Religious Places Research Articles

Islamic monuments in Azerbaijan in the XVIII-XIX centuries (based on the documents of the Russian State Military History Archive)

The article presents the history of Islamic religious monuments in the territory of Azerbaijan in the 18th and 19th centuries. The presented scientific article includes research on the mosques and religious beliefs of the population in the territory of Azerbaijan in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the documents of the Russian State Military History Archive. From the documents in the archival materials, it is clear that the most of the population are Muslim and Islamic religious monuments are the majority. The article relies on the drawings of the master plans of Azerbaijani cities kept in the funds of the Russian State Military History Archive. It is clear from the archive materials that economic and cultural life in Azerbaijani cities revolved around the mosques, especially the Friday mosques. Thus, the cities were erected not only around the palaces of khans and rulers, but around the Friday mosques, too. Also, at the end of the study, it is possible to come to the conclusion that Juma mosques functioned not only as the religious places of worship, but also as economic, cultural and social centers. In addition, the significance of the study of the documents stored in the Russian State Military History Archive is that it is possible to restore the historical appearance of Friday mosques in the present period from the drawings stored in its funds.

Resilience Building after Violent Attack on Buddhist Community: The Case of Ramu in Cox’s Bazar District of Bangladesh

This study delves into the analysis of communal violence in Bangladesh, focusing on the 2012 violent attack on the Buddhist community in Ramu, Cox’s Bazar. It examines the extent to which the attack affected the social cohesion of the local Muslim and Buddhist communities and evaluates the efficacy of post-violence responses for strengthening social cohesion and building resilience. We applied a mixed-method approach by using descriptive statistics from a survey of 300 local people and qualitative data from Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews. Based on an analytical framework of communal violence and resilience-building, this paper argues that communal violence is an ideologically motivated phenomenon that endangers inter-community relations, which cannot be fully recouped as various inadequacies undermine post-violence initiatives. The violent attack on the Buddhist community in Ramu was, in this vein, instigated by rumour and misinformation, igniting communal sentiment using a questionable Facebook post/tagging, intentionally used to mobilise locals and outsiders. Besides immediate consequences such as the destruction of property and the desecration of ancient religious places, it damaged inter-community relations by creating trauma, mistrust, and fear, which ruptured social interaction. The authorities could not prevent the attack due to their inability to understand the gravity of the issue. The immediate recovery support was quick and sufficient. However, it remained limited to reinstating the structures destroyed by the attack. Steps undertaken by different authorities for resilience-building were restricted. Therefore, grassroots people remain unattached in social cohesion building and coexist in subtle discomfort, if not anxiety. Social Science Review, Vol. 40(2), December 2023 Page: 143-170

The Implications of Religious Practices on Loxococcus rupicola (Thw.) H. Wendl. and Drude, A Critically Endangered, Endemic Palm Species in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is rich in biodiversity and traditional, religious, and cultural practices. However, some of these traditional beliefs could lead to decline of the local biodiversity. Ran-Dotalu (Loxococcus rupicola (Thw.) H. Wendl. & Drude,) is one of the sacred groves among the Buddhists and Buddhism is the major religion followed in Sri Lanka. L. rupicola (Family Arecaceae), is a palm listed as Critically Endangered and Endangered on the global and national red lists respectively. Loxococcus is an endemic genus and Ran-Dotalu is also protected under the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance. It confines to rainforests in central highlands of Sri Lanka as small populations on shady rocky outcrops. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the religious beliefs, and cultural practices, and document the present state of the wild collection of Ran-Dotalu to identify the threats related to religious activities. Sociocultural data on Ran-Dotalu and its uses in the rituals were collected based on semi-structured questionnaire interviews via formal discussions, telephone conversations, and emails. Out of 114 respondents there were Buddhist priests (n=03), plant collectors (n=07), and users and or worshipers (n=104). Among them 36% were males and 64% were females. According to the results, flowers, seeds, seedlings, and saplings collections were reported from Peak Wilderness sanctuary, Erantha-Gilimale Forest reserve, and Knuckles Forest Reserve. Ran-Dotalu. Flowers were mainly collected for religious activities and rituals (42.3%), medicinal purposes (26.3%), as a substitute for Areca nut (23.6%), and to sell (7.8%). Worshiping with Ran-Dotalu flowers was common at Sri Padasthanaya, Temple of Tooth, Ruwanweliseya and Jayasrima Bhodiya, Saman Devalaya, and Katharagama Devalaya. On average 10-12 flowers were collected by a collector per month and, sold for a price ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 5,000. On average 10-15 flowers (per month) were brought to above-mentioned religious places. According to the legends god Sumana-Saman offered Ran-Dotalu flowers to Buddha for establishing Sri Padastanaya. Therefore, worshipers believe that offering Ran-Dotalu flowers is a great act of charity and pays off all sin. The palm recently become a popular ornamental plant (9%) despite its protected status. Around 78% of the respondents were not aware of the conservation status of L. rupicola. Thus, seed production and young generations in the wild populations are in danger. The study suggests that understanding of practices that may threaten local biodiversity and immediate actions are needed to conserve the L. rupicola wild populations. 
 Keywords: Loxococcus rupicola, Sacred groves, Ran-dotalu, Critically endangered

