The social geography of Belfast

Abstract

The main task of the social geographer is to analyse the relationship between social groups and their environment and to identify the regional differentiation of such relationships. In a town or city the relationships are closely interwoven because even the physical environment is mostly man-made, and is itself the result of social activity. A man living in Belfast may catch a glimpse of Cave Hill or the Castlereagh Hills on his way to work in the morning, but he is constantly confronted with asphalt roads and tramlines, with houses and factories, and he is more aware of his fellow-men than he is of any other member of the animal kingdom. I am using the word "environment" to mean "total environment" in this case, i.e., physical and social, natural and man-made.