Is There Room for New Mosques in Belgian Cities? An Actor–Network Theory Approach

Abstract

This article examines whether, and under what conditions, there is room for new mosques in Belgian cities by analyzing how media controversies around mosque projects are assembled. We study a corpus of press articles (2014–2024) using a two-step approach: First, keyword mapping identifies dominant discursive patterns across six themes (mobility, legality, size and visibility, social cohesion and integration, security and extremism, financing). Second, argument coding links lexical signals to public modes of judgment through actor–network theory (ANT) and controversy registers. Applied to five case studies across Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital Region, this framework offers comparative depth. The results show that identity and security controversies frequently outweigh strict urban planning controversies; neutral planning criteria (e.g., traffic congestion, permit compliance) are often recoded as symbolic markers of alterity. Regional contrasts provide nuance to this pattern: in Flanders, politicization through security/identity is salient; in Wallonia, debates emphasize size, form, and spatial integration; in Brussels-Capital, technico-legal compliance intertwines with aesthetic visibility. Media operate as boundary objects that hierarchize registers and amplify controversies. We conclude that mosques are treated less as ordinary urban infrastructure than as contested symbols of belonging and visibility. Moving toward negotiated pluralism requires institutional mechanisms that ensure transparency, equal treatment, local anchoring, and symbolic requalification.