Written and unwritten building conventions in a contested city: The case of Belfast

Many design conventions are legally binding, state-issued building codes and regulations, but many others derive their authority from other sources, are enforced by other means and exist for other purposes. This paper therefore introduces a scheme to cover the wide variety of de facto building conventions. Particularly interesting examples of seemingly atypical conventions can be found in Northern Ireland where the specific socio-political situation requires particular design approaches. Many design conventions guide the creation of artefacts that attempt to influence people's behaviour. The distinction between corpo-active versus symbolic mechanisms and socio-fugal versus socio-petal effects is introduced in order to grasp further differences between such socio-active artefacts. The latter are of special significance in situations where communities in strife are slowly learning to practise a peaceful co-existence, as is demonstrated with one specific case study. © 2009 Urban Studies Journal Limited.