Cul de Sac City
These mapping studies were undertaken by Mark Hackett in 2006. The first slides show the street network in an area of North Belfast with the city core on the right. The first map is circa 1960, the second map is from 2000. One can see the stark reduction in street connections and permeability, one can also see the emergence of cul de sac housing that divides the inner city.
The second map is the Forum Missing City Map (see projects) highlighted in yellow is the remaining Victorian terrace street grain that survived the rebuilding projects from 1970. One can see the relentless and systematic replacement of terraces and mixed use streets with low density cul de sac housing. In this process only 40% of the original population was rehoused in the same area, with a consequent loss of shops, businesses and employment. Some reports point to the duplication of services in a divided city – could it be that the real reason is the loss of 60% of population around the natural spacial clusters of neighborhood services?
the final map shows a typical 1980’s inner city cul de sac estate. The red space indicates the public realm areas, the areas that must be maintained by public funds. Not only are these areas completely incoherent, creating fear and insularity, but they represent the major proportion of the space These areas that lie only 300 metres from the city centre yet are suburban in density and over provided with car space in areas of very own car ownership. Notably there are very few green spaces and gardens – this is no suburban idyl.
The final map shows an overlay of the same number of Victorian large terrace housing with gardens and tree lined streets
These studies demonstrate how over 30 years the public sector systematically ‘unbuilt’ over 6 square kilometres of the city centre at great public expense to create unsustainable neighbourhoods.