://www.bcglocations.com/uk/northernireland/northernireland_intro.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20061104103706/http://www.bcglocations.com/uk/northernireland/northernireland_intro.html |archive-date=4 November 2006 |access-date=12 August 2010 |website=The Times |publisher=Bcglocations.com }}</ref> Attracting U.S. operators such as [[Citigroup|Citi]], [[Allstate]], [[Liberty Mutual]], [[Aflac]] and [[Kx Systems|FD Technologies (Kx Systems)]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Financial and professional services {{!}} Invest in Belfast |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/investinbelfast/key-sectors/financial-and-professional-services |access-date=15 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215120959/https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/investinbelfast/key-sectors/financial-and-professional-services |url-status=live }}</ref> it as since been identified by the [[HM Treasury|UK Treasury]] as "key [[fintech]] [financial technology] hub".<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Dea |first=Blathnaid |date=5 December 2022 |title=Up there with the best: Belfast's reputation as a fintech hiring hub |url=https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/belfast-fintech-hiring-hub |access-date=15 February 2024 |website=Silicon Republic |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215121000/https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/belfast-fintech-hiring-hub |url-status=live }}</ref> Fintech's key areas (its "ABCD") are [[artificial intelligence]], [[blockchain]], [[cloud computing]], and [[big data]].<ref name="LaiLiao2020">{{cite journal |last1=Lai |first1=T. L. |last2=Liao |first2=S.-W. |last3=Wong |first3=S. P. S. |last4=Xu |first4=H. |date=2020 |title=Statistical models and stochastic optimization in financial technology and investment science |url=https://tzelai.ckirby.su.domains/pubs/2020_AMSA_05_02_A05.pdf |journal=Annals of Mathematical Sciences and Applications |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=317–345 |doi=10.4310/AMSA.2020.v5.n2.a5 |issn=2380-288X |s2cid=240302839 |archive-date=9 July 2022 |access-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709180952/https://tzelai.ckirby.su.domains/pubs/2020_AMSA_05_02_A05.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The sector's principal constraint, cyber security, has been addressed since 2004 by the Queens University Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (IECIT), and its [[Centre for Secure Information Technologies]] (CSIT).<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 2019 |title=News {{!}} ROLLS-ROYCE ANNOUNCES UK UNIVERSITY TO JOIN CYBER TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH NETWORK {{!}} ECIT {{!}} Queen's University Belfast |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/ECIT/News/ROLLS-ROYCEANNOUNCESUKUNIVERSITYTOJOINCYBERTECHNOLOGYRESEARCHNETWORK.html |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk }}</ref> The IECIT is the anchor tenant at [[Catalyst (science park)]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catalyst : Titanic Quarter Belfast |url=https://titanicquarter.com/work/office/catalyst/ |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213142756/https://titanicquarter.com/work/office/catalyst/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in the Titanic Quarter, which hosts a cluster of companies seeking to offer innovative cyber-security solutions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 2019 |title=About us {{!}} ECIT {{!}} Queen's University Belfast |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/ECIT/Aboutus/index.html |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=qub.ac.uk }}</ref>

=== Film ===
Between 2018 and 2023, film and television production based largely in Belfast, and occupying significant new studio capacity in the ports area, contributed £330m to Northern Ireland's economy.<ref name="Belvins2024">{{Cite web |last=Belvins |first=David |date=5 January 2024 |title=£100m studio makes Belfast global hub for virtual production |url=https://news.sky.com/story/100m-studio-makes-belfast-global-hub-for-virtual-production-13022657 |access-date=15 February 2024 |website=Sky News |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214005147/https://news.sky.com/story/100m-studio-makes-belfast-global-hub-for-virtual-production-13022657 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are two 8-acre media complexes (serviced by the adjacent [[George Best Belfast City Airport|City Airport]]): the Titanic Studios on Queen's Island (the [[Titanic Quarter]]) and across the Victoria Channel in [[Giant's Park]] on the Lough's north foreshore, the Belfast Harbour Studios.<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |title=Belfast Harbour Studios |url=https://www.belfast-harbour.co.uk/real-estate/belfast-harbour-studios/ |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=Belfast Harbour |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214165157/https://www.belfast-harbour.co.uk/real-estate/belfast-harbour-studios/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Together they offer 226,000&nbsp;ft<sup>2</sup> of studio space, plus offices and workshops,<ref name="Film & Television Studios">{{Cite web |title=Film & Television Studios |url=https://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/filming/studios/ |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=Northern Ireland Screen |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214005138/https://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/filming/studios/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and have attracted U.S. production companies such as [[Amazon Prime Video|Amazon]], [[HBO]] (including all eight series of its fantasy drama ''[[Game of Thrones]]''), [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]], [[Universal Pictures|Playtone]], [[Universal Pictures|Universal]], and [[Warner Bros.|Warner Bros]].<ref name=":15"/><ref name=":19" />

At the beginning of 2024, [[Ulster University]], in partnership with [[Belfast Harbour]] and supported by [[Northern Ireland Screen]], announced an £72m investment to add to the complex a new virtual production, research and development, facility, Studio Ulster.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Studio Ulster |url=https://www.studioulster.com/ |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=studioulster.com |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214005140/https://www.studioulster.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Belvins2024"/> Additional studio space is available at Loop Studios (formerly Britvic) on the Castlereagh Road in East Belfast.<ref name="Film & Television Studios" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Loop Studios – 468-472 Castlereagh Rd, Belfast |url=https://loopstudios.info/ |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=loopstudios.info |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214005141/https://loopstudios.info/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 2025, Belfast was named "City of Film’"at the Global Production Awards ceremony held during the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in France.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-05-20 |title=Belfast named 'city of film' at Cannes industry awards ceremony |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/belfast-named-city-of-film-at-cannes-industry-awards-ceremony/a1271938495.html?errorCode=0 |access-date=2025-05-20 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

=== Tourism and hospitality ===
Northern Ireland's [[peace dividend]] since the 1990s, which includes a marked increase in [[inward investment]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Durkan "hopeful" For Future of Good Friday Agreement |url=http://archive.nics.gov.uk/dfp/010209f-dfp.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012210212/http://archive.nics.gov.uk/dfp/010209f-dfp.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007 |access-date=17 September 2007 |publisher=Department of Finance and Personnel }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 13 February 2002 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020213/text/20213w02.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118232203/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020213/text/20213w02.htm |archive-date=18 January 2008 |access-date=17 September 2007 |publisher=House of Commons }}</ref> has contributed to a large-scale redevelopment of the city centre. Significant projects included [[Victoria Square, Belfast|Victoria Square]], the [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]], [[Laganside]] with the [[Odyssey (Belfast)|Odyssey]] complex and the landmark [[Waterfront Hall]], the new [[Titanic Quarter, Belfast|Titanic Quarter]] with its [[Titanic Belfast|''Titanic'' Belfast]] visitor attraction, and the development of the original Short's harbour airfield as [[George Best Belfast City Airport]].
These developments reflect a boom in tourism (32 million visitors between 2011 and 2018),<ref name=":3" />{{rp|179}} and related hotel construction.

This has included an entirely new phenomenon for Belfast: in 1996, the port received its first cruise ship.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 October 2021 |title=Milestone for Belfast as 1,000th cruise ship arrives since 1996 |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/people/milestone-for-belfast-as-1000th-cruise-ship-arrives-since-1996-3411447 |website=News Letter |access-date=13 February 2024 |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213142754/https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/people/milestone-for-belfast-as-1000th-cruise-ship-arrives-since-1996-3411447 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, Belfast welcomed 153 calls, 8% up from the pre-[[COVID-19 pandemic|pandemic]] record set in 2019. Ships from 32 different countries landed 320,000 passengers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 October 2023 |title=Arrival of 'Borealis' caps record season for cruise ship visits in Belfast |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/arrival-of-borealis-caps-record-season-for-cruise-ship-visits-in-belfast/a1443070018.html |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125203041/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/arrival-of-borealis-caps-record-season-for-cruise-ship-visits-in-belfast/a1443070018.html |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2028, there is to be a new a £90 million deep-water quay capable of accommodating the world’s largest cruise liners.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-21 |title=Belfast Harbour to dig deep to welcome the world's largest cruise liners from 2028 |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/business/belfast-harbour-to-dig-deep-to-welcome-the-worlds-largest-cruise-liners-from-2028-OTOXV5WS3BGGTCTTYQMUMMB3ME/ |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=The Irish News |language=en}}</ref>

