Editing Belfast (section)

=== 21st century ===
Since the turn of the century, the loss of employment and population in the city centre has been reversed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peyronel |first=Valérie |date=2009 |title=Urban Regeneration in Belfast: Landscape and Memory |url=https://www.efacis.eu/sites/default/files/ISE%202_Olinder,%20Huber%20vol%20II-37-46.pdf |journal=Irish Studies in Europe |volume=2 |pages=37–46 |archive-date=18 January 2024 |access-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118162514/https://www.efacis.eu/sites/default/files/ISE%202_Olinder%2C%20Huber%20vol%20II-37-46.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This reflects the growth of the [[service economy]], for which a new district has been developed on former dockland, the [[Titanic Quarter]]. The growing tourism sector paradoxically lists as attractions the [[Murals in Northern Ireland|murals]] and peace walls that echo the violence of the past.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|350.352}} In recent years, "Troubles tourism"<ref name=":3" />{{rp|180–189}} has presented visitors with new territorial markers: flags, murals and graffiti in which [[Ulster loyalism|loyalists]] and [[Irish republicanism|republicans]] take opposing sides in the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israeli-Palestinian conflict]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 October 2023 |title=Flags and murals as N. Irish pick sides in Israel-Hamas war |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231031-flags-and-murals-as-n-irish-pick-sides-in-israel-hamas-war |access-date=23 January 2024 |website=France 24 }}</ref>

The demographic balance of some areas has been changed by immigration (according to the 2021 census just under 10% of the city's population was born outside the British Isles),<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-1-statistical-bulletin-country-of-birth.pdf |title=Census 2022: Main statistics for Northern Ireland, Statistical bulletin, Country of birth |year=2022 |location=Belfast |pages=7 |archive-date=22 September 2022 |access-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922093436/https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-1-statistical-bulletin-country-of-birth.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> by local differences in births and deaths between Catholics and Protestants, and by a growing number of, particularly younger, people no longer willing to self-identify on traditional lines.<ref name=":2" />

In 1997, unionists lost overall control of [[Belfast City Council]] for the first time in its history. The election in 2011 saw Irish nationalist councillors outnumber unionist councillors, with [[Sinn Féin]] becoming the largest party, and the cross-community [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance Party]] holding the balance of power.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Belfast City Council, 1993–2011 |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgbelfast.htm |access-date=18 January 2024 |website=ark.ac.uk |archive-date=25 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625115017/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgbelfast.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|2016 Brexit referendum]], Belfast's four parliamentary constituencies returned a substantial majority (60 percent) for remaining within the [[European Union]], as did Northern Ireland as a whole (55.8), the only [[UK regions|UK region]] outside London and Scotland to do so.<ref>{{Cite web |title=EU Referendum Results – BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=bbc.co.uk |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110082319/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results |url-status=live }}</ref> In February 2022, the [[Democratic Unionist Party]], which had actively campaigned for Brexit, withdrew from the power-sharing executive and collapsed the Stormont institutions to protest the 2020 UK-EU [[Northern Ireland Protocol]]. With the promise of equal access to the British and European markets, this designates Belfast as a point of entry to the [[European single market|European Single Market]] within whose regulatory framework local producers will continue to operate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Carroll |first=Lisa |date=3 February 2022 |title=Northern Ireland first minister resigns over Brexit checks on goods |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/03/northern-ireland-first-minister-poised-to-quit-over-brexit-reports-say |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=the Guardian |archive-date=4 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204042921/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/03/northern-ireland-first-minister-poised-to-quit-over-brexit-reports-say |url-status=live }}</ref> After two years, the standoff was resolved with an agreement to eliminate routine checks on UK-destined goods.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 January 2024 |title=Northern Ireland: Stormont stage set for return of devolution |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68136950 |access-date=31 January 2024 |work=BBC News |archive-date=30 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130221810/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68136950 |url-status=live }}</ref>