An Eruv for St Ives? Religion, identity, place and conflict on the Sydney north shore

ABSTRACT

Religious identity, when marked by physical changes to urban landscapes, has been a cause of tension and conflict in many cities. In the Sydney suburb of St Ives, an attempt to create an eruv, a symbolic and only partly physical boundary around orthodox Jewish space, was vigorously opposed and eventually defeated through the planning system. The religious and physical significance of the eruv resulted in diverse rationales of opposition, centred on the physical and environmental impact, the conceptual nature of boundaries and the role of religion and ‘modernity’ in everyday suburban life. The place of an eruv was opposed with reference to spatial imaginaries of the nation, the suburb and the secular public, as religion and worship intersected with the politics of urban citizenship and belonging. Each of these spatial imaginaries was constructed by opponents in such a way as to deny a place for an eruv in St Ives, and reinforced through the application of planning instruments which eventually refused permission for an eruv. To many residents, public space was seen to be at risk, raising complex questions over amenity, the politics and perception of difference and what is in or out of place. The planning framework adjudicating such development proposals must transcend such imaginaries in the production of public spaces in multicultural cities.

KEY WORDS:

• Eruv
• St Ives
• religion
• place
• conflict
• identity

Acknowledgement

We are much indebted to Sarah Shapiro for her assistance with data collection, to Stephanie Duce for the map, and to two anonymous referees for helping us to sharpen our arguments.

Notes

[1] Quotations are from the North Shore Times website (www.north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/st-ives-eruv-dispute-continues/) in mid-2010 and to a lesser extent mid-2011, when debate was most heated, unless otherwise stated.