Belfast has also seen growth of "conflict tourism".<ref name=":3" />{{rp|186–191}} To the dismay of some, "tourists take photos of the division lines that are not consigned to history, but are a part of living Belfast: children play football against the walls that tourists flock to. The places and the people themselves have become a spectacle, an attraction."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jenkins |first=Chris |date=7 May 2012 |title=Belfast's immoral 'conflict tourism' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/07/belfast-immoral-conflict-tourism |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 }}</ref> Tourist bosses and guides, however, are satisfied that the greater draw is city's other "must-see attractions",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Planet |first=Lonely |title=Must-see attractions Belfast, Northern Ireland |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/northern-ireland/belfast/attractions |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=Lonely Planet |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213142754/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/northern-ireland/belfast/attractions |url-status=live }}</ref> and its "convivial food and nightlife scene".<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 October 2022 |title=The ultimate Belfast guide |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/northern-ireland/belfast-city-guide-best-hotels-restaurants-b2197054.html |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=The Independent |archive-date=13 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213142754/https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/northern-ireland/belfast-city-guide-best-hotels-restaurants-b2197054.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== EU/GB Trade ===
[[Invest Northern Ireland|Invest NI]], Northern Ireland's economic development agency is pitching Belfast and its hinterland to foreign investors as "only region in the world able to trade goods freely with both [[Great Britain|GB]] and EU markets".<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 June 2023 |title=Northern Ireland's Unique GB and EU Market Access Position |url=https://www.investni.com/international-business/northern-irelands-unique-gb-and-eu-market-access-position |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=Invest Northern Ireland |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125012330/https://www.investni.com/international-business/northern-irelands-unique-gb-and-eu-market-access-position |url-status=live }}</ref> This follows the 2020 [[Northern Ireland Protocol]] and the 2023 [[Windsor Framework]], agreements between the British government and [[European Union]], whereby, post-Brexit, Northern Ireland would effectively remain within the [[European single market|European Single Market]] for goods while, in principle, retaining unfettered access to the British domestic market. Despite the DUP's derailment of devolved government in protest, local business leaders largely welcomed the new trade regime, hailing the promise of dual EU-GB access as a critical opportunity.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 March 2023 |title=Business leaders' Windsor Framework letter to Rishi Sunak is 'welcome intervention' |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2023/03/12/news/business_leaders_windsor_framework_letter_to_rishi_sunak_is_welcome_intervention_-3127023/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=The Irish News |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125012328/https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2023/03/12/news/business_leaders_windsor_framework_letter_to_rishi_sunak_is_welcome_intervention_-3127023/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=31 March 2023 |title='The Windsor Framework gives business the chance to renew the NI economy and doesn't threaten union' |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/ulsterbusiness/features/the-windsor-framework-gives-business-the-chance-to-renew-the-ni-economy-and-doesnt-threaten-union/1002543936.html |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125012328/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/ulsterbusiness/features/the-windsor-framework-gives-business-the-chance-to-renew-the-ni-economy-and-doesnt-threaten-union/1002543936.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In February 2024, the DUP consented to a return of the devolved Assembly and Executive on the understanding that neither the EU nor the British government would defend the integrity of their respective internal markets by conducting ''routine'' checks on the bulk of goods passing through Belfast, or other Northern Ireland, ports.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 February 2024 |title=Government deal with the DUP to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland |url=https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/government-deal-dup-restore-power-sharing-northern-ireland |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=Institute for Government |archive-date=3 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203024240/https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/government-deal-dup-restore-power-sharing-northern-ireland |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Education ==
{{See also|List of primary schools in Belfast|List of secondary schools in Belfast|List of grammar schools in Belfast}}

=== Primary and secondary education ===
Children from Catholic and Protestant homes in Belfast are taught, for the most part, separately on a pattern that, by the mid-nineteenth century, had been established throughout Ireland.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Alan |date=2001 |title=Religious Segregation and the Emergence of Integrated Schools in Northern Ireland |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1050786 |url-status=live |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=559–575 |doi=10.1080/03054980120086248 |issn=0305-4985 |jstor=1050786 |s2cid=144419805 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605220945/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1050786 |archive-date=5 June 2021 |access-date=5 June 2021 }}</ref> Primary and secondary education is divided between (Catholic) Maintained Schools and (non-Catholic/ "Protestant") Controlled Schools.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=26 October 2015 |title=Types of school {{!}} nidirect |url=https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/types-school |access-date=26 January 2024 |website=nidirect.gov.uk |archive-date=27 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127122615/https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/types-school |url-status=live }}</ref> They are bound by the same curriculum, but their teaching staff are trained separately (in the university colleges of [[St Mary's University College, Belfast|St Mary's]] and [[Stranmillis University College|Stranmillis]]).<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 2020 |title=Teacher training in NI 'reinforces sectarian divide' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55238661 |access-date=26 January 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=27 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127122615/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55238661 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Maguire |first=William |title=Belfast, A History |publisher=Carnegie |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-85936-189-4 |location=Lancaster }}</ref>{{rp|200–202}}

Since the 1980s, two smaller school sectors have emerged: grant-maintained [[Integrated education in Northern Ireland|Integrated schools]], which by design bring together children and staff from both communities, and [[Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta|Irish language medium schools]]<ref name=":7" />

The [[Royal Belfast Academical Institution|Belfast [later ''Royal'' Belfast] Academical Institution]], opened its doors in 1810 with the intention, in the words of its founder, former [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishman]], [[William Drennan]] of being "perfectly unbiased by religious distinctions".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whelan |first1=Fergus |title=May Tyrants Tremble: The Life of William Drennan, 1754–1820 |date=2020 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=978-1-78855-121-2 |location=Dublin |pages=170–171 }}</ref> The principle was not embraced by the town's middle-classes: in practice "Inst" provided a [[Grammar school|grammar education]] to the town's Presbyterian families while Anglicans favoured the older [[Belfast Royal Academy|Royal Belfast Academy]] (1785); Catholics, [[St Malachy's College|St Malachy's]] [[Diocese|diocesan]] college (1833) and [[Wesleyans]], [[Methodist College Belfast]] (1865).

Denominational lines have since blurred, with Catholics in particular moving into the controlled grammars.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Borooah |first1=Vani K. |last2=Knox |first2=Colin |date=1 January 2015 |title=Segregation, inequality, and educational performance in Northern Ireland: Problems and solutions |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059314000947 |journal=International Journal of Educational Development |volume=40 |pages=196–206 |doi=10.1016/j.ijedudev.2014.09.002 |issn=0738-0593 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> But the presence of 18 [[:Category:Grammar schools in Belfast|selective grammar schools in Belfast]] is a further feature of post-primary education in Belfast that distinguishes it from that of comparable cities in Great Britain where academic selection was abandoned in the 1960s and 70s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Martin |last2=Donnelly |first2=Chris |last3=Shevlin |first3=Paddy |last4=Skerritt |first4=Craig |last5=McNamara |first5=Gerry |last6=O'Hara |first6=Joe |date=2021 |title=The Rise and Fall and Rise of Academic Selection: The Case of Northern Ireland |journal=Irish Studies in International Affairs |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=477–498 |doi=10.1353/isia.2021.0060 |issn=2009-0072 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Partly prompted by the [[COVID-19|COVID]] disruption of external testing in 2021/22,<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 January 2021 |title=Northern Ireland grammar schools decide against using academic criteria for pupil selection |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/northern-ireland-grammar-schools-decide-against-using-academic-criteria-for-pupil-selection/40000726.html |access-date=27 January 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=27 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127122615/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/northern-ireland-grammar-schools-decide-against-using-academic-criteria-for-pupil-selection/40000726.html |url-status=live }}</ref> some the city's grammars have begun to review and amend the practice. It is not clear that this will be on terms that reduce the degree of social segregation they have represented within the system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Selection and segregation: the big education issues in Northern Ireland {{!}} Tes |url=https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/schools-northern-ireland-segregation-grammar-schools-selection-funding |access-date=27 January 2024 |website=tes.com |archive-date=27 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127122615/https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/schools-northern-ireland-segregation-grammar-schools-selection-funding |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2006, the [[Belfast Education and Library Board]] became part of the consolidated [[Education Authority]] for Northern Ireland. In Belfast, the Authority has responsibility for 156 primary,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Primary schools in Belfast, Northern Ireland {{!}} Page 2 |url=https://www.4ni.co.uk/sub/695x2/belfast-county-antrim/northern-ireland-primary-schools |access-date=31 January 2024 |website=4ni.co.uk }}</ref> and 48 [[List of secondary schools in Belfast|secondary]] schools (including the 18 grammars).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secondary schools in Belfast, Northern Ireland |url=https://www.4ni.co.uk/sub/782x1/belfast-county-antrim/northern-ireland-secondary-schools |access-date=31 January 2024 |website=4ni.co.uk |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131202346/https://www.4ni.co.uk/sub/782x1/belfast-county-antrim/northern-ireland-secondary-schools |url-status=live }}</ref> The system is marked by stark inequalities in outcome.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 August 2022 |title=Educational disadvantage gap virtually unchanged in 20 years, says report |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/educational-disadvantage-gap-virtually-unchanged-in-20-years-says-report/41914288.html |access-date=14 February 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214115810/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/educational-disadvantage-gap-virtually-unchanged-in-20-years-says-report/41914288.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Around 30% of school leavers in the city do not attain 5 [[GCSE]]s, A* - C (including Maths and English). For those in receipt of free school meals, the figure rises to over 50%.<ref>{{Cite book |last=City Growth and Regeneration Committee |url=https://minutes.belfastcity.gov.uk/documents/s70681/Addressing%20Educational%20Inequality%20-%20update%20on%20pilot%20project.pdf |title=Addressing Educational Inequality – update on pilot project |date=2018 |publisher=Belfast City Council |archive-date=14 February 2024 |access-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214115812/https://minutes.belfastcity.gov.uk/documents/s70681/Addressing%20Educational%20Inequality%20-%20update%20on%20pilot%20project.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Further and Higher education ===
[[Belfast Metropolitan College]] ("Belfast Met") is a [[further education]] college with three main campuses around the city, including several smaller buildings. Formerly known as [[Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education]], it specialises in [[vocational education]]. The college has over 53,000 students enrolled on full-time and part-time courses, making it one of the largest further education colleges in the UK and the largest in the island of Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Belfast Metropolitan College – About Us |url=http://www.belfastmet.ac.uk/aboutus/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216075936/http://www.belfastmet.ac.uk/aboutus/ |archive-date=16 December 2007 |access-date=12 December 2007 |publisher=Belfast Metropolitan College }}</ref>

