social fabric

Research-Based Article

Informal Neighborhoods between State Approach and Israeli Destruction:

The Cases of Hayy al-Sellom and Hayy al-Miqdad 

This article examines the conflict between an official vision of Beirut as an elite city for tourism and investment and the lived city built by displaced and rural communities. It shows how informal neighborhoods in southern Beirut became essential parts of the city and expressions of the right to the city. It also explores how the Israeli destruction and restrictive reconstruction and property policies may deepen displacement and exclusion.

Research-Based Article

Cartographies of Attack: Documenting a Continuing  Israeli War on Lebanon

Mapping, beyond its function as territorial representation, can operate as a form of testimony that renders visible the spatial and temporal patterns of violence often obscured in fragmented accounts. This article uses mapping as a method of testimony based on approximately three years of monitoring Israeli attacks on Lebanon. It reads patterns of bombardment, displacement, environmental destruction, and attacks on civilian infrastructure to understand how violence operates spatially through control, exclusion, and territorial transformation.

Research-Based Article

2024–2026: Israeli Bombardment of Tyre: Where and What?

Extracted from a wider research conducted by Public Works Studio, this article analyzes the Israeli aggression against Tyre City between October 2023 and April 2026, framing it as a systematic “urbicide” executed through the issuance of evacuation orders, the destruction of dense residential-economic clusters, and the deliberate dismantling of social ties.

Law Commentary

 The Reconstruction Draft Law repeats the Mistakes of the past:

Reviving destroyed villages can’t happen only through buildings

After a ceasefire was implemented in Lebanon on November 27, the Lebanese government held a special session on December 7 in the southern city of Tyre and approved a draft law for rebuilding homes destroyed by Israeli attacks, as they were before. Regardless of its immediate issues in terms of content, it appears that the proposed law does not address the previous or emerging challenges we are facing and risks repeating the mistakes of past failed reconstruction experiences.

From Dossier Investigation

Map of Israeli Attacks on Lebanon 2023

For over 300 days, the war on Lebanon’s southern fronts has ravaged 184 towns, claiming more than 466 lives, including about 108 civilians of which children, refugees, journalists, and aid workers.  As a …

Statement

Public Works Studio hosted a seminar titled “Environmental Genocide in Palestine and Southern Lebanon”

Public Works Studio organized a seminar titled “Environmental Genocide in Palestine and Southern Lebanon,” featuring the participation of the Minister of Environment, Nasser Yassin, Professor of Sociology at AUB, Sari Hanafi, and researcher …

Statement

Tear Down the Wall! Stop the Genocide in Gaza Now!

Housing Justice Network Statement on Palestine

Today we launch the Housing Justice Network in the MENA Region with a public denunciation of the atrocities committed by the state of Israel in Gaza and the wider region. As local housing …

Statement

Our Position on COP28

This statement marks the launch of the Network for Spatial and Environmental Justice (NSEJ), a newly formed network of individuals and organizations committed to exploring the intersection of urbanization, the environment, and climate …

From Dossier Investigation

The Scene from the South:

Abandoned Towns and Bumbling Municipalities

Since the outbreak of the Israeli aggression on Palestine and Lebanon on October 7, 2023, the southern Lebanese towns have witnessed high levels of displacement due to fear of Israeli shelling that targeted …

Dossier

The 2023 Israeli War:

Fates of Residents and Confrontation Paths in Lebanon

The region is currently experiencing an extended war, from the West Bank, where people are killed, imprisoned, and their homes occupied, to Gaza, facing various forms of destruction—humanitarian, environmental, urban, psychological, etc.  Lebanon, …

Petition

“Zero Eviction”

For the Protection of the Inhabitants of the Neighborhoods Affected by the 4th of August Explosion, and the Guarantee of Their Return

After the explosion of the port, residents of the affected neighborhoods in particular, have been absent from many issues related to their lives and livelihoods. They are absent from the discussion about the …

Project

How to Protect Residents of the Neighborhoods Affected by the Beirut Port Explosion

In the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, residents of the affected neighborhoods in particular, have been excluded from topics related to their lives. Seeing the result of the …