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The article raises issued related to public theology. Public theology is challenged with the fact the urban cities do not exactly resemble the heavenly city and that city dwellers might find it hard to connect with the formative pedagogy of Israel. A concern in public theology is the use of the terms "global," "local," "catholic," and "universal." One of the objectives of public theology is to transform the city space into sustainable place using input from various community actors.

This article argues for the importance of a theology of 'recycling' as a form of public theology for an urban context. The argument begins by noting some of the difficulties in assessing the urban environment: the quality of some urban ecologies is improving although this goes hand-in-hand with the displacing of nature in wealthier cities. In response a theology of the urban ecology rather than a theology of the urban environment is proposed. This ecological interpretation better explains problems in efforts at urban regeneration and the resistance of urban neighbourhoods to change. The concept of the 'translocal'—a Eucharistic notion—is then introduced as a way of grasping the ecological situatedness of urban living and elaborating on the notion of a recycled city. The article concludes with a recommendation of six principles derived from this theology of 'recycling' that would aid the development of cities as recycled and promote the repeatability of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]