CITIES, PUBLIC SPACES AND RELIGIONS - STO RIES ABOUT HOPE AND DAILY PRACTICES

Between 1950 and 1970, urban development was viewed (particularly in F rance and Belgium) very differently by urban planners and by religious institutions, especially in the Catholic world. Urban planners saw an opportunity to build a new environment for the self-fulfilment of mod ern humankind. The religious institutions saw urban development as a p rocess of de-Christianization. This difference was due not only to pra ctical and opportunist outlooks, but was grounded in different ways of approaching the ambiguity of the city: civilizing or destructive? Wha t is the place of the ideal city (the ''new Jerusalem'') in Christian thought? What is its place in modern thought? Over the uncertainties o f the last 25 years, both approaches have moved from idealization to a sense of the possible. The public sphere is being realigned. Taking e xamples from France and Belgium, the author considers how religious in stitutions-particularly Catholic ones-might find a new involvement, an d identifies Islam as a catalyst for change.