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Diversity and the Difficulty of Living it: The Case of Public Spaces in Skopje (North Macedonia)

Abstract Ethnic diversity and cultural heterogeneity are a reality for the city of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The changing ethnic demography and redressed power-balance between majority and non-majority groups on local level have spurred a turbulent conflict – that of governance of diversity in public space. This paper aims to understand citizens’ views on how language, ethnicity, religion and collective cultural symbols are legitimised through the political, social and symbolic value of public spaces in their neighbourhoods. The results indicate that the political value of public spaces to stimulate contact, deliberation and debate among citizens on issues of their concern is undermined. Public spaces in Skopje are not planned and managed through a wide forum of citizen engagement. The colliding ethnonationalism and symbolic power struggle between the major ethnic groups result in co-ethnic preferences in socialisation and selection of public spaces. The concept of “the appropriate citizen” constructed through the symbolic meaning of public spaces perpetuates ethnonational rhetoric and supports expressions of citizenship that are limited to the nation-state and ethnic identification. In opposition to contact theory, this research indicates that self-segregation of ethnic groups can be prevalent in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods. This should make us think of the context where the contact is established and not only of the content of the interaction.