Places of Worship in the Urban Landscape: The Role of Participatory Processes for Their Reuse in a European Comparative Perspective

Places of worship have always played a crucial role in defining the landscape and character of our cities and villages. Each building has its own story to tell and represents the effort of a whole community in the creation of a common identity. For this reason, as well as for their historical and artistic value, these goods are frequently protected by the legislation of the States as a part of their national cultural heritage. Nevertheless, the problem of their re-signification arises when their religious purpose ceases, as it is happening everywhere in Europe because of secularisation, demographic decline and migrations. Focusing on the Catholic Church’s assets because of their significative presence in Western Europe, this paper aims to provide a vision on the future of these goods, underlining their value as “common goods” for local communities. In fact, the population recognises these assets as having both a use value and a cultural heritage value, which must be considered when identifying the new profane uses. These are goods that evoke a dual belonging, i.e. not only to the ecclesial community, but also to the wider civil community that has the right to be able to express its opinions on the reuse of buildings no longer used for worship. The comparative study of the legal framework and experiences from Belgium, France and Italy, in search of best practices and replicable management solutions, shows that, in spite of their different legislations, a new awareness is emerging with respect to this heritage, which should not be destined to neglect and abandonment but properly valorised. Through participatory processes, it seems possible to identify the needs emerging within communities, so that political and ecclesiastical decision-makers will be able to adopt solutions that can generate a positive impact in terms of social, cultural and economic development. In this way, these assets will be restored to the spatial and cultural centrality they have always had in the neighbourhoods of our cities and in rural villages.