Drawing together the results of research in written and printed records, iconographical analysis and anthropological fieldwork, Imagining Belfast attempts a comprehensive review of identity practices in Belfast from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, focussing in particular on the use of public space. Two data bases were constructed. The first covers crowd events in Belfast in the period 1850-1960. A database has been constructed from the files of the Belfast News Letter comprising all recorded events involving the use of public space for every eleventh year across the period. Events are catalogued by type, size of crowd, location, level of organisation, and the incidence of violence. The second, constructed from the Belfast News Letter and Irish News, lists all recorded events involving the use of public space for every four years across the period from 1961-2005. The aim of the project is to explore the formation and public expression of identity in Belfast by means of a long term historical study combined with an anthropological investigation of recent developments. By exploring the variety of urban identities that have found expression across this period it will challenge conventional perceptions of Northern Ireland society as dominated by two monolithic and inflexible 'traditions'. At the same time it will try to move beyond simplistic debates on the authenticity of particular cultural forms to an understanding of the way in which historically based identities can be both sustained over time and redefined in response to changing circumstances.