The List: Urban Face-lifts

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Belfast, Northern Ireland

The dark past: Brutal sectarian violence. From the late 1960s through the 1990s, Belfast was the seat of The Troubles. British troops were sent to pacify the city in 1969 in a limited operation that ended up lasting nearly 30 years, as internment without trial, civilian massacres, and paramilitary feuding dogged the city. Thousands of lives were lost in notorious attacks by the Irish Republican Army and Protestant loyalists.

The bright present: A city of flagship projects. The huge Waterfront Hall dominates the Belfast skyline, alongside a Hilton Hotel and a massive PricewaterhouseCoopers building. The city has even made a virtue of its greatest failing: Tourists flock from far and wide to see the grisly sights of The Troubles, including the most bombed building in the world and the horrifying artistry of paramilitary murals.

Key to success: A marketing campaign that would make Apple sick with jealousy. Since the 1998 peace agreement, the British and Irish governments have touted Northern Ireland as a top business destination and backed up their hype with money. Invest Northern Ireland, a business development organization that represents Northern Irelands 1.7 million inhabitants, has no fewer than 15 offices in locations from Taipei to Denver. If you didnt know about Belfast for the wrong reasons, youll certainly hear about it now for the right ones.

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Bogot, Colombia

The dark past: Drugs, paramilitaries, and an unholy alliance between the two. In the 1980s, cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar and his allies waged a daunting guerrilla campaign against the Colombian governments seat of power, killing any official with the audacity to pursue them. Bogot was once one of the worlds most dangerous locations, with a murder rate that reached 58 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993.

The bright present: A tourist hot spot and bankers paradise. Lonely Planet named Colombia as one of its top 10 destinations for 2006, and its capital city is aching to impress. Newly developed museums and cheap luxury hotels stretch from horizon to horizon. Murder is way down, and meanwhile, the citys financial sector is racking up profits from a fiercely competitive banking industry and a capital market that consistently exceeds expectations.

Key to success: Really, really big guns. Police killed Escobar in 1993, eliminating Colombias public enemy number one. President lvaro Uribe made security the centerpiece of his administration, fire-walling the capital off from insurgent strongholds. As a first step, he filled the capital with soldiers. Polite, helpful, and armed to the teeth, they are an eerily reassuring sight.

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Tirana, Albania

The dark past: Communist blight, Ponzi schemes, and street riots. Albanias capital emerged from 45 years of socialism only to rush headlong into haphazard development. The majority-Muslim country plunged into chaos in 1997 when more than half of its citizens lost their shirts in investment scams. Behind the scenes, powerful mafias seized control of the levers of political power, while Albanians fled the country in droves.

The bright present: Colorful, bustling, and wacky. To be sure, Albanias underground organized crime networks remain well entrenched. But you wouldnt know it looking at the surface: Tiranas teeming streets are repaved and newly lit, its parks and boulevards green, its illegal construction swept away, and its gray concrete buildings repainted in hues more suited to the Caribbean than the grim Balkans. The New York Times named Albania its budget travel destination of the year in 2006, celebrating Tiranas molto Italiano cafe culture.

Key to success: Tiranas quirky mayor, Edi Rama, the creative genius behind the capitals urban renewal. For his efforts, the former basketball star, painter, and sometime rap artist was honored by the United Nations in 2002 and named World Mayor 2004 in an Internet poll. Now, as the leader of a victorious coalition of five opposition parties, Rama looks set to become his countrys prime minister after a failed assassination attempt and a disputed election.

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Washington, D.C., USA

The dark past: Rampant crime and incompetent cops. In 1998, crime was spiraling out of control, reaching even the swanky neighborhoods in the northwest. As mayor, the infamous Marion Barry had choked the police department in bureaucracy while publicly complaining that we cant stop the murders. Less than half the citys cops walked the streets, the department had no idea where its guns were, and Police Chief Larry Soulsby resigned when his roommate, a lieutenant, was arrested in a corruption probe.

The bright present: Its the mid-1960s againat least according to the crime statistics. The number of major crimes, including rape, homicide, and murder, dropped by 29 percent from 1998 to 2005. In 1991, 482 people were murdered in Washington, D.C.; in 2006, that number was only 169. Though crime remains high in eastern parts of the city, the U.S. capital as a whole hasnt been this safe since 1965.

Key to success: Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, who served from 1998 until last year. The unions will never love him, but things started to improve as soon as he took over. He shook up the people at the top, boosted a training budget still reeling from Barrys incompetence, and brought in a dozen high-level civilians for some fresh thinking. Ramsey took over a shambles; when he left last year, the Police Executive Research Forum labeled his force world-class.