Planning in Lebanon:

Manufacturing Landscapes of Inequality

July 2017 – June 2018

Urban planning and land use maps are a reflection/embodiment of the country’s larger policy choices and economic conceptions. It is the voice and instrument of authority, as it includes the political-economic vision and its method of implementation. In our “Planning in Lebanon: Manufacturing Landscapes of Inequality” project, we have documented the practice of urban planning in Lebanon and critically analyzed land-use maps, the mechanisms producing them and their effects on people and the environment. In 15 cities and towns in Lebanon, we have witnessed how factors such as law, property, identity, and interests have destroyed people’s memory, their livelihoods, the fabric of places and sometimes entire neighborhoods.

 
 
 
 

Jana Haidar

Housing Monitor Coordinator and Casework Manager

Jana is an architect and urban researcher. She completed her MA in Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts of the Lebanese University and has been working on projects covering the topics of national urban planning practices, housing policies and displacement, urban transformation, and history. She is also the creator of Beirut Architecture Tours that explores the urban planning history of Beirut.

 

Imad Kaafarani

Designer

Imad is an illustrator with a Bachelor in Graphic Design and Visual Communication from the Lebanese University. He thrives on making art in a variety of different forms including illustration, typography, animation, video and music.

Monica Basbous

Maysaa Kassir

Land Management and Planning Lebanon
 
 
 

Urbanism and Law: Master-planning in Lebanon and its Impact on People and Places

Over the past decade, many urban geographers engaged with the relation between law and geography, in an attempt to clarify the connections between these two increasingly complex concepts. In Lebanon, law has often …

Interview with Engineer Mohammad Fawwaz

Ex-director of the General Directorate of Urban Planning (1973-1993)

The interview with Engineer Mohammad Fawwaz was conducted by Public Works Studio as part of the project “Planning in Lebanon: Manufacturing Landscapes of Inequality” (2017-2018). It explores the history of urban planning practice …

Interview with Engineer Rabih Taksh

Member of Nabatieh El Tahta Municipality for 28 Years and Director of "Jihad al-Bina" in South Lebanon after the 2006 War

The interview with Engineer Rabih Taksh was conducted by Public Works Studio as part of the project “Planning in Lebanon: Manufacturing Landscapes of Inequality” (2017-2018). It explores the transformation of land use in …

Editorial

During the past decade, many researchers have studied the relationship between geography and law in an attempt to clarify the links between these two increasingly complex concepts. In reality, comparing law and the …

To Put Agriculture Against Tourism:

The Case of the Zahrani Coast

I remember well the weekly trips south that I took with my family when I was younger. I would sit in the back seat on the right and look out, observing the road …

Planning Zouk Mikael:

Ignoring the Power Plant of Death

Anyone passing between al-Kalb River (Nahr al-Kalb) and Jounieh cannot miss the sight of two columns, striped orange and white, rising into the sky from the Zouk Mikael seafront. Though they are a …