Where should drug consumption rooms go? Businesses, harm reduction and the politics of location

What is it about?

This paper examines the tension between two policy models operating in the same city centre space in Belfast: Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), which organise private sector-led security and place management across large swathes of the city, and Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs), supervised facilities where people can use drugs safely to reduce overdose deaths. Belfast has approved a DCR in principle, making it one of the first cities in the UK to do so, but its location remains unresolved. Drawing on the concepts of policy mobility and frontier politics, the authors analyse how BID governance, security planning culture, and the city's post-conflict identity shape the contested politics of siting a harm reduction facility in a commercially managed urban environment.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The UK is years behind much of Europe in implementing drug consumption rooms, and Belfast represents a novel test case: a post-conflict city where territorial politics, commercial interests and a severe drug-related death crisis all collide in the same geography. Drug-related deaths in Northern Ireland increased by 47% between 2013 and 2023, and 350 deaths occurred in Belfast alone between 2017 and 2021. This paper fills a gap at the intersection of urban geography, harm reduction policy and planning by showing how BID urbanism and security frameworks can prevent public health infrastructure. When UK cities including Glasgow are moving towards DCR implementation, it provides a critical framework for understanding why siting decisions are so contested and what that means for delivering life-saving services to the people who need them most.

Perspectives