Religion on the Fringe: the representation of space and minority religious facilities in the rural–urban fringe of metropolitan Sydney, Australia

Abstract

This article examines land-use development applications for minority religious facilities in two local government areas on the ruralÁurban fringe of metropolitan Sydney, Australia. Using critical discourse analysis and underpinned by Lefebvre's (1991) conceptual triad of space, the work interrogates the way in which place identity is generated and codified both by land-use planners and local residents through spatial representation. This representation is revealed in discourses around the compatibility of minority religious facilities for particular zones, lack of a sufficient minority population and social disruption. These discourses reveal a construction of periurban space that is aligned with particular elite Anglo-Australian activities (horse riding and gentleman farms) and land uses (rural residential, small-scale agriculture and the 'bush-church'). These case studies illustrate the potential for the creation of exclusionary, abstract space by urban planners but also the ways in which local residents use discoursive strategies to ensure the stability of their position as elites in rapidly changing spatial situations.

Law, pliability and the multicultural city: Documenting planning law in action

“…So while planning law seeks to classify land use to direct certain categories of land use towards (or away) from others to avoid major conflicts, there remains a certain flexibility to consider the nature of use as distinct from the purpose of use. Here municipal law exhibits sufficient flexibility to embrace multiculturalism, reducing questions relating to the religious use of land to technical questions concerning actual environmental impacts and nuisance, not what is perceived to be in keeping with the character of the area (recognising that those living in traditionally white/Christian neighbourhoods of Sydney have sometimes mobilised arguments against Islamic religious premises based on spurious accusations of noise nuisance associated with “chanting” or alleging parking nuisances from “sunrise to sunset”) (see Bugg, ; Dunn, ).…”

Negotiating Absence and Presence: Rural Muslims and ‘Subterranean’ Sacred Spaces

“…Unlike urban centres, which have sizeable Muslim populations and long histories of the establishment of services and sacred spaces Ryan, 2002, 2003), rural areas are often characterised by small populations with a fairly recent history of settlement and, as a result, a dependence on makeshift and contingent sacred spaces and religious services. Where there are campaigns to establish purposebuilt facilities, they are often opposed on grounds of incompatibility with 'rural' lifestyles (Bugg, 2012). As a result, Muslims and other religious minorities in rural areas are often less visible: there are fewer people wearing religious dress to be found and their sacred spaces, where they exist, are invariably 'storefront' mosques (Slymovics, 1996).…”

Religious diversity and inter-faith competition: the politics of camouflage in Italian cities

“…The idea of exploring the relationships taking form in the interplay between religious identities, urban spaces, aesthetics, economy and politics is not new in urban studies. For example, Gale (2008) mobilized the case of Manchester in order to explore intersections between urban planning, architecture and religious diversity; Ruez (2012) explored the aesthetic regimes and spatial coordinates that animated public debate about the Park 51 Islamic community centre in Manhattan; through a series of ethnographic works, Kuppinger (2014) analysed the production of Islamic topographies and cityscapes in German cities; Bugg (2012) focused on religious minorities and the production of space in marginal areas of Sydney; while Klingorová and Gökarıksel (2018) discussed how bodies and everyday performances may produce sacred space and spatial regimes that govern daily life in Czech cities. Overall, this rich body of literature emphasizes the crucial role of urban space in the production, experience and performance of religion (and secularity) on different geographical scales, from the body to the national and the global.…”