How does a profession that prides itself on standing for the common good and working through action –not mere analysis or gesturing- demonstrate its effectiveness in a city devastated by intractable political, economic, financial, health, and social crises? In this essay, I dive into the current context of planning in Beirut (Lebanon) where I have been deeply engaged for decades. Recognizing that planning is deeply embedded in the making of the ongoing overlapping crises in the country, I propose three pathways for thinking about a possible positive role for planning in these circumstances: (i) to (re)construct a source of legitimacy for planning by reconsidering who has custody over the planning process and how the legitimacy of planning is secured; (ii) to accept a "tactical" practice in which grand schemes are replaced with tentative, experimental, and incremental micro-interventions that may succeed or not in reaching an integrated vision and, (iii) to activate the performative dimension of planning, its ability to imagine shared spaces and allow for transgressing contemporary limited realities.
AbstractThis research looks at post‐2006‐war reconstruction of the southern suburbs of Beirut under the auspices of Hezbollah (the Islamic resistance movement in Lebanon). The project was widely acclaimed as an alternative to current neoliberal planning practices in the Middle East and beyond. Based on a critical reading of the conception of property issues in this planning project, the article argues that this reconstruction presents a new geometry or alternative to the mainstream configuration of neoliberal urbanism, rather than a departure from its precepts. The reason for this is that the adopted language of property corresponds closely with the conception of property advocated by neoliberal planning, one that enshrines private, individual ownership as sacred and desirable and that works to strengthen its model in the city. I further argue that the 'neoliberal planning regime' within which Hezbollah's urban intervention occurs is not accidental; rather, it is necessary for the party's control of this space's future and for consolidating its territory in the city. It is hence expected that Hezbollah's planning in the city will produce the same decried effects as neoliberal planning elsewhere in the city rather than usher an innovative, progressive model of planning.
ABSTRACTDrawing on Lefebvre's theorization of space in order to examine the compatibility of neoliberalism and the right to the city, this study investigates how the formation of informal settlements since the 1950s had provided low‐income dwellers in Beirut (Lebanon) a means to conceive of and engage in city making (neighbourhood production, management, and organization) at a time when state regulations and/or market constraints would have excluded them from the city. It also examines how the prevailing neoliberal ideology of the 1990s, as translated through Lebanon's sectarian‐clientelist regime, is curtailing these possibilities. Evidence for the article was drawn from interviews with dwellers, developers and public officials, as well as from archival searches and aerial photographs.
AbstractThis article documents the early development of an informal settlement in Beirut (Lebanon) through the trajectories of the developers who participated in its production, looking specifically at the role that social networks played in the process. Drawing primarily on the methodological approach developed by Pierre Bourdieu, my analysis reveals that social networks play a central role as conduits for developers to access the necessary housing ingredients and market securities they need to conduct their businesses. Social networks also function as accumulated capital, enabling developers to strengthen their hold over the production of housing in the neighborhood. My analysis also indicates that while some of these networks were inherited, many were built through patient investments deployed by these developers within the changing limitations of the micro (neighborhood) and macro (city‐wide) contexts. Finally, the changing distribution of social networks in this neighborhood determined when and how different social agents were able to participate as developers in the production and exchange of housing. These findings are important since they generate new insights into how (informal land) markets work, the practices of developers in this type of neighborhood, as well as the yet unstudied mechanisms of informal housing production in the Lebanese context.RésuméCet article, qui présente la création d'un quartier informel de Beyrouth (Liban) au travers des trajectoires adoptées par les promoteurs ayant pris part à sa production, s'intéresse au rôle des réseaux sociaux dans ce processus. Utilisant principalement l'approche méthodologique de Pierre Bourdieu, l'analyse révèle que les réseaux sociaux jouent un rôle central comme canaux permettant aux promoteurs d'accéder aux ressources et aux cautionnements du marché dont ils ont besoin pour mener leur activité. Par ailleurs, les réseaux sociaux sont accumulés telle une forme de capital, ce qui permet aux promoteurs d'accentuer leur mainmise sur la production d'habitations dans le quartier. De plus, il apparaît que, si certains de ces réseaux ont été hérités, d'autres sont le fruit de patients investissements de ces promoteurs malgré les conditions changeantes des environnements micro (quartier) et macro (ville). Pour finir, la répartition évolutive des réseaux sociaux dans ce quartier a déterminé quand et comment les différents agents sociaux ont été en mesure de participer à la production et à l'échange d'habitations en tant que promoteurs. Ces résultats sont importants puisqu'ils ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives sur les modes opératoires des marchés (fonciers informels), les pratiques des promoteurs dans ce type de quartier, ainsi que les mécanismes de production d'habitat informel dans le contexte libanais, mécanismes qui n'ont jamais étéétudiés.
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In: Political geography: an interdisciplinary journal for all students of political studies with an interest in the geographical and spatial aspects, Band 100, S. 102777
