Territorial Legitimacy of Mosques in Belgian Cities: A Multi-Scale Approach

Mosques have become a component of contemporary European societies as a result of long-term migration, demographic stabilization, and the institutional recognition of Islam. Their spatial distribution and integration into urban environments remain uneven and frequently contested. In Belgium, mosque establishment is characterized by persistent territorial disparities, spatial relegation, and recurrent public controversies. While existing research has largely focused on institutional arrangements, governance frameworks, or symbolic debates, fewer studies have examined, in a systematic and spatialized manner, the mechanisms through which mosques are distributed, shape urban environments, and attain territorial legitimacy across different analytical scales.

This PhD thesis aims to analyze the socio-spatial, economic, institutional, and discursive factors that structure the territorial legitimacy of mosques in Belgium. Mosques are approached as social infrastructure embedded in ordinary urban systems of accessibility, centrality, land use, and urban governance. The research adopts a multi-scalar analytical framework designed to connect national patterns of mosque distribution, intra-urban effects, and local processes of negotiation and regulation.

Three main analytical stages are implemented to accomplish the objectives of the thesis. First, a national-scale spatial analysis examines the determinants associated with mosque locations and identifies areas that are structurally underserved in terms of Muslim religious facilities. The results indicate that the presence of Muslim populations constitutes a necessary condition, yet it does not sufficiently explain observed distribution patterns. Mosque locations display strong agglomeration effects, producing cumulative territorial advantages and the persistence of spatial gaps in provision, particularly in intermediate and peri-central urban fabrics. Second, an intra-urban analysis investigates the effects of mosques on neighborhood dynamics. The findings show that mosques function as structuring hubs of local socio-commercial centralities and contribute to the emergence of specific forms of plural urbanity that extend beyond residential concentration alone. Third, the thesis examines the governance of mosque projects through the analysis of public controversies and local decision-making processes. This stage highlights the role of successive negotiations and tests of acceptability, in which regulatory compliance is necessary but structurally insufficient, leading to conditional, unstable, and reversible forms of recognition.

The thesis demonstrates that the territorial legitimacy of mosques in Belgium cannot be understood as a direct outcome of demographic demand or formal legal recognition. It emerges instead as a dynamic and spatially differentiated process shaped by agglomeration effects, urban legacies, regulatory constraints, and multi-level governance practices. The findings show that mosques are subject to a specific regime of conditional acceptability, in which access to urban space is continuously renegotiated rather than institutionally guaranteed. Mosques thus operate simultaneously as ordinary urban facilities in their daily uses and as highly sensitive objects within planning and political processes, revealing broader mechanisms through which cities regulate visibility, belonging, and diversity. Beyond the Belgian case, this thesis provides a transferable analytical framework for understanding how contemporary European cities manage religious pluralism through spatial regulation, selective recognition, and differentiated forms of territorial integration, contributing to ongoing debates on spatial justice and urban governance.