NORFACE: The Architecture of Contemporary Religious Transmission

3einigkeitskirche
Centrumsmoschee
Mariendom
left: Heilige Dreieinigkeitskirche (Hamburg-St. Georg)
middle: Centrum-Moschee (Hamburg-St. Georg)
right: Domkirche St. Marien (Hamburg-St. Georg)

Short description

Three research questions were explored in the international comparative "Architecture of Contemporary Religious Transmission" research project: urban religious sites and local forms of religious representation, and what attitudes young adults have towards them, as well as changes in social relationships. The underlying hypothesis of the project was that young adults are the deciding factor whether or not religion in Europe is increasing as a social force.

We chose:

Migrant Areas - because the influx of Muslims and Christians from the south appears to be an obvious addition to religious activity in Europe.
Three urban patches - Hamburg-St.Georg; Grønland, Old Oslo; Finsbury Park, London known for the migrant population and religious diversity.
Young People (ages 18-25) - on the grounds that youth can be a weather-vane of change. Inter-generational change was an important focus. 

Our research methods were ethnographic - an "endoscopic" digging into small urban areas to see what kinds and levels of religious activity we found there amongst young people and what contrary voices were to be heard. Each partner started with the same set of questions. We compared what could be compared and described what was different. We employed: observation, individual in-depth interviews, focus groups with young Christians, Muslims and "Non-believers" (45 in each cities). In addition we interviewed a small sample of experts (i.e. clerics, imams, teachers etc.). We incorporated visual methods of data collection.