Research Information System
Second Annual PhD Symposium from School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster, London, England, 11 June 2025, pp.7, (Summary Text)
Religion-based
intentional communities are purposefully established settlements organized
around shared religious doctrines and governed by religious normative systems. These
communities are characterized by collective withdrawal from mainstream society
to cultivate autonomous ways of communal living that align with specific religious
values particularly within fundamentalist traditions positioned outside
mainstream orthodoxy. Drawing on empirical evidence from various geographies (i.e.,
Darvell Bruderhof Community in UK, Ahmediyya Village in Canada, Menzil Village
in Turkey, Kibbutz Lavi in Israel) and religious traditions (i.e., interpretations
of Sufism, Christian fundamentalism, Hasidism, Orthodox Jewish kibbutzim, Asoke
movement), this study explores how such communities construct distinct
socio-spatial and normative structures; and the entanglements therein. These underrepresented
landscapes include codified behavioral rules, hierarchies of moral authority, self-contained
economies, shared ownership structures and symbolic boundaries that both
reflect and reinforce religious commitments. The adopted religious order
directly informs the spatial order of the community, particularly impacting location-choice
processes and land-use characteristics. The study posits that religion-based
intentional communities represent contested socio-spatial formations, with
their emancipatory dynamics (such as intentional isolation, voluntary
commitment, and the freedom to practice religion without external interference)
within closed and often highly segregated microcosms. Accordingly, it
analytically engages with the multiscalar relations and the authenticity behind
the normative systems (e.g., community rules, decision-making processes) and
spatial configuration rooted in belief systems. These features challenge
standardized models of urban development and governance. Through comparative
analysis of their location strategies, land use practices, internal governance,
and doctrinal spatialization, this study critically explores how religion-based
values materialize into tangible territories. Ultimately, it discusses the
possibilities on how urban and public policy can better account for religious
spatialities and intentional self-segregation in pluralistic societies.