CURRENT ISSUES IN THE CRIMINAL LEGAL PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN UKRAINE

Since the preservation of cultural heritage sites is essential, their criminal legal protection remains relevant today. This study aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the norms of Ukraine's Criminal Code that, in one way or another, relate to the protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage. The research employed the methods of analysis, synthesis, scientific generalization, and formal-logical method. The paper explores Articles 178, 193, 201, 298, 307, and 316 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In the context of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, it is stated that the subject of this criminal offense - a religious building or place of worship - is much narrower than the concept of "cultural heritage." At the same time, Articles 193 and 201 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine specify that the subject can only be a tangible object associated with intangible cultural heritage objects.Part 2 of Article 298 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine directly relates to the criminal-legal protection of cultural heritage in Ukraine. The article analyzes the sanctions of Part 2 of Article 298 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and provides recommendations for determining punishment under this part of the article. The paper also describes violations of legislative technique in constructing the composition of the criminal offense stipulated in Part 2 of Article 298 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and offers recommendations for their elimination.

THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY IN SHANGHAI CONSIDERED THROUGH THE RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY OF RELIGION

The increasing growth of Christianity in Shanghai, China, provides an instructive model for understanding the marketing and economics of religion. The paper employs theoretical analysis as well as an analysis of the results of field study. The theoretical study employed rational choice theory and the field study included visiting religious places and conducting interviews. The major field work took place at Christian churches and other places of worship in Shanghai city during Christmas and New Year time, 2019. This research concludes that Christianity and its competitiveness in comparison to the other faiths in Shanghai, will gain popularity in Shanghai follower will grow in numbers

Religion and Poverty Alleviation in South Sulawesi: Analysis at the Village Level

The influence of religion on poverty reduction has become an exciting study in various countries. Several studies have proven no relationship between religious observance and poverty alleviation. However, on the contrary, other studies have proven that religion affects poverty alleviation. In fact, religion should be able to help overcome poverty. Based on this phenomenon, this study will use raw data of Village Potential (Podes) data issued by BPS in 2018 for South Sulawesi Province, with around 3000 villages. The dependent variable of this study is the number of poor people in each village. Poverty data is taken from the number of poverty certificates issued by the village. This data explains the willingness of people to be considered poor, so that it can show voluntary poverty. Meanwhile, the independent variables include the number of religious places of worship, the number of educational institutions, the number of health institutions, the number of electricity customers, and the number of small-scale industries in the village. This study will use a simple regression method to find the relationship between the variables studied. Even though econometrically many variable relationships are not statistically significant which may be due to the completeness and abnormal distribution of the data, there are interesting variable relationships from this study. The relationship between religion and poverty is negative, indicating that religion can reduce poverty. Community-based health services (posyandu) can also reduce poverty. Markets that show economic aspects will also have an impact on reducing poverty. The same thing is technology proxied with electricity customers will also reduce poverty. Meanwhile, the geographic variable proxied by the distance between the village and the sub-district is not significant and the direction is not as expected.
 Keywords: religion, poverty, South Sulawesi

MEANING OF PLACE ON ENHANCING RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN THE MASJID RAYA BAITURRAHMAN BANDA ACEH

