Spaces of Secular Faith?

Shared Assets and Intangible Values in Diverse, Changing Communities

Authors

  • Katie McClymont University of the West of England

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.37013

Keywords:

Urban planning, community, postsecular, austerity, public space

Abstract

In the current political climate, questions of shared identities, inclusive communities and public spaces are of utmost urgency. Compounded by the context of austerity, the value and purpose of public spaces is under question. This paper argues that the established boundaries and categories limit the ability to bring about progressive change in this situation. Urban planning categorises "places of worship" as tangible and discrete entities. The broader, more societal value of spaces such as churches remains unsaid and ill-defined, as does the intangible, spiritual value of public and community spaces. The paper presents four diverse spaces within Bristol, UK. It explores how their current and potential future use both challenge and are challenged by the context of postsecularism, austerity and community divisions. By conceptualising them as implicit sacred spaces which can transgress established boundaries-of both planning policy and categorical religiosity-the paper questions the meaning, possibilities and problems of "municipal spirituality."

Author Biography

  • Katie McClymont, University of the West of England

    Katie McClymont, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

References

Ahmed, K. 2003. “On the seventh day, Tony Blair created…” The Gurardian.

August. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/aug/03/religion.tonyblair

Bailey, E. 2010. “Implicit Religion.” Religion 40(4): 271–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2010.07.002

Bailey, E. 1997. Implicit Religion in Contemporary Society. Den Haag: Kok Pharos.

Baker, C.R. and Beaumont, J. 2011. Postsecular Cities: Religious Space, Theory and Practice. London: Continuum.

Baker, C. and Dinham, A. 2017. “New Interdisciplinary Spaces of Religions and Beliefs in Contemporary Thought and Practice: An Analysis.” Religions 8(2): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8020016

Baker, C. 2016. “Sustainable Governance in a Postsecular Public Sphere: Re-assessing the Role of Religion as a Cosmopolitan Policy Actor in a Diverse and Globalized Age.” Sustainable Development 24(3): 190–198. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1621

Bartkowski, J.P. and Swearingen, W.S. 1997. “God Meets Gaia in Austin, Texas: A Case Study of Environmentalism as Implicit Religion.” Review of Religious Research 38(4): 308–324. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512193

Beebeejaun, Y. 2012. “Including the Excluded? Changing the Understandings of Ethnicity in Contemporary English Planning.” Planning Theory and Practice 13(4): 529–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2012.728005

Beebeejaun, Y. 2004. “What’s in a Nation? Constructing Ethnicity in the British Planning System.” Planning Theory and Practice 5(4): 437–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/1464935042000293189

Bulman, M. 2017. “Brexit Vote Sees Highest Spike in Religious and Racial Hate Crimes Ever Recorded.” Independent. 7 July. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/racist-hate-crimes-surge-to-record-high-after-brexit-vote-new-figures-reveal-a7829551.html

Campbell, H. and R. Marshall. 2002. “Utilitarianism’s Bad Breath? A Re-Evaluation of the Public Interest Justification for Planning.” Planning Theory 1(2): 163–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/147309520200100205

Catney, G. (2018) The complex geographies of ethnic residential segregation: Using spatial and local measures to explore scale?dependency and spatial relationships, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 43 (1) pp. 137–152. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12209

Cunningham, J. 2001. “University of life.” The Guardian. 11 April. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/apr/11/communities.education

Dinham, A. 2011. “What is a ‘faith community’?” Community Development Journal 46: 526–541. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsq016

Dinham, A., Furbey, R., and Lowndes, V. 2009. Faith in the Public Realm: Controversies, policies and practices. Bristol: Policy.

Dinham, A. and V. Lowndes. 2008. “Religion, Resources, and Representation: Three Narratives of Faith Engagement in British Urban Governance.” Urban Affairs Review 43: 817–845. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087408314418

Dunlap, T.R. 2006. “Environmentalism: A Secular Faith.” Environmental Values 15(3): 321–330. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327106778226284

Dwyer, C. 2016. “Why does Religion Matter for Cultural Geographers?” Social & Cultural Geography 17(6): 758–762. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2016.1163728

Fincher, R. & Iveson, K. 2008. Planning and Diversity in the City: Redistribution, Recognition and Encounter. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-06960-3

Gale, R. and S. Naylor. 2002. “Religion, Planning and the City: The Spatial Politics of Ethnic Minority Expression in British Cities and Towns.” Ethnicities 2(3): 387–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968020020030601

Gale, R. 2008. “Locating religion in urban planning: beyond ‘race’ and ethnicity?” Planning Practice and Research 23(1): 19–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/02697450802076415

