Liturgie della città. Spazi urbani e proiezioni pubbliche della pluralità religiosa

The essay focuses on the centrality of spatial factors towards an adequate understanding of social relations in today’s plural societies, especially with regard to urban spaces, where the coexistence of culturally and religiously diverse social actors is concentrated. This coexistence favors the transformation of modern secular cities into global liturgical spaces. In these public places, the forced intersection of cultural and religious orthopraxis brings (and transfuses) the very meaning of space, not only in real and experiential ways, but also metaphorically. Above all, it determines inevitable alterations of the previous urban balance, and imposes a rethinking of the articulation and management of urban space, offering new insights on the culturally and religiously heterogeneous nature of Italian society today. In order to achieve effective results, this operation must also make use of the essential contribution of the law, considered not as an instrument of power of the dominant majority over weaker minorities, but as a tool of social inclusion, capable of guaranteeing the opportunity to take advantage of spaces in ways that are appropriate to the life needs of those belonging to all ethnic, cultural, and religious groups.