Tourism has an important meaning for a region because of the unique qualities and characteristics of that region. When tourism becomes one of the supports for economic success, people ask whether tourism in the area is worthy of being a tourist spot? one of which is religious tourism, which is a type of tourism that has a close interest in the religious side and places of worship. Religious tourism has its characteristics, both from the environment of the tourist area, the physical buildings, and the local culture of the local community. Banda Aceh is the capital of Aceh Province which has the nickname Veranda of Mecca, this city has a religious tourism area which is the research area, namely the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, which is now a religious tourist attraction that is the pride of the local community. The meaning of a place is very important in developing tourism, the presence of distinctive characteristics is the attraction of the place, and it has a lot of knowledge and experience for tourists. The meaning of a place for local tourists and foreign tourists will be different, due to the desire to visit and the experience of being there. Therefore, with research to find out the meaning of tourist attractions for visitors and religious tourism destinations, there will be a comparison of the level of visits by local and foreign tourists, so that the meaning of the place can be seen from the visiting experience, building characteristics for visitors and social interactions. This issue is a complex matter to discuss. As for what will be researched in this place, attachment research is the meaning of place. This research aims to determine the meaning of place attachment to the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh on the development of religious tourism. The type of research applied in this research is a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative nature obtained from literature studies, distributing questionnaires, field observations, and interviews; distributing questionnaires to 100 respondents, namely tourists and local communities; carrying out field observations at the research location; and conducted in-depth interviews with eight main informants, namely local community leaders, tourism practitioners, government officials, and academics. This will be analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods to produce comparative findings through the data obtained. This literature review can be applied by stakeholders as an evaluation tool in developing tourism, especially religious tourism in an area.

Bio-valorization of Tagetes floral waste extract in fabrication of self-healing Schiff-base nanocomposite hydrogels for colon cancer remedy.

The drastic boom in floriculture and social events in religious and recreational places has inevitably led to generation of tremendous floral waste across the globe. Marigold (Tagetes erecta) is one of the most common loose flowers offered for the same. Generally discarded, these Tagetes floral wastes could be valorized for biogenic syntheses. In this study, we have utilized the floral extract towards green synthesis of nano ZnO, the formation of which was affirmed from different analytical techniques. Bionanocomposite Schiff-base hydrogel composed of chitosan and dialdehyde pectin was fabricated by the facile strategy of in situ polymer cross-linking, and the ZnO nanoparticles were embedded in the hydrogel matrix. The hydrogel exhibited remarkable self-healing ability. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were enhanced owing to nano ZnO. Furthermore, it was hemocompatible and biodegradable. A controlled release drug profile for 5-fluorouracil from the hydrogel was accomplished in the colorectum. The exposure of the drug-loaded nanocomposite hydrogel demonstrated improved anticancer effects in HT-29 colon cancer cells. The findings of this study altogether put forth the successful biovalorization of Tagetes floral waste extract for colon cancer remedy.

Anthropological Aspects of Local Cults: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying Religious Sites of Memory

The article deals with theoretical approaches to the analysis of anthropological aspects of religious places of memory associated with the veneration of Christian saints. This form of religious practice is often a kind of refraction of a dogmatically formalized official religious system, passed through the prism of traditional beliefs, sometimes of archaic origin, in which the objects of worship are both officially fixed material objects (icons, sometimes sculptural images of saints or Mother-of-God, worship crosses), and unofficial locally revered shrines, including springs, stones, trees, and even landscapes. The author analyzes essentialist and non-essentialist theories used to interpret local cults of saints associated with the veneration of natural objects: the theory of dual faith (dvoeverie) and “Orthodox animism”, folk religion, lived religion, vernacular religion, material religion. The most successful methodological approach to explain the historical and cultural survival of religious places of memory, according to the author, is the actor-network theory of B. Latour. Being a non-essentialist approach, the actor-network theory does not distinguish between different types of actors: people, natural objects, and supernatural actors. Natural objects create a network between pilgrims and supernatural actors, which manifests itself in direct worship practices, an important element of which are appropriate votive offerings. Natural actors carry out the function of mediation between the worlds, connecting a person with a supernatural actor who is constantly invisibly present in a sacred place, and thus a network is built that has an important psychological significance for believers, thereby determining the social significance of religious places of memory.

