urban planning law

Policy Watch

The website of the Directorate General of Urban Planning: An Incomplete Step Toward Transparency

On January 31, the website of the Directorate General of Urban Planning was launched, with the aim of enhancing transparency and facilitating access to information. While this is seen as a long-awaited move toward transparency and accountability, it is considered incomplete and does not absolve the Directorate of its core responsibilities.

Article

A Ministry of Development, Planning and Housing: What We Need at This Stage

In the context of the ongoing debate around the need for a Ministry of Planning, this article provides an overview of the Ministry’s history, stressing the importance of establishing such a ministry, to produce a comprehensive vision of the political economic plan for the State and regions, especially at the level of land regulation.

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 …

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

MP Tony Franjieh Proposes a Land Tax That Prioritizes Private Interests Over the Public

A proposal to amend Articles 13 and 16 of the Urban Planning Law.

It was again placed on the agenda for the 30/6/2021 session.

Research-Based Article

Baalbek: A Long History of Exclusion, for the City and its People

In this text, we present an overview of the city of Baalbek and its neighborhoods, and the exclusion that resulted from specific planning tools. We read into the numerous masterplans, in their dwarfing …

Activity

Defending Social Spaces for an Equitable City

Dialogue Series: The Social Value of Land

Speakers in this session discuss the reclamation and preservation of social spaces threatened by real-estate speculation. They examine urban planning laws and the experiences of Bayt Beirut, Fouad Boutros, Beirut Theatre, Dalieh, and …

Publication

Planning in Lebanon:

Manufacturing Landscapes of Inequality

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 …

Project

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 …

Project

Cultural Value, Agricultural Practices, and Housing Modes in Saida’s Wastani

As part of a larger study conducted for the Municipality of Saida for the urban development of the Wastani area through the “damm wo farz” project, Public Works was commissioned to study the …

Project

Towards a Participatory Practice in Organizing the Lebanese Territories: The Zahrani Coast as a Model

In Lebanon, the national vision for economic development has always been closely tied to the construction sector. However, the emphasis on land as a source of profit has resulted in the destruction of …