Urban Planning (ISSN: 2183–7635) 2021, Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages 103–112 DOI: 10.17645/up.v6i2.3800 Article Migration-Related Conflicts as Drivers of Institutional Change? Maria Budnik *, Katrin Grossmann and Christoph Hedtke Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, 99085 Erfurt, Germany; E-Mails:
[email protected] (M.B.),
[email protected] (K.G.),
[email protected] (C.H.) Submitted: 30 October 2020 | Accepted: 18 March 2021 | Published: 27 April 2021 Abstract This article examines the role of social conflicts in the context of migration and discusses the relation between such conflicts and institutional change. We understand conflicts as tensions that evoke contradiction between different social groups or institutional actors. Varied urban contexts together with dynamic immigration of heterogeneous population groups can induce negotiation processes that affect institutional settings and actors. Conflicts have therefore been an integral part of urban coexistence, and cities have always been places where these conflicts play out. We assume that conflicts are social phenomena, which have multiple causes and effects. Public assumptions about conflicts in connection with migra- tion often have a negative or destructive impetus, while conflict theory ascribes to conflicts potential positive effects on societal change. Conflicts can represent forms of socialization and the possibility of adapting or changing social conditions. This article discusses the extent to which migration-related conflicts induce institutional change. Using qualitative empiri- cal results from the BMBF-funded research project MigraChance, we present a case study that reconstructs the emergence and course of a conflict surrounding the construction of a Syriac-Orthodox church in Bebra (Hesse) in the 1990s.