policy

How can land and property taxes in Lebanon be fair?

The tax system plays a critical role in the social contract between the state and society, with individuals contributing taxes in exchange for the state’s commitment to societal well-being. However, recent global tax …

Investigation

The Black Cloud over Kfour town:

How Urban Planning Produces an Environmental Disaster.

Twelve years ago, the suffering of the people of Kfour town began. In the town, located within Nabatieh District, factories and plants of all kinds are spread, from quarries, stone mills, asphalt plants, …

Investigation

Understanding the Right to the City and How Authorities Violate It

This article aims to analyze laws enacted by the Lebanese authorities between 2019 and 2022 in relation to the right to the city, which encompasses the right to housing, work, and other essential …

Activity

Public Works Studios launched the Land Policy Observatory:

Four Years of Accumulated Inequality

Public Works Studio invites you to the launch of the “Land Policy Observatory,” an online platform producing and making available knowledge about land issues in Lebanon. The observatory aims to promote just development …

Report

The Council of Exceptions: A report on the decisions of the “Higher Council for Urban Planning” (2019-2021)

The General Directorate for Urban Planning and its higher Council are Lebanon’s official and primary bodies for urban planning. They support urban development and favor the interests of real estate developers and the …

Policy Watch

On the Agenda of the Higher Council of Urban Planning

Subdividing Forestry Land in Ihmij for the Benefit of Investors.

Read details in Arabic here.

From Dossier Research-Based Article

Tripoli, a “Heritage City” At The Expense of Its Residents

In this article, we delve into the battle of restoring and rehabilitating historical buildings in the cities of Tripoli and Mina (North Lebanon), focusing on “Taht Al-Sibat” neighborhood, Al-Fawal building, and other examples. …

From Dossier Research-Based Article

Residents Facing Land Consolidation and Parcellation Projects:

The Example of El-Tanak Neighborhood in Mina

In this article, our focus revolves around the Land Consolidation and Parcellation projects in the cities of Tripoli and Mina in North Lebanon. We examine their influence on the economic and urban identity …

Dossier

Tripoli: Who Took Away Our Land?

In this series of articles, we investigate how the authorities handled the cases of both the riverine and maritime Tripoli (i.e., the Mina), and the implications of their policies on people’s housing rights, …

Project

Ground to Dust: Systems of Extraction and the Search for Spatial Justice

This exhibition at Beirut Art Center is Public Works Studio’s first institutional presentation. Rather than approach the format of the exhibition with any kind of finality, PW has created a site as unstable …

Law Commentary

Azm Movement Proposes Approving a New Loan from the World Bank to Modernize the Lebanese Land System

A request for approval to conclude a loan agreement between the Republic of Lebanon and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to execute the land system modernization project.

It was placed on the agenda of the 21-22/4/2020 session, but it was withdrawn by the government following the International Bank’s retraction of the loan due to the emerging circumstances.

Law Commentary

Local Members of Parliament Are Proposing a Parcellation Draft Law Which Sacrifices Agricultural Lands in Hermel and Younine

Proposing an accelerated law on the consolidation and parcellation of El Hermel and Younine cadastral zones in the Baalbek-El Hermel governorate.

The committee found that the proposed law requires further study and inspection, and thus decided to postpone its decision about it and to request the concerned administrative entities to provide some observations that are related to application of the proposal, in case of its approval.