International Award for Research Project on Spaces of Religious Minorities

Just days ago, Martin Radermacher, researcher at CERES in Bochum, received the Lindsay Jones Memorial Research Fund Award of the “Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Forum” (ACSF) for his project “Dignified Spaces: Religious Minorities in Diverse Urban Environments”. It was the first time this was awarded. The fund is addressed to scholars that research on the meaning of built environment for religious and spiritual practices and perceptions.

His project seeks to investigate how urban built environments foster and impede the value of dignity for migrant and minority religions in cities all over the world. Based on the assumption that dignity is among the constitutional values of contemporary societies, the project focuses on migrant and minority religions and their aspiration for recognition and representation.

The funding of the Lindsay Jones Memorial Research Fund will be used to initiate a larger networked project in collaboration with colleagues from various disciplines, including architecture, sociology, theology, and urban design. Through this seed funding it is aimed to document different disciplinary attempts of building dignified religious or spiritual environments. Furthermore, it should be explored how this is related to social efficacy in built environments. At the end of this project in 2023, scholars from different relevant disciplines will be invited for a one-day meeting centering around an interactive audio-visual documentation of the research results.