CHENNAI: In an effort to explore how religion shapes the city and the city shapes religion, the University of Madras in association with the Center for the Study of Religion Culture and Society, Elon University, US, will be hosting an international conference "Religion and Cities" in March.

The conference, which will be held on March 11 and 12, will also examine the contours and dynamics of urban religious formations as well as their relation to peri-urban and rural formations.

Sources from the university here said that the two-day conference will examine the convergences between religion and the city and will look at the complex and organic relationship between the two.

Many scholars from across the globe will participate in the gathering and examine the contours and dynamics of urban religious formations as well as their relation to peri-urban and rural formations.

The university sources further said that the conference will explore both the public expressions and private practices of religions in Indian cities, including the celebratory and the spectacular dimensions as well as the quieter side of urban religion.

The experts will also provide a platform for the interdisciplinary study of urban religion that includes voices from fields such as sociology, anthropology, religious studies, and history.

Accordingly, a total of ten themes will be taken during the conference, which includes urban innovations, urban space and sacred places including studies of temple cities, migrant urban religions, urban processional and festival practices, urban identities, urban religion and social justice.