Belfast has two universities. [[Queen's University Belfast]] was founded as a college in 1845. In 1908, the Catholic bishops lifted their ban on attendance and Queen's was granted university status.<ref name=":23" />{{rp|164, 166}} It is a member of the [[Russell Group]], an association of 24 leading research-intensive universities in the UK,<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=About The Russell Group: Aims and objectives |url=http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/about.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607022414/http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/about.html |archive-date=7 June 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=The Russell Group }}</ref> and is one of the largest universities in the UK with over 25,000 students – among them over 4,000 international students.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 December 2022 |title=Queen's University Belfast international students up by 20% |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-64000264 |access-date=31 January 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201001931/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-64000264 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Ulster University]], created in its current form in 1984, is a multi-centre university with a campus on the edge of the [[Cathedral Quarter, Belfast|Cathedral Quarter]] of Belfast. Since 2021, this original "Arts College" campus has undergone a £1.4bn expansion to accommodate offerings across all departments. The project promises to bring 15,500 staff and students into the city, and to generate 5,000 new jobs.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 November 2021 |title=Creating a brighter future for all – an update on the campus developments at Ulster University |url=https://www.ulster.ac.uk/alumniandsupporters/updates/other/creating-a-brighter-future-for-all-an-update-on-the-campus-developments-at-ulster-university |access-date=31 January 2024 |website=ulster.ac.uk }}</ref><ref name="Ulster280723"/>

== Governance ==
Belfast was granted [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough status]] by [[James VI and I]] in 1613 and official [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] by [[Queen Victoria]] in 1888.<ref>{{cite web |title=Belfast City Hall: History and Background |url=http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityhall/history.asp?menuitem=background |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504052645/http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityhall/history.asp?menuitem=background |archive-date=4 May 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Belfast City Council }}</ref> Since 1973 it has been a [[Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971|local government district]] under local administration by [[Belfast City Council]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/lgba1971.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707194021/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/lgba1971.htm |archive-date=7 July 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) }}</ref>

Belfast has been represented in the [[British House of Commons]] since 1801, and in [[Northern Ireland Assembly]], as presently constituted, since 1998.

=== Local government ===
{{Further|Belfast City Council}}
Belfast City Council is responsible for a range of powers and services, including land-use and community planning, parks and recreation, building control, arts and cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 October 2015 |title=Local councils {{!}} nidirect |url=https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/local-councils |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=nidirect.gov.uk }}</ref> The city's principal offices are those of the [[Lord Mayor of Belfast]], Deputy Lord Mayor and [[High Sheriff]]. Like other elected positions within the Council such as Committee chairs, these are filled since 1998 using the [[D'Hondt system]] so that in recent years the position has rotated between councillors from the three largest factions, [[Sinn Féin]], the [[Democratic Unionist Party|DUP]] and the [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance Party]].

The first Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1892, [[Sir Daniel Dixon, 1st Baronet|Daniel Dixon]], like [[List of mayors of Belfast|every mayor but one]] until 1997 (Alliance in 1979), was a [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]].<ref name="Belfast City Council – Lord Mayor">{{cite web |title=Councillors: Lord Mayor |url=http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/councillors/index.asp?menuitem2=lord-mayor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607193627/http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/councillors/index.asp?menuitem2=lord-mayor |archive-date=7 June 2007 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=Belfast City Council }}</ref> The first [[Irish nationalism|nationalist]] Lord Mayor of Belfast was [[Alban Maginness]] of the [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] (SDLP) in 1997. The current [[Lord Mayor]] is Micky Murray of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, who has been in the position of Lord Mayor since 3 June 2024. His duties include presiding over meetings of the council, receiving distinguished visitors to the city, representing and promoting the city on the national and international stage.<ref name="Belfast City Council – Lord Mayor" />

In 1997, unionists lost overall control of Belfast City Council for the first time in its history, with the Alliance Party holding the balance of power. In 2023, unionists retained just 17 of 60 seats on the council, leaving nationalists (Sinn Féin and the SDLP) just 4 seats short of a majority.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 May 2023 |title=Just 17 of Belfast's 60 seats now held by unionists |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/just-17-of-belfasts-60-seats-now-held-by-unionists/1555586931.html |access-date=18 January 2024 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 }}</ref> In addition to the 11 Alliance members there are four other councillors, 3 [[Green Party Northern Ireland|Green]] and 1 [[People Before Profit]], who refuse a nationalist/unionist designation.

=== Northern Ireland Assembly and Westminster elections ===
{{Further|Northern Ireland Assembly|Parliament of the United Kingdom}}
{{See also|Belfast (Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies)|Belfast (UK Parliament constituency)}}

As Northern Ireland's capital city, Belfast is host to the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] at [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Stormont]], the site of the [[Devolution#Northern Ireland|devolved]] legislature for Northern Ireland. Belfast is divided into four [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] and [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK parliamentary]] constituencies: [[Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast North]], [[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast West]], [[Belfast South and Mid Down (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast South and Mid Down]] and [[Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast East]]. All four extend beyond the city boundaries to include parts of [[Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council|Antrim and Newtownabbey]] and [[Lisburn and Castlereagh]] districts. In [[Elections in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom elections]], each constituency returns one [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]], on a "[[First-past-the-post voting|first past the post]]" basis to Westminster. In NI Assembly elections each returns, on the basis of [[proportional representation]], five [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)|MLAs]] to [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Stormont]].

In the [[2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election|Northern Ireland Assembly Elections in 2022]], Belfast elected 7 [[Sinn Féin]], 5 [[Democratic Unionist Party|DUP]], 5 [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance Party]], 1 [[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]], 1 [[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]] and 1 [[People Before Profit Alliance|PBPA]] MLAs.<ref>{{cite news |date=7 May 2022 |title=Northern Ireland election |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2022/northern-ireland/results |access-date=24 May 2022 |work=BBC News }}</ref> In the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 UK general election]], the DUP won all but the Sinn Féin stronghold of Belfast West. In the [[2019 UK General Election|2019]] and [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 UK general elections]], they retained only Belfast East, losing Belfast North to Sinn Féin and Belfast South to the SDLP.

== Infrastructure ==
=== Hospitals ===

The [[Belfast Health and Social Care Trust|Belfast Health & Social Care Trust]] is one of five trusts that were created on 1 April 2007 by the [[Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety|Department of Health]]. Belfast contains most of Northern Ireland's regional specialist centres.<ref>{{cite web |title=Review of Public Administration: Consultation on Draft Legislation To Establish Five New Integrated Health And Social Services Trusts |url=http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/hpssreview-trust-consultation-document.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927114140/http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/hpssreview-trust-consultation-document.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=17 September 2007 |publisher=DHSSPS }}</ref>

The Royal Hospitals site in west Belfast (junction of Grosvenor and Falls roads) contains two hospitals. The [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast|Royal Victoria Hospital]] (its origins in a number of successive institutions, beginning in 1797 with The Belfast Fever Hospital)<ref>{{cite web |last=Bridges |first=Barry |title=Belfast Medical Students |url=https://www.ums.ac.uk/bmsa/bmsa_med.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |publisher=Queen's University of Belfast |page=14 }}</ref> provides both local and regional services. Specialist services include cardiac surgery, critical care and the Regional Trauma Centre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Belfast Health and Social Care Trust |title=Royal Victorian Hospital |url=https://belfasttrust.hscni.net/hospitals/rvh/ }}</ref> The Children's Hospital ([[Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children]]) provides general hospital care for children in Belfast and provides most of the paediatric regional specialities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Belfast Health and Social Care Trust |title=Children's Hospital |url=https://belfasttrust.hscni.net/hospitals/childrens/ }}</ref>

The [[Belfast City Hospital]] (evolved from the 1841 [[Belfast Union Workhouse]] and infirmary)<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 March 2021 |title=Video: Documentary charts Belfast City Hospital evolution from 19th century workhouse 'fever hospital' to 2020 Nightingale unit |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/03/22/news/documentary-charts-belfast-city-hospital-evolution-from-19th-century-workhouse-fever-hospital-to-2020-nightingale-unit-2262563/ |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=The Irish News }}</ref> on the Lisburn Road is the regional specialist centre for haematology and is home to a major cancer centre.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morrison |first1=PJ |year=2006 |title=Improving cancer statistics – a new cancer centre for Northern Ireland |journal=The Ulster Medical Journal |volume=75 |issue=2 |page=110 |pmc=1891734 |pmid=16755938 }}</ref> The Mary G McGeown Regional Nephrology Unit at the [[Belfast City Hospital|City Hospital]] is the kidney transplant centre and provides regional renal services for Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 2006 |title=Belfast City Hospital: About the Unit |url=http://www.renal.org/bapn/bapn-information-and-resources/centres/lists/centres/belfast |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231214226/http://www.renal.org/bapn/bapn-information-and-resources/centres/lists/centres/belfast |archive-date=31 December 2015 |access-date=24 May 2007 |publisher=The Renal Association }}</ref>
[[Musgrave Park Hospital]] (1920) in south Belfast specialises in [[Orthopedic surgery|orthopaedics]], [[rheumatology]], [[sports medicine]] and [[Rehabilitation psychology|rehabilitation]]. It is home to Northern Ireland's first Acquired Brain Injury Unit.<ref>{{cite news |date=15 May 2006 |title=TRH open Northern Ireland's first Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit |url=http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/newsandgallery/news/trh_open_northern_ireland_s_first_regional_acquired_brain_in_778.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307071451/http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/newsandgallery/news/trh_open_northern_ireland_s_first_regional_acquired_brain_in_778.html |archive-date=7 March 2007 |access-date=6 May 2007 |publisher=The Prince of Wales }}</ref>

