Are drugs bad for business (improvement districts)? Policy mobility, security planning, and frontier politics

This journal has previously published several articles on policy mobility, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs), and security planning. Drawing upon this literature and through the unique lens of Belfast, our interest is twofold. First, as a “post-conflict city”, in what ways have policies on BIDs and DCRs become “embedded in place”? Second, what are the challenges in securing an appropriate site for a DCR, given the “frontier politics” associated with drugscapes and harm reduction interventions? Belfast has three long-established BIDs covering significant swathes of the city center involving hundreds of companies and organizations; however, when the DCR will be implemented and, more importantly, where it will be located remains unresolved. This article sheds light on these unanswered questions. In driving forward the research record, this article examines the political and planning challenges of embedding the global DCR policy discourse. In Belfast, we are interested in how BID urbanism and security planning are affecting the DCR proposal. Specifically, we analyze the tensions – frontier politics – between planning for illegal drugs, public health, and social inclusion through the future location of the DCR and planning for safety, security, and civility through the existing location of the BIDs.