Introduction

The introductory chapter presents the question that guides the research, namely how cities govern religious diversity and which factors play a role in it. It argues for the need to adopt an urban approach to the study of secularism that overcomes some of the limitations of a national state-church relations approach. The chapter explains the methodology and presents the study cases: the cities of Rennes, Bordeaux and Toulouse. The chapter closes with a brief description of the chapters which follow.