Gender and Public Space in Divided Cities: dynamics of

everyday urban life.* … the multiplicity of imaginings and meanings attached to different spaces necessitates a more nuanced way of thinking about public space and the city. (Watson 2005: 598) Claiming social space and being seen in public becomes a way for social groups to legitimate their right to belong in society (Holland, Clark et al. 2007:1). This paper seeks to explore some of the nuances Sophie Watson points to, in thinking about the ways in which gender operates as an organising mechanism shaping the perceived, conceived and lived dimensions of everyday urban space (Lefebvre 1991: 39). The paper addresses two connected questions: firstly, in what ways might „public ‟ and „private ‟ spaces in cities be gendered; and secondly, what might this mean for the possibilities for complex forms of civility in a divided city such as Belfast? What follows is a discussion of the how everyday life in cities is organised through gendered practices of work and leisure, in ways which are linked with, and in tur