Name: Sacred Grounds: how to investigate Church property ownership across Europe
Start: 2025-05-25T09:30:00+0200
End: 2025-05-25T10:45:00+0200

Sunday May 25, 2025 9:30am - 10:45am CEST

Z1.15 - Aula Donche

The Church is one of the most important players in the European property market, yet it remains an opaque institution, hard to investigate. Our collaborative project Sacred Grounds is the first to bring a comprehensive picture of valuable assets the Church owns across European cities and of its investment strategies shaping our cities.

For six months, we cooperated across European media outlets to find out whether Churches manage their land holdings in the spirit of Christianity, in the service of the common good, and in accordance with their own ethical codes. And what is the impact of church property dealings on the affordability of housing and public services? The coordinators of the Urban Journalism Network investigation will showcase major international and local findings, explain how to get data and how to investigate the non-transparent institution that the Church is.

Speakers

Hendrik Lehmann

Head of Innovation Lab, Tagesspiegel

Hendrik Lehmann leitet das Tagesspiegel Innovation Lab und baut den europäischen Rechercheverbund Urban Journalism Network mit auf. Er arbeitet vor allem an investigativen Datenanalysen, Dataviz und interaktiven Anwendungen. Und sein Team versucht, AI für investigative Recherche... Read More →

Gaby Khazalova

Editorial coordinator, Urban Journalism Network

Gaby Khazalová coordinates collaborative investigations within the Urban Journalism Network, a network of local journalists, media outlets and data analysts, that is dedicated to researching common challenges faced by European cities. She publishes her local investigations with the... Read More →

Sunday May 25, 2025 9:30am - 10:45am CEST
Z1.15 - Aula Donche

Cross-border, Presentation