The [[Mater Infirmorum Hospital|Mater Hospital]] (founded in 1883 by the [[Sisters of Mercy]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ulster Medical Society: Mater Infirmorum Hospital |url=https://www.ums.ac.uk/mih.html |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=ums.ac.uk }}</ref> on the Crumlin Road provides a wide range of services, including acute inpatient, emergency and maternity services, to north Belfast and the surrounding areas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Belfast Health and Social Care Trust |title=Mater Hospital |url=https://belfasttrust.hscni.net/hospitals/mater/ }}</ref>

The [[Ulster Hospital]], Upper Newtownards Road, [[Dundonald, County Down|Dundonald]], on the eastern edge of the city, first founded as the Ulster Hospital for Women and Sick Children in 1872,<ref name="journal">{{cite journal |last1=Logan |first1=H |date=August 1987 |title=The Ulster Hospital &ndash; a short history. |journal=The Ulster Medical Journal |volume=56 Suppl |issue=Suppl |pages=S57-64 |pmc=2448186 |pmid=3328369 }}</ref> is the major acute hospital for the [[South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust]]. It delivers a full range of outpatient, inpatient and daycare medical and surgical services.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ulster Hospital: New £115m acute services block is hailed as a game-changer |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/ulster-hospital-new-115m-acute-services-block-is-hailed-as-a-game-changer/41019352.html |access-date=3 May 2023 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |issn=0307-1235 }}</ref>

=== Transport ===
{{Main|Transport in Belfast}}

[[File:Gt Victoria Street station, Belfast (9) - geograph.org.uk - 2223181.jpg|thumb|left|The former station [[Great Victoria Street railway station|Great Victoria Street]] on [[Northern Ireland Railways]]]]
Belfast is a relatively [[car dependency|car-dependent]] city by European standards, with an extensive road network including the {{convert|22.5|mi|km|0}} [[M2 motorway (Northern Ireland)|M2]] and [[M22 motorway (Northern Ireland)|M22 motorway]] route.<ref>{{cite web |title=M2 / M22 Motorway |url=http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/m2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204012656/http://wesleyjohnston.com/roads/m2.html |archive-date=4 December 2010 |access-date=12 August 2010 |publisher=Wesleyjohnston.com }}</ref>

[[Hackney carriage|Black taxis]] are common in the city, operating on a [[Share taxi|share]] basis in some areas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nutley |first=Stephen D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5rrC4nYek8C&pg=PA318 |title=Unconventional and Community Transport in the United Kingdom |publisher=Gordon and Breach Science Publishers |year=1990 |isbn=9782881247644 |pages=318–322 |issn=0278-3819 |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231214225/https://books.google.com/books?id=k5rrC4nYek8C&pg=PA318 |archive-date=31 December 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> These are outnumbered by [[Taxicabs of the United Kingdom#Private hire ('minicabs')|private hire taxis]]. Bus and rail public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by subsidiaries of [[Translink (Northern Ireland)|Translink]]. Bus services in the city proper and the nearer suburbs are operated by [[Metro (Belfast)|Translink Metro]], with services focusing on linking residential districts with the city centre on 12 [[quality bus corridor]]s running along main radial roads,<ref>{{cite web |date=27 August 2012 |title=Metro Corridor & Zone Guide |url=http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Metro-Service-Page/Metro-Corridor-Zone-Guide |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711034346/http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Metro-Service-Page/Metro-Corridor-Zone-Guide/ |archive-date=11 July 2014 |access-date=2 June 2014 |publisher=[[Metro (Belfast)|Translink Metro]] }}</ref>

More distant suburbs are served by [[Ulsterbus]]. [[Northern Ireland Railways]] provides [[Belfast Suburban Rail|suburban services]] along three lines running through Belfast's northern suburbs to [[Carrickfergus]], [[Larne]] and [[Larne Harbour railway station|Larne Harbour]], eastwards towards [[Bangor, County Down|Bangor]] and south-westwards towards [[Lisburn]] and [[Portadown railway station|Portadown]]. This service is known as the [[Belfast Suburban Rail]] system. Belfast is linked [[Belfast-Derry railway line|directly]] to [[Coleraine railway station|Coleraine]], [[Portrush railway station|Portrush]] and [[Derry ~ Londonderry railway station|Derry]]. Belfast has a direct rail connection with [[Dublin]] called ''[[Enterprise (train)|Enterprise]]'' operated jointly by NIR and the Irish rail company [[Iarnród Éireann]].

In 2024, the city's Europa Bus Centre and Great Victoria Street rail station, was replaced by a new Belfast Central Station. It is "the largest integrated transport facility on the island of Ireland" with bus stands, railway platforms, and facilities for taxis and bicycles.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 September 2024 |title=First look inside the new Belfast Grand Central Station as it prepares to open on Sunday |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/first-look-inside-the-new-belfast-grand-central-station-as-it-prepares-to-open-on-sunday-7NTEIDD27NAQDDQLVGWUDYBI3Q/ |access-date=9 September 2024 |website=The Irish News }}</ref>

[[File:George Best Belfast City Airport - geograph.org.uk - 714574.jpg|thumb|[[George Best Belfast City Airport]]]]
The city has two airports: [[George Best Belfast City Airport]], close to the city centre on the eastern shore of Belfast Lough and [[Belfast International Airport]] 30–40 minutes to the west on the shore of [[Lough Neagh]]. Both operate UK domestic and European flights. The city is also served by [[Dublin Airport]], two hours to the south, with direct inter-continental connections.

In addition to its extensive freight business, the Belfast Port offers car-ferry sailings, operated by [[Stena Line]], to [[Cairnryan]] in Scotland (5 Sailings Daily. 2 hours 22 minutes) and to [[Liverpool]]-[[Birkenhead]] (14 sailings weekly. 8 hours). The [[Isle of Man Steam Packet]] Company provides a seasonal connection to [[Douglas, Isle of Man]].

The [[Glider (Belfast)|Glider]] bus service is a new form of transport in Belfast. Introduced in 2018, it is a [[bus rapid transit]] system linking East Belfast, West Belfast and the Titanic Quarter from the City Centre.<ref>{{cite web |title=Belfast Rapid Transit – Glider – introduction |url=https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/belfast-rapid-transit-glider-introduction |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515141539/https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/belfast-rapid-transit-glider-introduction |archive-date=15 May 2018 |access-date=15 May 2018 |website=Infrastructure-ni.gov.uk }}</ref> Using [[articulated buses]], the £90&nbsp;million service saw a 17% increase in its first month in Belfast, with 30,000 more people using the Gliders every week. The service is being recognised as helping to modernise the city's public transport.<ref>{{cite web |title=Glider bus passengers increase 17% in first month |url=https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2018-10-03/glider-bus-passengers-increase-17-in-first-month/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007160721/http://www.itv.com/news/utv/2018-10-03/glider-bus-passengers-increase-17-in-first-month/ |archive-date=7 October 2018 |access-date=15 May 2018 |website=itv.com }}</ref>

[[National Cycle Route 9]] to [[Newry]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Route 9 |url=https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-9/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302172024/https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-9/ |archive-date=2 March 2021 |access-date=8 April 2021 |publisher=[[Sustrans]] }}</ref> which will eventually connect with Dublin,<ref>{{cite web |date=November 2019 |title=Development Plan: Position Paper 5: Transportation |url=https://www.lisburncastlereagh.gov.uk/uploads/general/5_Transportation_Updated_Nov_19.docx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918231100/https://www.lisburncastlereagh.gov.uk/uploads/general/5_Transportation_Updated_Nov_19.docx |archive-date=18 September 2021 |access-date=9 November 2021 |publisher=Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council |page=31 }}</ref> starts in Belfast.

=== Utilities ===
[[File:SilentValley.jpg|thumb|Silent Valley Reservoir, showing the brick-built overflow]]

Half of Belfast's water is supplied via the [[Mourne Conduit|Aquarius pipeline]] from the [[Silent Valley Reservoir]] in County Down, created to collect water from the [[Mourne Mountains]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=The Silent Valley |url=http://www.niwater.com/silent-valley/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531123627/http://www.niwater.com/silent-valley/ |archive-date=31 May 2014 |access-date=30 May 2014 |publisher=Northern Ireland Water }}</ref> The other half is now supplied from [[Lough Neagh]] via Dunore Water Treatment Works in County Antrim.<ref name="BMA plan">{{cite web |title=Strategic Plan Framework: Public Services and Utilities |url=http://www.planningni.gov.uk/areaplans_policy/Plans/BMA/draft_plan/01Part1_3/03Strategic_Framework/publics_u.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927095510/http://www.planningni.gov.uk/areaplans_policy/Plans/BMA/draft_plan/01Part1_3/03Strategic_Framework/publics_u.htm |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=26 May 2007 |website=Draft Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 |publisher=The Planning Service }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=4 October 2023 |title=Where does my water come from in Northern Ireland? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66968311 |access-date=16 February 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref> The citizens of Belfast pay for their water in their [[Rates (tax)|rates]] bill. Plans to bring in additional water tariffs were deferred by [[Northern Ireland Assembly|devolution]] in May 2007.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 2007 |title=Water Reform Implemented: Secretary of State announces deferral of charges |url=http://www.waterreformni.gov.uk/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609093844/http://www.waterreformni.gov.uk/ |archive-date=9 June 2007 |access-date=26 May 2007 |publisher=Water Reform NI }}</ref>

