Whose Beirut ? A study of a shrinking public realm

Since ancient civilizations, public space was introduced to cities as a place for gathering, co-living and social encounter, even in the most closed and hierarchically organized societies. A strong sense of community has been linked with improved quality of public spaces. Subsequently, feeling of safety, civic participation, voting and volunteering have been associated with the sense of community. However, public spaces nowadays are being fragmented, affected by a tendency for privatization but still remain as a driver of civic life. Beirut is an example where public spaces are undergoing a huge privatization and exclusion process, not only in the central district but throughout the city. As understood by many, the main problem in Beirut is its division accentuated by the civil war that ended in 1991- and by the emergence of the new central district acting as a segregating hub. The city lost its people who no longer share a strong sense of community and belonging. This work aims to understand the reasons behind a continuously shrinking public realm in the city of Beirut even twenty-five years after the end of the war, and the privatization of the reconstruction project of the city center. Thus, I have chosen four prominent public hubs in Beirut and conducted a comparative analysis tackling the current situation and their booming times. The study is based on criteria related to the context, role, spatial features and image of each place, and addresses the issues of collective memory, privatization, politicization, and control of public space.