The Gandhamardan Movement of Western Odisha and Its Contemporary Relevance

In the modern world, the demand for mineral products is significantly increasing, which attracts many investors to invest in mineral extraction. Most of the mineral deposits are in tribal-dominated areas that are being affected by resource extraction activities. Odisha, a mineral-rich state, has become a favourite destination for investors. Most of the local livings are tribals who depend on the hill’s natural resources as their traditional livelihood. The local tribals protested for their rights in religious places near the mine to protect traditional livelihood and to save the natural environment. This article attempts to understand how the local indigenous groups and others are motivated to join the resistance movement and also examines the present status of pushing factors. It also focuses on how the indigenous groups, activists and other organizations made the movement successful. Eventually, the state government had to withdraw the project because of the strong leadership, selfless dedication and sacrifice of local tribals, well-planned strategies of the activists and global–national–local supports to save the environment.

Mill, Market, Mandir, Masjid: The Geographies of Communal Conflict in Colonial Bombay, c. 1929–39

This article reframes a crucial period in the history of popular politics in colonial Bombay. Focusing on Hindu-Muslim antagonism between 1929 and 1939, it highlights the centrality of everyday urban spaces and places in shaping the context, dynamics and nature of communal conflict in a putatively cosmopolitan city. The first section shows how recurrent communal discord in Bombay was the outcome of two spatially contingent political developments that occurred concurrently in the years between 1929 and 1933. On the one hand, intra-class tensions engendered by industrial strife in tandem with the rapid ascendancy of the communist-led Girni Kamgar Union in the mill districts resulted in a communal backlash. On the other hand, the launch of the Congress’ Civil Disobedience movement deepened Hindu-Muslim differences in the market areas of the Indian town. The second section focuses on clashes over religious places and processions, which became a chronic feature of urban life in the 1930s. Through a range of examples, it underscores how local disputes over sacred sites and religious rites became integral to the political construction of communal identities in late colonial Bombay.

INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL TOURISM IN THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GROWTH IN LEBANON

Lebanon enjoys a geographical location, a rich, and distinctive cultural history, attracting tourists from different regions around the world. Lebanon’s cultural heritage is reflected in the archaeological sites that reflect the Phoenician, Greek, and Roman civilizations, among others. Lebanon has an ancient history that left its mark on its culture, and cultural tourism in Lebanon can help it rise from the economic and social crises that it has suffered from since the fall of 2019. Cultural tourism is an important product in the international tourism market, it is a tourist activity that allows the visitor to learn and discover cultural aspects material and non-material including arts and architecture historical and cultural heritage food heritage literature, and music industries festivals, and museums, and exhibitions and national parks and wildlife reserves and religious places and temples and churches. Cultural tourism contributes to enhancing the identities of communities, enhancing communication between cultures, preserving the heritage and culture of the region, as well as contributing to the development of multiple economic sectors, such as agriculture,handicrafts, and creative industries, and leads to diversifying the local economy and reducing its dependence on other sources of income. This research paper aims to answer the following question: How can cultural tourism contribute to the economic and social recovery of Lebanon? By answering this question, this paperwill delve into researching the solutions that the Lebanese state must take to enhance cultural tourism in Lebanon

Defining Historic Townscape Characteristics following Local People’s Perceptions: Developing a Townscape Character Assessment Policy for Chiang Mai Old City, Thailand

Townscape in urban heritage sites contributes a vital visual perception of the public realm. It consists of the streetscape, buildings, natural features, and human perception, which include the social, cultural, and way of life on the scenes. Historic Townscape represents tangible and intangible scenes related to historical artifacts and the historical value of the places. Townscape Character Assessment (TCA) can apply to evaluate the quality of urban elements which represent the significance of social, cultural, and human perception of urban heritage. However, Chiang Mai City Council should have paid more attention to the valued process of establishing a townscape character assessment policy and has not been part of the ongoing heritage preservation process. In the critical urban heritage environment of Chiang Mai Old City, the aim is to define the townscape characteristics of the city and to be used as fundamental knowledge to establish the suitable Townscape Character Assessment (TCA) for Chiang Mai Old City. This research study has considered four aspects in terms of townscape Character Assessment Policy study that could establish the Townscape Characteristics of Chiang Mai Old City. These are the quality of the streetscape; cultural expression; perceptual factors; and socio-cultural values. Generally, Townscape Character Assessment employs the four significant factors to value townscape characteristics. This study has considered the ongoing new world heritage site as Chiang Mai is a “living heritage” which has faced the loss of greenery, cleanliness, and identity in its inner city and is likely to have issues when the city becomes a heritage tourism destination. The study involved twenty-five local participants and used a mixed methodology consisting of questionnaires, photo-elicitation interviews (PEI), needle method, and in-depth interviews. The results found that the connection of religious places, urban heritage artifacts, cultural activities, and the natural colors of local flowers in the city represented its characteristics. The study revealed possible factors to evaluate a townscape character assessment policy for CMOC, including the physical need for streetscape improvement, cultural expression along the streetscapes, perception of the quality of the streetscapes, and representation of socio-cultural values of the streetscapes. These results can be implemented in developing assessment guidelines for any heritage sites undergoing heritage nomination or any historical cities concerned with townscape character.

