Paper short abstract:

This paper argues that diversity-ready cemeteries and crematoria are a necessary part of changing socially and culturally-inclusive urban topographies.It showcases good practice in cemetery and crematoria design and management,urban planning, plus emerging minority-majority blended ritual practices.

Paper long abstract:

Building on work which has highlighted the longevity of minority religious deathscapes in the UK (e.g. Ansari 2007), the politics of planning processes for specific minority religious buildings (Naylor and Ryan 2002; Gale and Naylor 2002), and the contestation of sites for minority burial (Hunter 2016) and the scattering of cremated remains (Maddrell 2011), this paper draws on an AHRC-ESRC study of minority cemetery and crematoria provision across in medium sized towns in England and Wales. Using mapping, focus groups, key participant and biographical interviews across four case study towns, it argues that diversity-ready cemeteries and crematoria are a necessary part of changing socially and culturally-inclusive urban topographies. Reflecting postcolonial negotiations of 'throwntogetherness' (Massey 2005), local-transnational diasporic identity (Brah 1999) and 'living with difference' (Amin 2002), it showcases examples of good practice in terms of cemetery and crematoria design and management, and urban planning, as well as examples of emerging minority-majority dialogue and blended ritual practices in a postsecular context.