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• An urban planning scheme aims to bring about long term change and improvement to an urban environment.

• Urban regeneration happens when an urban area is upgraded.

• The aim is to improve both the economic and social spaces within a city.

• This usually takes place when areas of dereliction, pollution or brown-field spaces are restored or the area is used for new purposes.

The challenge for urban regeneration is to make sure that local people gain from it, and that the benefits do not just go to developers and investors. For the regeneration to be most successful, the new areas should provide opportunities for a wide range of people, especially the people who live in and around the area being ‘improved’.

The initial plan was for 5,000 dwellings to be built – mostly apartments and townhouses to accommodate about 20,000 people.

At present only 474 luxury apartments have been built. The main reason for this was that the Northern Irish housing market collapsed just as the accommodation was being launched. Planning has been approved for another development, Plater's Yard, which will have residential units as well as supporting leisure, conference and providing opportunities for tourists to explore the rich history of the area. The Loft Lines is another residential development which is being built close to Titanic Belfast.

Since 2006, Titanic Quarter has attracted over 100 national and international companies creating around 6,000 jobs. Some firms include Citi, Microsoft, and HBO. Amazon have built a distribution warehouse in Titanic Quarter

Titanic Studios has become one of Europe’s largest film studios enticing such productions as Game of Thrones. Along with film-making, many people from the creative industries have been employed on these productions.

There are already two hotels in Titanic Quarter with another under construction, and two more planned.

The exhibition space and museum, Titanic Belfast, reported its 7.5 millionth visitor in the summer of 2013. Since opening in 2012, it has had visitors from 145 countries and, by 2022, had generated an estimated £430 million direct tourist spending in Northern Ireland.

HMS Caroline and SS Nomadic have also put this part of Belfast on the tourism map.

Education also plays an important part in creating the people who will be able to fill the jobs required for the future.

The Belfast Metropolitan College has built a brand new centre for excellence that can provide a wide range of courses for 5,000 full time and 10,000 part time students.

Titanic Quarter is a short drive from the main motorways and George Best City Airport. It is serviced by a range of public transport links including train and bus. It is also only a 20-minute walk from the city centre. The Belfast Glider, a modern bus service with each vehicle able to carry 105 passengers, also connects the area with Belfast City Centre.

The original vision was that residents would not need cars. At present, the services that would make this possible have not all arrived yet. There still is no access to health care, primary or secondary schools or large supermarkets.

From the outset the plan was that a polluted, derelict expanse of land on the edge of Belfast would be regenerated into a modern, attractive space.

The soil was treated to restore land that had been polluted due to years of industrial pollution from shipbuilding.

The plans for the area were to ensure that a modern, energetic feel was built into the plans for the new space – with plenty of open spaces and green areas, even though this is in the heart of the city.

The developers of Titanic Quarter try to ensure that waste is reduced as much as possible and that recycling is a major priority. In the future, it is hoped that further green technologies will be explored to increase the amount of energy from alternative sources.