Enhancing Social Sustainability in a Social Housing Project in India

This paper assesses the social environment required for enhancing social sustainability in a social housing project in India, with a case study of Ajith Singh nagar, social housing project of Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh, India. Social sustainability is less thought off out of Three pillars of sustainability (Environment, social and economic). Social sustainability is quality of life in a neighborhood with its social environment. This paper studies the Informal social spaces such as informal meeting places, eating, sitting places, religious places and other activities of informal enterprise and trades which add to sustainable neighborhood environment. These spaces generate psychological comfort, enable to establish social relationships, that creates opportunity for informal interactions and social cohesion. Provision of these places in a neighborhood will address the social sustainability. This research arrives at what social spaces and activities required in a neighborhood by analysing existing housing layout which is otherwise just series of buildings and roads. The interactions between people and their surroundings strengthen community building and social bonding. This paper finds out that adding these places and activities enhance the social interactions and in turn establish social Capital.

INTEGRATION APPROACH TO ENSURING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF A TOURIST DESTINATION THROUGH RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

The article defines the importance of strategic partnership in the processes of development of a tourist destination. The partnership will allow subjects of the tourism industry, based on the distribution of rights, duties, responsibilities, functions and resources between the participants, to create a comprehensive tourism product, to form an effective commercial system, taking into account the interests of each participant in the partnership. The results of strategic partnership are the creation of a competitive market offer, development of the territory and community; diversification of the tourism product; improving the quality of services. The study substantiates the concept of sustainable development of a tourist destination through the development of rural tourism with the active participation of the host society. The criteria for the development of rural tourism based on the diversification of the tourism product in order to ensure the permanence of the tourist destination are the development of environmental initiatives, environmental education for tourists; development of entrepreneurial skills of the population; ensuring the recreational value of the territory; reducing inequality and increasing the resilience of rural societies; increasing the income of rural society; creating added value of the tourism product and increasing the well-being of the population. The article formed a business model for the development of rural tourism in the village. Vysochinovka Zmievskaya city community. The strengths of the project are a clean and safe environment; availability of natural resources, favorable economic and geographical location; availability of high-quality transport infrastructure; tourism potential of the Zmievskaya community; the presence of monuments of religious significance and places of pilgrimage for parishioners; hospitality of the population; presence of an education cell; development of folk crafts; development of viticulture; awareness of organizers on the implementation of environmental practices in the activities of accommodation facilities; awareness of organizers on marketing and promotion of rural tourism services; public interest in rural development projects. The Canvas business model was used to describe the business processes of a rural estate in the village of Vysochinovka.

Bibliometric Analysis of Literature on Religious Tourism in Web of Science

This study aims to assess current trends in religious tourism research utilizing bibliometric approaches and associated materials published between 1992 and 2022. The other three objectives of the study are to describe interesting research topics in religious tourism, to show the advancement of understanding in this area of research, and to identify the essential features of religious tourism studies. The Web of Science bibliographic database is used to collect bibliographic data on religious tourism. After various bibliometric indicators have been summarized, “citation analysis, co-citation analysis, and keyword co-occurrence analysis” are used to establish the relationships between “keywords”, “documents”, “authors”, “sources”, and “countries”. VOSviewer is used to display the results as network maps (version 1.6.18). As a result of the study, it was determined that religious tourism research focused around four main themes such as sustainable development and location, religious tourism, tourism and culture, and religious places and entrepreneurs, and these themes reached the highest number of publications especially in 2019. In addition, it was concluded that the most cited studies were done by Rinschede (1992), Blackwell (2007) and Shinde (2010) and that the most influential journal on religious tourism is Annals of Tourism Research and Turkey is the most cited country.