———. 2013. “Religious Residential Segregation and Internal Migration: The British Muslim Case.” Environment and Planning 45(4): 872–891. https://doi.org/10.1068/a4515

Garimella, K., G. D. F. Morales, A. Gionis, and M. Mathioudakis. 2018. “Political Discourse on Social Media: Echo Chambers, Gatekeepers, and the Price of Bipartisanship.” The Web Conference. Ithaca, NY: Cornell. https://doi.org/10.1145/3178876.3186139

Goldsmith, J. 2018 History of Jacobs Wells Baths Complex. http://jacobswellscommunityhub.com/baths/jacobs-wells-baths-complex/

Greed, C. 2016a. Christianity and Planning: Pentecostal Churches. Occasional paper. Technical Report. Bristol: University of the West of England. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/29024

———. 2016b. “Religion and Sustainable Urban Planning: ‘If You Can’t Count It, Or Won’t Count It, It Doesn’t Count.’” Sustainable Development 24(3): 154–162. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1617

Harris, R. 2014. “Measuring Changing Ethnic Separations in England: A Spatial Discontinuity Approach.” Environment and Planning A 46(9): 2243–2261. https://doi.org/10.1068/a130021p

Jacobs Wells Community Hub. n.d. http://jacobswellscommunityhub.com/

Katz, L and Krueger, A. 2016. The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995–2015. NBER Working Paper No. 22667.

Kettle, S. 2012. “Thematic review: Religion and the Big Society: A Match Made in Heaven? Policy and Politics 40(2): 281–296. https://doi.org/10.1332/030557312X640004

Locality. 2018. “The Great British Sell Off.” https://locality.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-Great-British-Sell-Off-FINAL.pdf

Lynch, N. 2016. “Domesticating the Church: The Reuse of Urban Churches as Loft Living in the Post-secular City.” Social & Cultural Geography 17(7): 849–870. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2016.1139167

McClymont, K. 2015. “Postsecular Planning? The idea of Municipal Spirituality.” Planning Theory and Practice 16(4): 535–554. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2015.1083116

———. 2018. “Articulating Virtue: Planning Ethics Within and Beyond Post Politics.” Planning Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095218773119

McLennan, G. 2010. “The Postsecular Turn.” Theory, Culture & Society 27: 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276410372239

———. 2011. “Postsecular Cities and Radical Critique: A Philosophical Sea change?” In Postsecular cities: Religious Space, Theory and Practice, edited by C. R. Baker and J. Beaumont, 15–32. London: Continuum.

Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government. 2018. National Planning Policy Framework. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/740441/National_Planning_Policy_Framework_web_accessible_version.pdf

Nelson, R. 2014. “Calvinism without God: American Environmentalism as Implicit Calvinism.” Implicit Religion 17(3): 249–273. https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.v17i3.249

Peterson, M. 2017. “Living with difference in hyper-diverse areas: how important are encounters in semi-public spaces?” Social & Cultural Geography 18(8): 1067–1085. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2016.1210667

Phillips, D. 2006. Quality of Life: Concept, Policy and Practice. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203356630

Putnam, R.D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Sandercock, L., and Senbel, M. 2011. “Spirituality, Urban Life and the Urban Professions.” In Postsecular cities: Religious Space, Theory and Practice, edited by C. R. Baker and J. Beaumont, 87–103. London: Continuum.

Smith, C., Vaidyanathan, B., Ammerman, N.T., Casanova, J., Davidson, H., Ecklund, E.H., Evans, J.H., Gorski, P.S., Konieczny, M.E., Springs, J.A., Trinitapoli, J. & Whitnah, M. 2013. “Roundtable on the Sociology of Religion: Twenty-three Theses on the Status of Religion in American Sociology.” A Mellon Working-group Reflection. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81(4): 903–938. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lft052

St. Mary Redcliffe. 2018. http://www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk/

Tait, M. 2016. Planning and the Public Interest: Still a Relevant Concept for Planners? Planning Theory 15(4): 335–343. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095216660780

Tse, J.K.H. 2014. “Grounded Theologies: ‘Religion’ and the ‘Secular’ in Human Geography.” Progress in Human Geography 38(2): 201–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132512475105

Valentine, G. & Harris, C. 2016. “Encounters and (in)Tolerance: Perceptions of Legality and the Regulation of Space.” Social & Cultural Geography 17(7): 913–932. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2016.1139171

Published

2019-02-05

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

McClymont, K. (2019). Spaces of Secular Faith? Shared Assets and Intangible Values in Diverse, Changing Communities. Implicit Religion, 21(2), 142-164. https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.37013