Power is provided from a number of [[List of power stations in Northern Ireland|power stations]] via [[Northern Ireland Electricity|NIE Networks Limited]] transmission lines. (Just under a half of electricity consumption in Northern Ireland is generated from [[Renewable resource|renewable sources]]).<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 May 2015 |title=Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation Statistics {{!}} Department for the Economy |url=https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/articles/electricity-consumption-and-renewable-generation-statistics |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=Economy }}</ref> [[Phoenix Natural Gas]] Ltd. started supplying customers in Larne and Greater Belfast with natural gas in 1996 via the newly constructed [[Scotland-Northern Ireland pipeline]].<ref name="BMA plan" /> [[Rates (tax)|Rates]] in Belfast (and the rest of Northern Ireland) were reformed in April 2007. The discrete [[Capital (economics)|capital]] value system means rates bills are determined by the capital value of each domestic property as assessed by the Valuation and Lands Agency.<ref>{{cite web |year=2005 |title=Summary of domestic rating reforms |url=http://www.ratingreviewni.gov.uk/index/domestic/domestic-summary.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505011123/http://www.ratingreviewni.gov.uk/index/domestic/domestic-summary.htm |archive-date=5 May 2007 |access-date=26 May 2007 |publisher=Department of Finance and Personnel }}</ref>

== Recreation and sports ==

=== Leisure centres ===
Belfast City Council owns and maintains 17 leisure centres across the city, run on its behalf by the non-profit [[social enterprise]] [[Greenwich Leisure Limited|GLL]] under the 'Better' brand.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leisure centres in Belfast |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/leisurecentres |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref> These include eight large multipurposed centres complete with swimming pools: Ballysillan Leisure Centre and Grove Wellbeing Centre in North Belfast; the Andersonstown, Falls, Shankill and Whiterock leisure centres in West Belfast; Templemore Baths and Lisnasharragh Leisure Centre in East Belfast, and close to the city centre in South Belfast, the Olympia Leisure Centre and Spa,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leisure Centres, Gyms & Swimming Pools in Belfast {{!}} Better |url=https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/belfast |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=better.org.uk }}</ref>

=== Parks and gardens ===
{{Main|List of parks and gardens in Belfast}}
Belfast has over [[List of parks and gardens in Belfast|forty parks]]. The oldest (1828) and one of the most popular parks [[Belfast Botanic Gardens|Botanic Gardens]]<ref>{{cite web |date=March 2012 |title=Gardens and Tourism |url=http://www.nitb.com/FileHandler.ashx?id=2259 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401104711/http://www.nitb.com/FileHandler.ashx?id=2259 |archive-date=1 April 2014 |access-date=25 May 2014 |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Tourist Board]] |page=5 }}</ref> in the [[Queen's Quarter, Belfast|Queen's Quarter]]. Built in the 1830s and designed by [[Charles Lanyon|Sir Charles Lanyon]], its Palm House is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear and cast iron [[Greenhouse|glasshouse]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Palm House Botanic Gardens, Belfast City |url=http://www.gardensireland.com/palm-house.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513021454/http://www.gardensireland.com/palm-house.html |archive-date=13 May 2008 |access-date=18 May 2007 |publisher=Houses, Castles and Gardens of Ireland }}</ref> Other attractions in the park include the recently restored Tropical Ravine, a humid jungle glen built in 1889,<ref>{{Citation |title=Tropical Ravine |date=23 April 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gflw4_s5dE |access-date=3 February 2024 }}</ref> rose gardens and public events ranging from live opera broadcasts to pop concerts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tropical Ravine |url=http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/parksandopenspaces/tropicalravine.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517075802/http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/parksandopenspaces/tropicalravine.asp |archive-date=17 May 2009 |access-date=30 May 2009 |publisher=Belfast City Council }}</ref>

The largest municipal park in the city, and closest to the city centre, lies on the right bank of Lagan. The 100-acres of [[Ormeau Park]] were opened to the public in 1871 on what was the last demesne of the town's former proprietors, the Chichesters, [[Marquess of Donegall|Marquesses of Donegall]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ormeau Park |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/things-to-do/parks-and-open-spaces/a-z-parks/ormeau-park |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref>

In north Belfast, the [[Water Works, Belfast|Waterworks]], two reservoirs to which the public have had access since 1897, are features of a park supporting angling and waterfowl.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Waterworks |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/things-to-do/parks-and-open-spaces/a-z-parks/waterworks |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref> In 1906, a further water park, [[Victoria Park, Belfast|Victoria]], opened behind industrial dockland on what had been the eastern shore of the Lough.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Victoria Park |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/things-to-do/parks-and-open-spaces/a-z-parks/victoria-park |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref> It is now connected through east Belfast by the Connswater Community Greenway which offers 16&nbsp;km of continuous cycle and walkway through east Belfast.<ref>{{Cite web |title=EastSide Greenways |url=https://www.eastsidegreenways.com/ |access-date=28 January 2024 }}</ref>

The largest green conservation area within the city's boundaries is a 2,116 hectares patchwork of "parks, demesnes, woodland and meadows" stretching upriver along the banks of the Lagan river and canal;<ref name=":12" /> Established in 1967, the Lagan Valley Regional Park envelopes in its course, Belvoir Park Forest, which contains ancient oaks and a 12th-century Norman [[Motte-and-bailey castle|Motte]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 2015 |title=Belvoir Park Forest {{!}} nidirect |url=https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/belvoir-park-forest |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=nidirect.gov.uk }}</ref> and [[Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park]], whose International Rose Garden attracts thousands of visitors each July.<ref name="Go To Belfast: Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park">{{cite web |title=Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park and City of Belfast International Rose Garden |url=http://www.gotobelfast.com/thingstodo/viewdetail.cfm/TDVenue_Key/421/level/page/category_key/197/Page_Key/279/parent_key/0/type/Page/PaGeName/Restaurant_Month.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070531190626/http://www.gotobelfast.com/thingstodo/viewdetail.cfm/TDVenue_Key/421/level/page/category_key/197/Page_Key/279/parent_key/0/type/Page/PaGeName/Restaurant_Month.htm |archive-date=31 May 2007 |access-date=18 May 2007 |publisher=Go To Belfast }}</ref>

Colin Glenn Forest Park,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fun for all at Ireland's Leading Adventure Park – Colin Glen Belfast |url=https://www.colinglen.org/ |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=Colin Glen }}</ref> the [[National Trust]] Divis and the Black Mountain Ridge Trail,<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=Divis and the Black Mountain Ridge Trail |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/northern-ireland/divis-and-the-black-mountain/divis-and-the-black-mountain-ridge-trail |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=National Trust }}</ref> and Cave Hill Country Park.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cave Hill Country Park |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cavehill |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref> offer panoramic views over Belfast and beyond from the west.<ref name=":14" /> Climbing the Castlereagh Hills, the National Trust Lisnabreeny Cregagh Glen does the same from the east.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lisnabreeny and Cregagh Glen │ Co. Antrim |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/northern-ireland/lisnabreeny-and-cregagh-glen |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=National Trust }}</ref>

Below Cave Hill, the council maintains one of the few local government-funded zoos in the British Isles. The [[Belfast Zoo]] houses more than 1,200 animals of 140 species including [[Asian elephant]]s, [[Barbary lion]]s, [[Malayan sun bear]]s (one of the few in the United Kingdom), two species of penguin, a family of [[western lowland gorilla]]s, a troop of [[common chimpanzee]]s, a pair of [[red panda]]s, a pair of [[Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo]]s and [[Francois' langur]]s. It carries out important conservation work and takes part in European and international breeding programmes which help to ensure the survival of many species under threat.<ref>{{cite news |date=1 April 2007 |title=Parks and gardens |url=http://www.belfastzoo.co.uk/aboutbelfastzoo/HistoryofBelfastZoo.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414005143/http://www.belfastzoo.co.uk/aboutbelfastzoo/HistoryofBelfastZoo.aspx |archive-date=14 April 2009 |access-date=16 May 2009 |publisher=belfastzoo }}</ref>

=== Sports ===
{{Main|Sport in Belfast}}

[[File:Windsor Park redevelopment .jpg|thumb|[[Irish Football Association]] stadium Windsor Park|left]]

Belfast has several notable sports teams playing a diverse variety of sports such as [[association football|football]], [[Gaelic games]], [[Rugby football|rugby]], [[cricket]], and [[ice hockey]]. The [[Belfast Marathon]] is run annually on May Day, The 41st Marathon in 2023, with related events (Wheelchair Race, Team Relay and 8 Mile Walk) attracted 15,000 participants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Moy Park Belfast City Marathon |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/events/the-moy-park-belfast-city-marathon |access-date=3 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref>

The [[Northern Ireland national football team]] plays its home matches at [[Windsor Park]]. Football clubs with stadia and training grounds in the city include: [[Linfield F.C.|Linfield]], [[Glentoran F.C.|Glentoran]], [[Crusaders F.C.|Crusaders]], [[Cliftonville F.C.|Cliftonville]], [[Donegal Celtic]], [[Harland & Wolff Welders F.C.|Harland & Wolff Welders]], [[Dundela F.C.|Dundela]], [[Knockbreda F.C.|Knockbreda]], [[PSNI F.C.|PSNI]], [[Newington Youth F.C.|Newington]], [[Sport & Leisure Swifts F.C.|Sport & Leisure]] and [[Brantwood F.C.|Brantwood]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Northern Ireland |url=http://crankshaw-sports-stats.com/directories/dir_northern_ireland.htm |access-date=11 November 2022 |publisher=Crankshaw Sports Stats }}</ref>