The Relation of Community Values and Norms to the Practice of Pilgrimage in Mount Kawi, Indonesia

This study aims to see the relationship between community behaviour in practising at the tomb of religious figures in Mount Kawi, Malang Regency, Indonesia. The behaviour of pilgrims in visiting has a variety of motivations and interests. Mount Kawi is a pilgrimage tourism site with an exciting background. There are tombs of Islamic religious figures and places of worship of ethnic Chinese. The relationship between the two has an interesting relationship to know. Researchers use a qualitative approach by selecting several informants and processing the data qualitatively. The results showed that the relationship between people's behaviour in performing pilgrims leads to values, norms, and group identity. People's encouragement to visit tombs is more on the mundane aspect. Therefore, individual symbols appear that strengthen as a form of spirituality respectively. This research also impacts improving the quality of pilgrimage tourism, which has a pattern of making the tomb of religious figures its symbol.

СОВРЕМЕННАЯ ЖЕНЩИНА В ПРОСТРАНСТВЕ МЕЧЕТИ: ВЛИЯНИЕ ИСЛАМСКОГО ФЕМИНИЗМА

В статье рассматривается одна из малоизученных, и в то же время, достаточно спорных проблем современного общества – роль и место женщины в пространстве мечети. Вопрос гендерной сегрегации в религиозных местах сегодня становится трендовой темой среди ученых в различных социальных контекстах. Поскольку гендерные проблемы отражаются в пространствах, само пространство также формирует гендерные отношения. Женщины мусульманки во всем мире сталкиваются с различными проблемами в мечетях и по-разному отвечают на них. Вместе с тем усиливается тенденция влияния исламского феминизма на формирование исламской идентичности женщин мусульманок. Целью исследования было показать, как изменилась роль женщин в исламе и их отношение к пространству мечети.

Optimal Urban Waste Dumping Site Selection in Kalutara DS Division of Sri Lanka using GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Improper waste dumping is an emerging issue in Sri Lanka because of the unsystematic urbanisation process. The main problem of the study is determining sites that are ideal for waste dumping. The use of improper waste disposal methods adversely affects the environment and human lifestyle. This study focuses on integrating a structured approach under multi-criteria decision analysis for waste dumping. The present study has been carried out in Kalutara DS Division, integrating Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and geospatial techniques to find suitable waste dumping sites. Ten different types of criteria were selected for the study in vector and raster format, namely, land use, population density, schools, religious places, government offices, coastal areas, hospitals, roads, railways, and environmentally sensitive areas. After finalising the criteria, the GIS-based AHP-MCDA methodology was used for weighting, standardisation, and normalisation by obtaining the opinions of experts and conducting literature surveys. The results of the study are sorted into not-suitable, less-suitable, and suitable dumping sites. Classified suitability maps revealed that 36.94% are not suitable, 53.06% are less suitable, and completely 9.9% are suitable for urban waste dumping sites. The spatial variance of suitable and not suitable waste disposal sites was found in the north, north-eastern, and western and central parts of the study area. Hence, based on the results indicated using such methods, it will be an effective manual for engineers, regional planners, and decision-makers to implement sustainable waste management in the study area in the future.

Streaming religious services during a public health crisis: how digital religion shapes population well-being and intergenerational learning

ABSTRACT This study employs the therapeutic landscape theory to explore how online religious services during lockdown restrictions shape experiences of well-being and intergenerational learning. We used qualitative data from in depth interviews and focus groups with older adults and pastors in five churches in Ghana to explore how online religious places are conceptualized as therapeutic landscapes for sustaining wellbeing goals amidst a global pandemic. We identified multiple pathways of meaning through which online religious services shape the lives of people in a faith community to sustain the experience of well-being in a difficult time. In addition, this paper reflects on the broader implications of COVID-19 in shaping a paradigm shift in digital religion and intergenerational learning experiences through a changing religious landscape precipitated by lockdown restrictions that have drastically altered traditional religious places.