Architecture, Space and Memory of Resurrection in Northern Ireland ― Shareness in a Divided Nation

Northern Ireland has a complex urbanism with multi-layered socio-spatial politics. In this environment issues of communication, self-representation and expression of identity are central to the experience of urban space and architecture where the dichotomy of division and shared living are spatially exercised in everyday life. Unlike other studies in the area, this book focusses on the everyday experiences of local communities in both public and private spheres - issues of ‘sharedness’ - challenging conventional approaches to divided cities. The book aims to layer its narratives of architectural and social developments as an urban experience in post-conflict settings over the past two decades.

Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem is Chair in Architecture and the Founding Director of the Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage (CAUGH) at Nottingham Trent University. He is the co-founder and lead of University’s Research Theme: "Global Heritage: Science, Management and Development". A Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the University of California at Berkeley, Gamal has led design studios and taught architecture history at Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Sheffield amongst others. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the 2014 recipient of the Jeffrey Cook Award of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE). His recent books include ‘Peripheries: Edge Conditions in Architecture’ (Routledge 2012), "The Architecture of Home in Cairo: Social-spatial practice of the Hawari’s everyday life" (Routledge, 2015). Most recently he guest edited a Special issue of the International Journal of Architectural Research (IJAR, 2017) on "Architectural and Urban Heritage in the Digital Era". Professor Abdelmonem advises several governments and international organisations on aspects of sustainable heritage preservation, urban planning and design. Professor Abdelmonem sits on several research advisory boards, editorial boards and International Conferences, as well as being a member of several RCUK peer-review panels.

Gehan Selim is a scholar and academic in Architecture at the University of Leeds. She was Fellow of The Senator George Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice during 2016-18. She obtained her PhD from the University of Sheffield and held permanent posts in several schools of Architecture at Sheffield University and Queen's University Belfast in the UK and she is leading the Architecture & Urbanism Research Group, Deputy Leader of Cities Research Theme, and the School’s Director of the Postgraduate Studies at the University of Leeds. Dr Selim's research covers interdisciplinary methods bridging Architecture, Urban Politics and Sustainable Heritage bridging linking the social (people) to the physical (buildings) and the urban (city). Her current research focuses on the socio-spatial aspects of urban design and research fields in liberation politics, resilient cities and geographies of conflict looking particularly at how memory informs post-conflict societies in their everyday practices. Dr Selim is leading several research projects funded by Research Councils UK (AHRC, EPSRC) and Japan Foundation-London, with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East and conflict zones (Egypt, Lebanon & Northern Ireland). She is the author of ‘Unfinished Places: The Politics of Remaking Cairo's Old’ published by Routledge in 2017.