Belfast is home to over twenty [[Gaelic football]] and [[hurling]] clubs.<ref>[http://antrim.gaa.ie/clubs/?2 South Antrim Clubs] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009201454/http://antrim.gaa.ie/clubs/?2|date=9 October 2007}}. CLG Aontroim. Retrieved 11 November 2007.</ref> [[Casement Park]] in west Belfast, home to the [[Antrim GAA|Antrim]] county teams, had a capacity of 31,500 making it the second largest [[Gaelic Athletic Association]] ground in [[Ulster]].<ref>{{cite news |date=13 March 2005 |title=Antrim chief in protest at Maze games |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20050313/ai_n12944637 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118070631/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20050313/ai_n12944637 |archive-date=18 January 2008 |access-date=17 September 2007 |newspaper=Sunday Mirror }}</ref> Listed as one of the venues for the UK and Ireland's successful [[UEFA Euro 2028]] bid, with co-funding from the Irish government there are plans for a complete rebuild.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=Ewan |date=27 February 2024 |title=Work starts at Belfast's Euro 2028 ghost ground with clock ticking |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/27/casement-park-belfast-northern-ireland-euro-2028 |access-date=28 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 }}</ref> In May 2020, the foundation of [[East Belfast GAA]] returned Gaelic Games to East Belfast after decades of its absence in the area. The current club president is Irish-language enthusiast [[Linda Ervine]] who comes from a unionist background in the area. The team currently plays in the Down Senior County League.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Conway |first=Gail |date=18 July 2020 |title=GAA returns to Unionist East Belfast |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0718/1154137-gaa-east-belfast/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721225215/https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0718/1154137-gaa-east-belfast/ |archive-date=21 July 2020 |access-date=21 July 2020 |website=rte.ie }}</ref>

The 1999 [[Heineken Cup]] champions [[Ulster Rugby]] play at [[Ravenhill Stadium]] in the south of the city. Belfast has four teams in rugby's [[All-Ireland League (rugby union)|All-Ireland League]]: [[Belfast Harlequins]] in Division 1B; and [[Instonians]], [[Queen's University RFC|Queen's University]] and [[Malone RFC|Malone]] in Division 2A.

Belfast is home to the [[Stormont (cricket ground)|Stormont cricket ground]] since 1949 and was the venue for the [[Irish cricket team]]'s first ever [[One Day International]] against [[England cricket team|England]] in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |date=16 July 2015 |title=Civil Service Cricket Club |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/ground/58588.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128223957/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/ground/58588.html |archive-date=28 January 2017 |access-date=4 January 2017 |website=ESPNcricinfo |publisher=ESPNSports Media }}</ref>

The 9,500 capacity [[SSE Arena, Belfast|SSE Arena]] accommodates the [[Belfast Giants]], one of the biggest [[ice hockey]] clubs in the UK. Featuring Canadian, ex-[[National Hockey League|NHL]] players, the club competes the British [[Elite Ice Hockey League]].

Belfast was the home town of former [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] player [[George Best]], the 1968 [[European Footballer of the Year]], who died in November 2005. On the day he was buried in the city, 100,000 people lined the route from his home on the Cregagh Road to Roselawn cemetery.<ref>{{cite news |last=McCann |first=Nuala |date=3 December 2005 |title=A city mourns for the Belfast Boy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4495026.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219212141/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4495026.stm |archive-date=19 December 2006 |access-date=18 May 2005 |work=BBC News Northern Ireland |publisher=BBC }}</ref> Since his death the [[George Best Belfast City Airport|City Airport]] was named after him and a trust has been set up to fund a memorial to him in the city centre.<ref>{{cite web |title=George Best Memorial Trust |url=http://www.georgebesttrust.com/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929121852/http://www.georgebesttrust.com/ |archive-date=29 September 2007 |access-date=18 May 2007 |publisher=George Best Trust }}</ref> Other sportspeople celebrated in the city include double world snooker champion [[Alex Higgins|Alex "Hurricane" Higgins]]<ref>{{cite news |date=16 April 2007 |title=Snooker on the ropes – Hurricane |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/4913768.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821230132/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/4913768.stm |archive-date=21 August 2007 |access-date=17 September 2007 |publisher=BBC }}</ref> and world champion boxers [[Wayne McCullough]], [[Rinty Monaghan]] and [[Carl Frampton]].<ref>{{cite web |title=WBA History |url=http://www.wbaonline.com/dates/dates03.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011113939/http://www.wbaonline.com/dates/dates03.asp |archive-date=11 October 2007 |access-date=17 September 2007 |publisher=World Boxing Association }}</ref>

== Climate ==
At {{Coord|54|35|49|N|05|55|45|W}}, its northern latitude is characterised by short winter days and long summer evenings. During the [[winter solstice]], the shortest day of the year, local sunset is before 16:00 while sunrise is around 08:45. At the [[Solstice|summer solstice]] in June, the sun sets after 22:00 and rises before 05:00.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sunrise and sunset in Belfast |url=http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/uk/belfast |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724071927/http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/uk/belfast |archive-date=24 July 2014 |access-date=18 May 2007 |website=Sun Calculator |publisher=time and date.com }}</ref>

For this northern latitude, thanks to the influence of the [[Gulf Stream]] and [[North Atlantic Current|North Atlantic Drift]], Belfast has a comparatively mild climate. In summer the temperatures rarely range above {{cvt|25|°C|°F}} or dip in winter below {{cvt|-5|°C|°F}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast climate: weather by month, temperature, rain – Climates to Travel |url=https://www.climatestotravel.com/climate/northern-ireland/belfast |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=climatestotravel.com }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast Summer Weather, Average Temperature (United Kingdom) – Weather Spark |url=https://weatherspark.com/s/35084/1/Average-Summer-Weather-in-Belfast-United-Kingdom |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=weatherspark.com }}</ref> The maritime influence, also ensures that the city gets significant precipitation. On 157 days in an average year, rainfall is greater than 1&nbsp;mm. Average annual rainfall is {{cvt|846|mm|in}},<ref name="Belfast Weather2">{{cite web |title=Belfast, Northern Ireland – Average Conditions |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/city.shtml?tt=TT003750 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115035401/http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/city.shtml?tt=TT003750 |archive-date=15 January 2009 |access-date=8 October 2009 |publisher=BBC Weather Centre }}</ref> less than areas of northern England or most of [[Scotland]],<ref name="Met Office2">{{cite web |title=Climate: Northern Ireland |url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/regional-climates/ni |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529144508/https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/regional-climates/index |archive-date=29 May 2021 |access-date=25 May 2007 |publisher=Met Office }}</ref> but higher than [[Dublin]] or the south-east coast of Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rainfall in Ireland |url=http://www.met.ie/climate/rainfall.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602061707/http://www.met.ie/climate/rainfall.asp |archive-date=2 June 2007 |access-date=25 May 2007 |publisher=Met Éireann }}</ref>

With its moderate temperatures and abundant rainfall, Belfast's climate is defined as a [[temperate]] [[oceanic climate]] (Cfb in the [[Köppen climate classification]] system), a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Peel, M. C. |author2=Finlayson B. L. |author3=McMahon, T. A. |year=2007 |title=Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification |journal=Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=1633–1644 |bibcode=2007HESS...11.1633P |doi=10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007 |issn=1027-5606 |doi-access=free}} ''(direct: [http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/1633/2007/hess-11-1633-2007.pdf Final Revised Paper])''</ref>
{{Weather box|location = Belfast (Newforge),{{efn|Weather station is located {{convert|2.5|mi|1|abbr=out}} from the Belfast city centre.}} elevation: {{cvt|40|m|ft|0}}, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1982–present
|metric first = y
|single line = y
|Jan record high C = 15.0
|Feb record high C = 16.4
|Mar record high C = 19.7
|Apr record high C = 22.1
|May record high C = 25.4
|Jun record high C = 28.6
|Jul record high C = 30.2
|Aug record high C = 28.1
|Sep record high C = 23.7
|Oct record high C = 20.5
|Nov record high C = 17.1
|Dec record high C = 15.2
|Jan high C = 8.2
|Feb high C = 8.8
|Mar high C = 10.5
|Apr high C = 12.8
|May high C = 15.7
|Jun high C = 17.2
|Jul high C = 19.7
|Aug high C = 19.4
|Sep high C = 17.3
|Oct high C = 13.8
|Nov high C = 10.7
|Dec high C = 8.4
|year high C = 13.7
|Jan mean C = 5.2
|Feb mean C = 5.5
|Mar mean C = 6.8
|Apr mean C = 8.8
|May mean C = 11.4
|Jun mean C = 14.0
|Jul mean C = 15.6
|Aug mean C = 15.4
|Sep mean C = 13.5
|Oct mean C = 10.4
|Nov mean C = 7.4
|Dec mean C = 5.4
|year mean C = 9.9
|Jan low C = 2.2
|Feb low C = 2.1
|Mar low C = 3.1
|Apr low C = 4.7
|May low C = 7.0
|Jun low C = 9.7
|Jul low C = 11.6
|Aug low C = 11.5
|Sep low C = 9.6
|Oct low C = 6.9
|Nov low C = 4.2
|Dec low C = 2.3
|year low C = 6.3
|Jan record low C = -10.1
|Feb record low C = -7.1
|Mar record low C = -6.5
|Apr record low C = -3.8
|May record low C = -2.6
|Jun record low C = 1.3
|Jul record low C = 4.2
|Aug record low C = 2.5
|Sep record low C = 0.8
|Oct record low C = -3.0
|Nov record low C = -7.6
|Dec record low C = -13.5
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 88.5
|Feb precipitation mm = 70.3
|Mar precipitation mm = 71.4
|Apr precipitation mm = 60.4
|May precipitation mm = 59.6
|Jun precipitation mm = 69.0
|Jul precipitation mm = 73.6
|Aug precipitation mm = 85.0
|Sep precipitation mm = 69.6
|Oct precipitation mm = 95.8
|Nov precipitation mm = 102.3
|Dec precipitation mm = 93.3
|year precipitation mm = 938.7
|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 14.4
|Feb precipitation days = 12.7
|Mar precipitation days = 12.6
|Apr precipitation days = 11.3
|May precipitation days = 11.5
|Jun precipitation days = 11.4
|Jul precipitation days = 13.0
|Aug precipitation days = 13.5
|Sep precipitation days = 11.6
|Oct precipitation days = 13.8
|Nov precipitation days = 15.5
|Dec precipitation days = 14.8
|year precipitation days = 156.2
|Jan sun = 40.1
|Feb sun = 65.2
|Mar sun = 97.7
|Apr sun = 157.1
|May sun = 185.1
|Jun sun = 151.1
|Jul sun = 146.3
|Aug sun = 141.9
|Sep sun = 112.0
|Oct sun = 92.4
|Nov sun = 52.9
|Dec sun = 35.3
|year sun = 1277.0
|source 1 = [[Met Office]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/gcey2u2yw |title=Belfast Newforge 1981–2010 Averages |publisher=Met Office |access-date=3 October 2019 }}</ref>
| source 2 = Starlings Roost Weather<ref>{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmax_map.php |title=Monthly Extreme Maximum Temperature |access-date=3 March 2023 |publisher=Starlings Roost Weather |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815080921/http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmax_map.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmin_map.php |title=Monthly Extreme Minimum Temperature |access-date=3 March 2023 |publisher=Starlings Roost Weather |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201173844/http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmin_map.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}

