Religious freedom and places of worship: religious buildings in Europe and the United States

The increasing phenomenon of pluralistic urban areas is not merely a manifestation of cultural and religious change; it also concerns the architecture and urban planning of diverse urban areas.3 In European towns and cities, religious changes are taking place in environments that were long characterized by a certain degree of cultural and religious homogeneity, and that homogeneity helped to form the urban landscape. One challenge in the decades to come is to create physical urban spaces where inhabitants belonging to different religions and cultures may live together peacefully and avoid conflict between different identities. Such changes do not happen painlessly. Sometimes, even the simple request to build a place of worship of a religion considered alien to the cultural heritage becomes a source of suspicion and hostility, and if the request comes from Islam, the reaction often leads to conflict.