There is little diversity in the housing market in Belfast. Decades of suburbanisation have left the city with poor residential environments. This process has been further intensified by security concerns, which have led to the demolition of many terraced streets, and reconstruction as suburban arrangements of segregated cul-de-sacs. Recently there has been an increase in the production of larger-scale apartment buildings. This is dominated by the buy-to-let market, producing rental rather than owneroccupier accommodation. Advantage is taken of relatively low specification (and/or low land value when located in interface areas).

The city centre and surrounding areas are meanwhile dominated by large-scale retail and commercial uses. These contribute hugely to the vitality of the city during business hours, however at other times the city is deserted and civic life evaporates. Those who do (and often have no choice but to) live in the rental accommodation provided in the city centre, inhabit empty streets lined with closed shops and offices. This has a direct impact not only on access to local services, but also on the safety of the streets and public spaces. At the same time, there are a large number of empty plots throughout the city centre. Many of these are currently in low-value uses such as surface carparks.

However many are disused and have remained so for many years as a ‘hangover’ from the Troubles. The persistence of this low-level urban blight contributes to the perception of much of the city centre as unattractive and unliveable. Under current development models, the balance of financial risks (given conventional building types and uses) make many of these sites uneconomic to develop.