== In fiction ==
* [[Colin Bateman]], ''[[Nine Inches]]'' (2011)
* [[Anna Burns]], [[Milkman (novel)|''Milkman'']] (2018)
* [[Lucy Caldwell]], ''[[Where They Were Missed]]'' (2005)
* [[Jan Carson]], ''The Fire Starters'' (2019)* [[St. John Greer Ervine|John Greer Ervine]], ''The Wayward Man'' (1927)
* [[F. L. Green]], ''Odd Man Ou''t (1945), basis of ''[[Odd Man Out]]''',''''' a 1947 British [[film noir]] directed by [[Carol Reed]], and starring [[James Mason]], [[Robert Newton]].
* [[Louise Kennedy (writer)|Louise Kennedy]], ''[[Trespasses (novel)|Trespasses]]'' (2022)
* [[Maurice Leitch]], [[Silver's City (novel)|''Silver's City'']] (1981)
* [[Tony Macaulay (writer)|Tony MaCaulay]], ''Belfast Gate'' (2019)
* [[Bernard MacLaverty]], ''[[Cal (novel)|Cal]]'' (1983)
* [[Michael Magee (writer)|Michael Magee]], ''[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/21/close-to-home-by-michael-magee-review-belfast-struggles Close to Home]'' (2023)
* [[Brian Moore (novelist)|Brian Moore]], ''[[The Emperor of Ice-Cream (novel)|The Emperor of Ice Cream]]'' (1965).
* [[Robert McLiam Wilson]], [[Eureka Street (novel)|''Eureka Street'']] (1996)
* ''[['71 (film)|'71]]'', a British [[thriller film]] directed by [[Yann Demange]], starring [[Jack O'Connell (actor)|Jack O'Connell]] (2014)

== Notable people ==
{{See also|List of people from Belfast}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em|gap=2em|rules=yes}}

=== Georgian Belfast ===
* [[Edward Bunting]] (1773–1843), Irish folklorist, organiser of the 1792 [[Belfast Harp Festival]]
* [[Henry Cooke (minister)|Henry Cooke]] (1788–1868), [[List of Moderators of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterian Moderator]], evangelist, proponent of "Protestant unity" (Cooke Memorial Church, May Street, "Black Man" statue College Square East)
* [[Waddell Cunningham]] (1729–1797), Trans-Atlantic trader, [[West Indies|West-Indian slaveholder]], [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Irish Volunteer]], liberal patron
* [[William Drennan]] (1754–1820), [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishman]], founder of the [[Royal Belfast Academical Institution]] (RBAI)
* [[Mary Ann McCracken]] (1766–1866), [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishwoman]], social activist, [[abolitionism|abolitionist]], sister of [[Henry Joy McCracken]] hanged 1798. (Statue at City Hall).
* [[James MacDonnell (physician)|James MacDonnell]] (1763–1845), physician, [[polymath]] patron of institutions since developed as the [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast|Royal Victoria Hospital]], [[Royal Belfast Academical Institution|RBAI]] and the [[Linen Hall Library]]
* [[Martha McTier]] (1742–1837), [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishwoman]], advocate for women's health and education
* [[David Manson (schoolmaster)|David Manson]], (1726–1792), schoolmaster, pioneer of play and peer tutoring. Freedom of the Borough 1779
* [[Samuel Neilson]] (1761–1803), woollen merchant, publisher of the [[Northern Star (newspaper of the Society of United Irishmen)|Northern Star]], [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishman]]
* [[John Templeton (Botanist)|John Templeton]] (1766–1825), "Father of Irish Botany", patron of the town's scientific and literary societies

=== Victorian Belfast ===
* [[Thomas Andrews]] (1873–1912), chief naval architect at Harland & Wolff, went down with [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']]
* [[Joseph Biggar]] (1828–1890),[[obstructionism|"obstructionist"]] [[Irish Parliamentary Party|Irish nationalist]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]], women's suffragist
* [[Margaret Byers]] (1832–1912), educator, activist, social reformer, missionary, founder of [[Victoria College, Belfast|Victoria College]]
* [[Hugh Hanna|Hugh "Roaring" Hanna]] (1821–1892), Protestant evangelist associated with sectarian riot (Commemorated, until targeted and destroyed in [[Northern Ireland Troubles|the Troubles]], by his statue and church at Carlisle Circus).
* [[Edward Harland]] (1831–1895) and [[Gustav Wilhelm Wolff|Gustave Wolff]] (1834–1913), partners in the [[Harland & Wolff|world's largest shipyard]]. Statue at City Hall
* [[Bernard Hughes|Bernard "Barney" Hughes]] (1808–1878), Ireland's largest miller and baker (producer of the [[Belfast bap]]), first elected Catholic town councillor
* [[Otto Jaffe]] (1846–1929), business, and Jewish community, leader, twice [[Mayor of Belfast]]
* [[William Johnston (Irish politician)|William Johnston]] (1829–1902), Orangeman celebrated for breaking the [[Party Processions Act 1850|Party Processions Act]], Belfast MP, women's suffragist
* [[Richard Rutledge Kane (senior)|Richard Rutledge Kane]] (1841–1898), [[Orange Order]] Grand Master, patron of the first Belfast branch of the [[Gaelic League]]
* [[Charles Lanyon]] (1813–1889), architect of main ("Lanyon") building of [[Queens University, Belfast|Queens University]], the [[Botanic Gardens (Belfast)|Palm House, Botanic Gardens]], [[Linenhall Library]], [[Belfast Castle]] and [[HM Prison Belfast|Crumlin Road Goal]] and [[Crumlin Road Courthouse|Courthouse]]
* [[Robert Shipboy MacAdam]] (1808–1895), Irish folklorist and linguist, honoured with [[Tomás Ó Fiaich|Cardinal Ó Fiaich]] in [[Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich]]
* [[John Mulholland, 1st Baron Dunleath|John Mulholland]] (1819–1895), established the world's largest flax-spinning operation, York Street Mill; MP
* [[William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie|William Pirrie]] (1847–1924), Chairman of [[Harland & Wolff]], Mayor of Belfast; Freedom of the city, 1898. (Statue at City Hall).
* [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|William Thomson, Lord Kelvin]] (1824–1907), physicist renowned for his work on mechanical energy and heat; memorial statue stands before the [[Ulster Museum]]
* [[Isabella Tod]] (1836–1896), suffragist, with [[William Johnston (Irish politician)|William Johnston]] secured the municipal vote for women, 1888

=== Early 20th century ===
* [[Winifred Carney]] (1887–1943), [[Women's suffrage|suffragist]], [[Easter Rising|rebel 1916]], labour activist. (Statue at City Hall).
* [[Thomas Carnduff]] (1886–1956), shipyard poet, playwright, trade unionist, [[Independent Orange Order|Independent Orangeman]].
* [[Edward Carson]] (1854–1935), leader of [[Unionism in Ireland|Ulster Unionism]] in the [[Home Rule Crisis]]. (Statue before the [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Parliament Buildings at Stormont]])
* [[William Conor]] (1881–1968), painter renowned for his sympathetic portrayals of working-class life
* [[William Conway (cardinal)|William Conway]] (1913–1977), [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh|All--Ireland Primate]], co-founder of [[Trócaire]]
* [[James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon|James Craig]] (1871–1940), [[Ulster Unionist Party|Ulster Unionist]], first [[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland]]
* [[Joseph Devlin]] (1871–1934), journalist, [[Irish Parliamentary Party|Irish nationalist]]  [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster]] and [[Parliament of Northern Ireland|Stormont]] MP, President of the [[Ancient Order of Hibernians]]
* [[Harry Ferguson]] (1884–1960), developer of the modern agricultural tractor, first person in Ireland to build and fly an aeroplane
* [[John Hewitt (poet)|John Hewitt]] (1907–1987), poet ("The Bloody Brae"). Freedom of the City 1983
* [[Elizabeth Wilhelmina Jones]] (1869–1959), headmistress of [[Harrogate Ladies' College]]. Born in Belfast.
* [[C. S. Lewis]] (1898–1963), writer and [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] [[lay theologian]]. (Honoured as author of [[The Chronicles of Narnia]] in C. S. Lewis Square, East Belfast).
* [[Margaret McCoubrey]] (1880–1955), militant [[Women's Social and Political Union|WPSU]] suffragette, peace campaigner, [[Belfast Labour Party|Labour]] City Councillor
* [[Harry Midgley]] (1893–1957), labour union and [[Northern Ireland Labour Party|party]] organiser, post-war [[Ulster Unionist Party|Unionist]] Minister for Education
* [[Cathal O'Byrne]] (1876–1957), writer, actor, journalist.
* [[Alexander Robinson|Alexander "Buck Alec" Robinson]] (1901–1995), docklands streetfighter and loyalist gunman. Kept lions in his [[Sailortown (Belfast)|Sailortown]] home
* [[Betty Sinclair]] (1910–1981), [[Communist Party of Ireland|Communist party]] activist, 1932 Outdoor Relief protest, [[Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association]] chair
* [[Joseph Tomelty]] (1911–1995), stage and screen ([[Odd Man Out]]) actor, writer and broadcaster
* [[William Walker (trade unionist)|William Walker]] (1871–1918), unionist labour organiser and vice-chair of the [[Labour Party (UK)|British Labour Party]]
* [[Ernest Walton]] (1903–95), with [[John Cockcroft]] Nobel Prize for splitting the atom

