Beirut Divided

2013. Publication

DPU Working Paper Series, vol.153

UCL Press

Cities can be critical agents in the development of a multiethnic habitation. They are crucibles of difference, constituting a necessary and stringent test of whether, and how, group identity conflicts can be effectively managed.

Based in notions outlined in the ‘contact hypothesis’ (Allport 1954) and ‘culture-distance hypothesis’ (Babiker et al. 1980), this paper aims to evaluate ways by which urban design can stimulate cross-cultural, pluri-social and pluri-ethnical interactions by increasing physical and mental access to public places. It expands on the role of planning and design processes in relation to the engagement of polarized groups in conversation.

Looking at Beirut as a metropolis divided across cultural boundaries, this study analyses the non- efficacy of Solidere’s reconstruction project for the Lebanese capital’s CBD. The systematic criticism of this case exemplifies by default how the practice of urban design can create new divisions in cities instead of effectively participating in cultural conflict resolution. To support the capacity of the field of urban design in playing a positive role in conflicted cities, it shows through examples and theoretical assessments how this practice could have in fact contributed in creating spaces of inclusion where cross-cultural interactions would have been most likely to occur. In turn, as with the two aforementioned hypothesis, this typology of interaction between antagonists could have facilitated the evolution of pluri-cultural cities along the continuum towards the cosmopolitan city.