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New Manifesto Unveils Opportunities to Reclaim and Repurpose Belfast’s Forgotten Alleyways
A year-long research project exploring the untapped potential of Belfast’s urban alleyways has culminated in a series of recommendations, which set out how citizens could reclaim and repurpose up to 76 football pitches worth of vital public space.
Mapping the alleys’ potential, the 9ft in Common project team calculated that there are at least 202km (126 miles) of alleyways crisscrossing the city; the approximate distance from Belfast to the Wicklow Mountains. If used effectively, we could gain green space equivalent to 544,044m2 - an area equivalent to over 76 football pitches, more than four Botanic Gardens, or pathways stretching more than 18 times the length of the Comber Greenway.
Calling on people to ‘share; take action; experiment; cross boundaries; name; grow; thrive; protect and connect’ in Belfast’s alleyways’, the 9ft in Common Manifesto, an accompanying film, premieres at the Ulster Museum this Friday (6 December) at 2pm.
The Manifesto – which will be presented in a ceremonial ‘gift to the alleys’ at nearby Wildflower alley following the launch event - is a rallying call to the people of Belfast to inspire new thinking, inviting people to reconsider how these forgotten spaces could be used in the future.
“Reclaiming this much needed public realm space could greatly benefit the city’s biodiversity, growing potential and residents’ mental health,” explains project co-founder, Amberlea Neely. “If we take the growing potential alone, our collaborative project with Laurelbank Farm found that if just 10% of the area occupied by the city’s alleys were converted into edible growing spaces, the productivity of Belfast’s alleys could be transformative.”
Based on experiments in three test alleyway sites, alongside production data from Laurelbank Farm’s organic vegetable farm in Saintfield - and taking a conservative 50% reduction to account for shading and urban growing challenges - it’s estimated that Belfast's alleyways could yield significant crops annually, amounting to 1.4 million carrots; 1 million beetroots; 600,000 bunches of parsley; 350,000 garlic bulbs; 250,000 turnips; or 110,000 cabbages.*
The 9ft in Common project was commissioned by Belfast City Council’s Belfast 2024 celebration of culture and creativity, celebrating our city in new and exciting ways. The project is also supported by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Speaking ahead of the Manifesto Launch, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Micky Murray, said: “Through Belfast 2024-funded projects like 9ft in Common, our council is keen to spark meaningful discussion and community collaboration, right across the city. It’s been inspiring to watch people come together, through multiple events, projects and workshops this year, to imagine how Belfast might look like in the future with continued creative thinking and a strong commitment to working together.”
Dr Paul Mullan, Northern Ireland Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund said, “We’re pleased to support ten exciting Belfast 2024 Our Future Heritage projects which are using £250,000 of heritage funding made possible by National Lottery players to explore Belfast’s heritage.
The 9ft in Common project is connecting people to the possibilities of nature in urban settings and is a wonderful example of uncovering forgotten or overlooked sites and stories, sharing skills and bringing people together.”
For further information visit 9ftincommon.com or connect with the project on Instagram, at @9ftincommon - (Links open in new window)
About 9ft in Common
- 9ft in Common: A Manifesto for the Alleys is a large-scale, city-wide collaborative celebration of the creative potential of Belfast’s alleyways: for growing, making, occupying and connecting.
- The project is led and developed by Amberlea Neely of Starling Start and Aisling Rusk of Studio idir and is a major commission project of Belfast 2024, supported by Belfast City Council, and funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
- The name ‘9ft in Common’ is inspired by a lease first signed in December 1902, confirming a right of way over and along a 9ft passage in Belfast.
- During 2024, with a range of partners, 9ft in Common has conducted action research, commissioning creative responses and interventions and running collaborative ‘gatherings’ and programming, which corresponds to place and the Celtic seasons.
- Key Collaborative Partners have included:
- Social Farms & Gardens Northern Ireland
- Laurelbank Farm
- The Reclaim the Commons Network for Community & Alley Growers
About Belfast 2024
- Belfast City Council has invested £5.9 million into Belfast 2024, which builds upon the council’s existing support for culture and arts and invites citizens to get creative, through a mix of new commissions and community-led programmes, all reflecting the city’s diversity and vibrancy.
- The aim of the programme is to support jobs in the creative sector, create new opportunities for residents to enjoy and participate in the arts, and showcase the city as a global destination for culture, through its three key themes of People, Place and Planet.
- 9ft in Common: A Manifesto for the Alleys is one of 17 locally-led projects that was selected following an open call to the arts sector in the city.
- For more details of the Belfast 2024 programme, visit belfast2024.co.uk
9ft in Common: A Manifesto for the Alleys
Over the course of the year, 9ft in Common creative leads Amberlea Neely and Aisling Rusk gathered intentions and hopes for the alleys from a wide range of participants and collaborators, documenting the spaces and how people respond to them in a variety of ways including photography, film, journal reflections and conversations. This research has influenced the 9 key points of the manifesto document and accompanying film, which will be premiered on Friday 6 December at the Ulster Museum.
- SHARE
Let there be access, shortcuts, ball games, cups of tea with neighbours. Make room for multitudes.
- TAKE ACTION
Treat your back gate like your front gate. Take little steps. Each action makes a ripple.
- EXPERIMENT
Play. Take risks. Negotiate differences. Try, fail and try again. Build resilience.
- CROSS BOUNDARIES
Spill into the space beyond your back gate. Explore new pathways. Make it safer.
- NAME IT
Transform a leftover space to a place. Let that name tell a new story. Create a new identity.
- GROW
Pollinate, incubate, germinate, populate! Make green corridors in the city. Grow food for people and wildlife. Grow communities.
- THRIVE
Care for these forgotten and overlooked spaces and they can take care of you and those around you: acts of kindness healing past traumas.
- PROTECT
Be a custodian of these important, little changed parts of Belfast’s heritage for future generations. They root us to this place.
- CONNECT
Navigate this vast pedestrian-friendly network. Meet new neighbours in these spaces that are not private, not public, but somewhere in-between.
9ft in Common Growing Potential Project
The 9ft in Common Growing Potential Project was led by Jo Facer of Laurelbank Farm,a cooperatively run organic vegetable farm in Saintfield. It worked with 3 ‘demonstration sites’ and focused on growing edible plants in their alleys:
- Eden Alley (Marsden Gardens) North Belfast - Gated Adopted Alley
- Ormeau Road Alley Cluster (Deramore, Rushfeild, Haypark) - Ungated Adopted Alleys
- Hermans Way (Halstein Drive), East Belfast - Unadopted, Ungated Alley
* Estimates for crop yields provided are indicative of the growing potential of Belfast’s alleyways, and whilst this potential is sizable, Jo from Laurelbank Farm maintains that the intrinsic community benefits of growing together that are the real benefit.
Jo has also created a series of 9 Resource Videos to help anyone get started with growing their own edible plants.