=== Late 20th century ===
* [[Gerry Adams]] (born 1948), reputed republican paramilitary ([[Provisional Irish Republican Army|PIRA]]) leader, president of [[Sinn Féin]]; MP Belfast West. rtd.
* [[William M. Anderson]] (1948–2022), film editor
* [[Derek Bell (musician)|Derek Bell]] (1935–2002), harpist, musicologist and composer, [[The Chieftains]]
* [[George Best]] (1946–2005), football international, iconic sports figure, [[George Best Belfast City Airport|City Airport]] named in his honour
* [[May Blood, Baroness Blood|May Blood]] (1938–2022), [[Union representative|shop steward]] in one of the city's last linen mills, community worker, co-founder [[Northern Ireland Women's Coalition]]
* [[John Boyd (playwright)|John Boyd]] (1912–2002), playwright, broadcaster
* [[Ciaran Carson]] (1948–2019), writer, poet ([[Belfast Confetti (poem)|Belfast Confetti]])
* [[George Cassidy (jazz musician)|George Cassidy]] (1936–2023), jazz musician and music teacher
* [[Mairead Maguire|Mairéad Corrigan]] (born 1944), with [[Betty Williams]] awarded the 1976 [[Nobel Peace Prize]], as co-founder of Women for Peace / the Peace People, critic of US and UK foreign policy
* [[David Ervine]] (1953–2007), loyalist paramilitary ([[Ulster Volunteer Force|UVF]]) veteran, leader of the pro-[[Good Friday Agreement|Agreement]] [[Progressive Unionist Party]]; MLA
* [[Gerry Fitt]] (1926–2005), [[Republican Labour Party|Republican Labour]]/[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]] MP. Deputy Chief of the first NI [[power-sharing]] [[Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly|executive, 1974]]
* [[David Hammond (broadcaster)|David Hammond]] (1928–2008), teacher, singer, broadcaster, and film-maker who documented the culture of the city's shipyards and streets
* [[Terri Hooley]] (born 1948), key figure in the Belfast punk scene, celebrated in the 2013 biopic [[Good Vibrations (film)|Good Vibrations]]
* [[Brian Keenan (Irish republican)|Brian Keenan]] (1942–2008), directed [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|PIRA]] bombing in the city, interlocutor for [[Decommissioning in Northern Ireland|arms decommissioning]]
* [[Helen Lewis (choreographer)|Helen Lewis]] (née Katz; 1916–2009), [[Holocaust]] survivor, teacher and choreographer, pioneer in Northern Ireland of modern dance
* [[Brian Moore (novelist)|Brian Moore]] (1921–1999), novelist ([[Judith Hearne|The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne]], [[The Emperor of Ice-Cream (novel)|The Emperor of Ice Cream]])
* [[Van Morrison]] (born 1945), singer-songwriter and musician
* [[Ian Paisley]] (1926–2014), Protestant evangelist ([[Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster|Martyrs Memorial Church, Belfast]]), founder of the [[Democratic Unionist Party|DUP]], [[First Minister of Northern Ireland|NI First Minister]]
* [[Saidie Patterson]] (1906–1985), feminist, trade unionist, peace activist.
* Fr [[Alec Reid]] (1931–2013), Catholic priest, mediator in the [[Hume–Adams dialogue|Hume–Adams talks]], [[Northern Ireland peace process]]
* [[David Trimble, Baron Trimble|David Trimble]] (1944–2022), [[Ulster Unionist Party|Ulster Unionist]] leader, [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate, [[First Minister of Northern Ireland|NI First Minister]]
* [[Andy Tyrie]] (born 1940), loyalist paramilitary ([[Ulster Defence Association|UDA]]) leader (rtd), [[Ulster Workers' Council strike]], [[Northern Ireland peace process|NI peace process]] advocate
* Fr. [[Des Wilson (Irish Catholic priest)|Des Wilson]] (1925–2019), [[liberation theology|dissident Catholic priest]], west Belfast community activist, republican-loyalist mediator
{{div col end}}

== Twin towns – sister cities ==
Belfast City Council takes part in the [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinning scheme]],<ref name="2014 cities">{{cite web |date=12 May 2014 |title=Belfast signs Sister Cities accord with Boston |url=http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-37859.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231214225/http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-37859.aspx |archive-date=31 December 2015 |access-date=15 January 2016 |website=News |publisher=[[Belfast City Council]] }}</ref> and is twinned with the following sister cities:
* [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], United States (since 1994)
* [[Hefei]], Anhui, China (since 2005)
* [[Boston]], Massachusetts, United States (since 2014)
* [[Shenyang]], Liaoning, China (since 2016)<ref>{{cite web |date=16 May 2016 |title=Belfast signs Sister City Agreement with Shenyang, China today to collaborate in number of areas |url=http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-37859.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603075313/http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-37859.aspx |archive-date=3 June 2017 |access-date=26 May 2017 |website=News |publisher=[[Belfast City Council]] }}</ref>
* [[Melbourne]], [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]], Australia

== Freedom of the City ==
Those who have received the [[Freedom of the City]]:<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Freedom of the City {{!}} Belfast |url=https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/freedom |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=Belfast City Council }}</ref>

* Sir [[Kenneth Branagh]]: 30 January 2018.
* [[Andrew Carnegie]]: 28 September 1910.
* Sir [[Winston Churchill]]: 16 December 1955.<ref>{{cite web |last=British Pathé |date=13 April 2014 |title=Selected Originals – Ulster Honours Churchill Aka Ulster Honours Sir Winston Aka Churchill 2 (1955) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfRqlTN4g5w |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817234827/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfRqlTN4g5w&feature=youtu.be |archive-date=17 August 2017 |access-date=3 October 2020 |via=YouTube }}</ref>
* [[Bill Clinton]], 9 April 2018
* [[Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet|Sir Robert Hart]], 1 July 1908
* [[John Hewitt (poet)|John Hewitt]]: 26 May 1983
* [[John Jordan (diplomat)|Sir John Jordan]]: 28 September 1910.
* [[Michael Longley]]: 23 March 2015
* [[George J. Mitchell]], 9 April 2018
* Nurses of Belfast, 1 December 2015
* [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] and Reserve: 30 May 1980
* [[William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie]]: 1898, the first person to be awarded Freedom Of The City of Belfast.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Jonathan Bardon (1982), ''Belfast An illustrated History.'' Belfast: Blackstaff Press, {{ISBN|0-85640-272-9}}
* J. C. Beckett et al. (1983), ''Belfast, The Making of a City''. Belfast: Appletree Press, {{ISBN|0-86281-100-7}}
* Ian Budge & Cornelius O'Leary (1973, 2016), ''Belfast: Approach to Crisis. A Study of Belfast Politics, 1613-1970''. London: Palgrave Macmillan, {{ISBN|9781349001286}}
* Ciaran Carson (1997), ''The Star Factory''. London: Granta Books, ISBN 9781862071179
* Feargal Cochrane (2023), ''Belfast: The Story of a City and its People.'' Yale University Press''.'' {{ISBN|978-0-300-26444-9}}
* S. J. Connolly ed. (2012), ''Belfast 400: People, Place and History'', Liverpool University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-84631-635-7}}
* Maurice Goldring (1991), ''Belfast, From Loyalty to Rebellion''. London: Lawrence & Wishart, ISBN 978-0-85315-722-81
* Robert Johnstone (1990), ''Belfast, Portraits of a City'', London: Barrie & Jenkins. {{ISBN|978-0-7126-3744-2}}
* William Maguire (2009), ''Belfast, A History'', Lancaster: Carnegie. {{ISBN|978-1-85936-189-4}}
* Bill Meulemans (2013), ''Belfast, Both Sides Now''. Create Space. {{ISBN|978-1-4791-9541-1}}
* Raymond O'Regan (2010), ''Hidden Belfast: Benevolence, Blackguards and Balloon Heads''. Dublin: Mercier Press. {{ISBN|978-1-85635-683-1}}
* Raymond O'Regan, Arthur Magee (2014), ''The Little Book of Belfast''. The History Press. {{ISBN|978-1-84588-803-9}}
* Marcus Patton (1993), ''Central Belfast, An Historical Gazetteer''. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. {{ISBN|0-900457-44-9}}

== External links ==
* [https://visitbelfast.com/ Visit Belfast]
{{Commons category|Belfast}}
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[[Category:Belfast| ]]
[[Category:Capital cities in the United Kingdom]]
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[[Category:Districts of Northern Ireland, 1972–2015]]
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