Pictured in Cathedral Gardens at the launch of the Belfast THRIVES project are (l-r) Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon, Prof Gerard Leavey, Dr Gavan Rafferty, Pro Vice Chancellor Research Liam Maguire, Dr Saul Golden (all UU) and Lord Mayor Alderman Frank McCoubrey

The Belfast THRI(VES): Transformative Health and Regeneration Initiatives (for Vibrancy, Equality and Sustainability) project was launched during Mental Health Awareness Week recently.

The Belfast THRI(VES) project was launched recently - a pilot research project between the Council and Ulster University to support both organisations and the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and Department for Communities (DfC) to better inform decisions for enhancing the liveability of the city and wellbeing of its inhabitants.

The programme will study holistic health and wellbeing-led models for planning, designing and managing the city centre’s public spaces for the long-term and to respond to immediate health and socio-economic threats from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Ulster University's Belfast School of Architecture (Urban Research Lab) and the Built Environment and School of Psychology (The Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing) are working jointly with a team from Council's City Regeneration & Development team to deliver this research.

The project will support Council, DfI and DfC to develop new urban-health focused collaborative working practices across civic and private sectors and will complement other active studies into economic regeneration and reducing the carbon footprint of the city.

The research will focus on three specific areas of the city centre: Linen Quarter public realm pop-ups, the Dublin Road Corridor cycle lanes and Cathedral Gardens Plaza-Play Park, adjacent to Ulster University’s brand new Belfast campus. These BID, DfI, DfC and council-led transformations will inform future city centre investment and infrastructure strategies.

Belfast will take inspiration from cities around the world, working with governments, developers, and researchers from Auckland to Seattle and Philadelphia to Manchester, who have pioneered health and regeneration initiatives from one-off projects to city-region-wide strategies. THRIVES will seek to learn from these processes in order to shortcut challenges faced by others and to identify gaps in Belfast’s current offering which could be developed.

Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon, said: “We are excited to see what this research project will mean for the wellbeing of the people of Belfast and those who visit this wonderful city. The project will inform the Bolder Vision for Belfast which I am committed to delivering, working in partnership with Belfast City Council and the Minister for Communities. It will help us as we continue to reimagine and transform Belfast’s public spaces as part of our Green recovery from Covid.”

The project will deliver an interim public symposium on 16 - 17 June 2021, with the public invited to evening and daytime events to hear from international and local keynote speakers and panel discussions contributing to mapping health-related data, designs, and attitudes on key transformative projects for cycle lanes, quiet streets, and public interventions for shared recreation, retail, and delivery of council services.