Abstract
This article discusses planning within Municipal Beirut, Lebanon, while focusing on the specific context of divided cities and societies, proposing a series of recommendations based on socio-economic and political science and planning theory to understand such contexts. It explores the case of Municipal Beirut that has undergone a devastating blast on August 4th, 2020, and left thousands of households in critical condition by leaving an already shattered sectarian city/society with an unforeseen planning future. By examining successful examples or frameworks in other cities and similar-context cities in history with urban/social shocks, evaluating current planning initiatives, and analyzing the case study of the recent Beirut Urban Declaration report, this article investigates neighborhood planning as a flexible framework that one must undertake to provide the divided city of Beirut a healthy and sustainable development. It argues that difference and diversity are a noteworthy feature of the city of Beirut and its society and should hence be incorporated in any planning approach even if the consequences on the ground may differ. Considering that planning could change the spatial, socio-economic, and political dimensions of a defined urban space, this article explores which of these dimensions can be used to intensify or lessen contestations over space in Beirut under the current sectarian culture reflected in both social and spatial realms. In the wake of the blast and amid all these divisions, this article will show that neighborhood planning stands out as a flexible and sustainable solution. By establishing a spatially targeted program, introducing innovative tools for neighborhood planning and management, and initiating a small-scale governance structure, neighborhood planning will create an intermediate level between the municipality, citizens, and other local actors, enhancing its social capital and leading eventually to an undivided planning strategy at a national and city scale.
Highlights
The Beirut Port explosion on August 4th, 2020, was a watershed event in the history of Lebanon and the cap‐ ital city of Beirut
This article has explored neighborhood planning in deeply divided cities/societies in Beirut. It has been sug‐ gested that while clear dividing lines have been officially removed after the civil war, it is a reality that the cli‐ mate of divide created by these boundaries is still heav‐ ily anchored in the mental maps of inhabitants
While the question of how planners might work with such initiatives is important, it has been argued that the question of how devastated neighborhoods should get organized, almost autonomously, to rebuild what was lost and enhance their quality of life is impor‐ tant and must be reasonably answered
Summary
The Beirut Port explosion on August 4th, 2020, was a watershed event in the history of Lebanon and the cap‐ ital city of Beirut. Extended to Burj Hammoud, Ashrafieh, Bashoura, and Zuqaq El Blat (Figure 1) It reached the other neigh‐ borhoods of the city leaving behind more than 200 peo‐ ple dead and thousands wounded; in addition, it has damaged more than 6,000 buildings causing complete or partial destruction (Table 1), and the displacement of tens of thousands of residents of the area. This catas‐ trophic event has mobilized the efforts of many pro‐ fessionals, scholars, private and public institutions, as well as NGOs. Amid a wave of local and international organizations providing help and assistance for many, within the current turbulent and unstable socio‐political landscape brought about by the 4th of August events, Beirut is impoverished by a series of overlapping poor management where sectarianism has emerged as a cru‐ cial mobilizing agent in the struggle for urban reform or preservation.
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