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Samuel Chapman's avatar

It's a wonderful city. It's escaped some of the worst excesses of British politics since the 1990s. I visited a few years ago and it felt primed for a renaissance and to have a good sense of "Belfastness" about it to an outsider. As an English tourist, most of the differences between Belfast's two sides go straight over my head though.

We'd come from Dublin on the train and the difference couldn't be starker - Dublin's something of a poster city for financialisation and globalisation and this has ended up making a city where nobody can afford to live. It's got some of the Disney elements that other hollowed out cities have too (Venice most notably). Belfast on the other had felt like a working city, and one that's done well by staying off people's radar.

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Thalia Toha's avatar

Fergus- I love learning about cities other than my own here in America. So it’s great to get insights from those across the pond. Especially when you mentioned: “Yet the city is some way off its peak, as the examples above indicate. There isn’t the same ferment today, a focus on improvement and development – a fixation on progress.” I appreciate you sharing this.

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