##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Aseel Naamani
Ruth Simpson

Abstract

The issue of public spaces is increasingly at the core of civic movements and discourse of reform in Lebanon, coming to the fore most recently in the mass protests of October 2019.  Yet, these most recent movements build on years of activism and contestation, seeking to reclaim rights to access and engage with public spaces in the face of encroachments, mainly by the private sector. Urban spaces, including the country’s two biggest cities – Beirut and Tripoli – have been largely privatised and the preserve of an elite few, and post-war development has been marred with criticism of corruption and exclusivity. This article explores the history of public spaces in Beirut and Tripoli and the successive civic movements, which have sought to realise rights to public space. The article argues that reclaiming public space is central to reform and re-building relationships across divides after years of conflict. First, the article describes the evolution of Lebanon’s two main urban centres. Second, it moves to discuss the role of the consociational system in the partition and regulation of public space. Then it describes the various civic movements related to public space and examines the opportunities created by the October 2019 movement. Penultimately it interrogates the limits imposed by COVID-19 and recent crises. Lastly, it explores how placemaking and public space can contribute to peacebuilding and concludes that public spaces are essential to citizen relationships and inclusive participation in public life and affairs.

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

How to Cite
Naamani, A. and Simpson, R. (2021) “Public Space as a Venue for Peacebuilding in Lebanon? The Role of Civic Movements in Reclaiming Public Space in Beirut and Tripoli”, The Journal of Public Space, 6(1), pp. 25–46. doi: 10.32891/jps.v6i1.1324.
Section
Space
Author Biographies

Aseel Naamani, International Alert

Aseel is Programmes Manager at International Alert in Lebanon. She plays a key role in the management and development of Alert’s peacebuilding programmes in Lebanon, with a focus on dialogue, gender, and conflict and peace research. Aseel has experience in more than one sector including youth activism, gender equality and child rights. Prior to Alert, she worked with national and international organisations in Lebanon. Her experience includes programme management and development, fundraising and communications, and capacity development. She also co-founded a local organisation in Tripoli, North Lebanon dedicated to eliminating social inequality through community development and youth engagement programmes. Her interests include gender and youth issues, Middle East history and politics, development and public spaces, and writing. She holds a BA and MA in Business Administration from the University of Balamand, Lebanon.

Ruth Simpson, International Alert

Ruth Simpson is the Country Director for International Alert, Lebanon. She provides strategic oversight of the programme and expert advice peacebuilding, conflict prevention, conflict sensitivity, social cohesion and preventing violence. Prior to this she was our Europe and MENA Programme Development and Learning Manager leading on programme development, impact and quality assurance for the regional programme. Before joining International Alert, Ruth worked with a number of international NGOs and international agencies, providing technical advice and capacity-building support, and managing peacebuilding and armed violence prevention programmes in the Middle East, central and east Africa, and Latin America, with a focus on programme design and strengthening evaluation and learning, and impact assessment. She has an MA in International Law and Conflict Resolution, within which she specialised in mediation, peacebuilding, human rights, transitional justice and reconciliation. She has published, co-authored and peer reviewed several papers and academic articles related to peacebuilding, social cohesion, resilience, peace education and violence prevention.

References

Abou-Hodeib, T. (2011). ‘Taste and class in late Ottoman Beirut’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 43(3), pp. 475–492. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/23017313 (Accessed: 23 July 2020)

Al-Masri, M., Abla, Z. and Hassan, R. (2020). Envisioning and contesting a new Lebanon? Actors, issues and dynamics, International Alert [online]. Available at: https://www.international-alert.org/publications/envisioning-and-contesting-new-lebanon-october-protests (Accessed: 1 September 2020)

Altpeter, C. (2016). Peacebuilding in cities: Building safe, inclusive and resilient urban spaces [online]. Available at: https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ief-brief-2016.pdf (Accessed: 1 July 2020)

Batakji, R. (2020). ‘On creating and reclaiming public spaces’, Lebanese American University, 7 January [online]. Available at: https://news.lau.edu.lb/2020/on-creating-and-reclaiming-public-spaces.php (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

Battah, H. (2015). ‘Abou Rakhousa and the politics of poverty’, Bold Magazine, October [online]. Available at: https://bit.ly/3hrVGpo (Accessed: 6 July 2020)

Biennale Spazio Pubblico (2013). The Charter of Public Space [online]. Available at: http://www.biennalespaziopubblico.it/outputs/the-charter-of-public-space/ (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

Björkdahl, A. (2013). ‘Urban peacebuilding’, Peacebuilding, 1(2) [online]. Available at: 10.1080/21647259.2013.783254 (Accessed: 5 November 2020)

Bollens, S. (2006) ‘Urban planning and peace building’, Progress in Planning[online]. Available at: 10.1016/j.progress.2006.07.001 (Accessed: 29 October 2020)

Bray-Collins, E. (2016) ‘Sectarianism from below: Youth politics in post-war Lebanon’ [online]. Available at: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/76345/3/Bray-Collins_Elinor_F_201611_PhD_thesis.pdf (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

Dikeç, M. (2002). ‘Police, politics, and the right to the city’, GeoJournal, 58(2/3) [online]. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/41147755 (Accessed: 18 July 2020)

Fouad, F.M., McCall, S.J., Ayoub, H., Abu-Raddad, L.J. and Mumtaz, G.R. (2021). ‘Vulnerability of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to COVID-19: Quantitative insights’, Conflict and Health [online]. Available at: https://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13031-021-00349-6.pdf (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

Fawaz, L.T. (1983). Merchants and migrants in nineteenth-century Beirut. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Fawaz, M. and Serhan, I. (2020). ‘Urban revolutions: Lebanon’s October 2019 uprising’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research [online]. Available at: https://www.ijurr.org/spotlight-on/urban-revolts/urban-revolutions-lebanons-october-2019-uprising/ (Accessed: 30 October 2020)

Ghandour, M. and Fawaz, M. (2010). ‘Spatial erasure: Reconstruction projects in Beirut’, ArteEast Quarterly, Spring [online]. Available at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=arch_pubs (Accessed: 26 October 2020)

Human Rights Watch (2020). Lebanon: Refugees at risk in COVID-19 response discrimination risks harming Syrians, Lebanese alike [online]. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/02/lebanon-refugees-risk-covid-19-response (Accessed: 29 July 2020)

Information International (2001). Stakeholder Analysis and Social Assessment for the Proposed Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Project [online]. Available at: https://charbelnahas.org/?p=185 (Accessed: 5 July 2020)

International Alert (2017). Young people put Tripoli on the map [online]. Available at: https://www.international-alert.org/stories/young-people-put-tripoli-map (Accessed: 20 July 2020)

Jehl, D. (1997). ‘Under Beirut’s rubble, remnants of 5,000 years of civilization’, The New York Times [online]. Available at: https://nyti.ms/3fUYCuf (Accessed: 20 July 2020)

Kanafani, S. (2017). ‘On deference and benevolence: The politics of parking in Beirut’, The Arab Studies Journal, 25(1) [online]. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26528956 (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

Louis Cardahi Foundation (2004). The Phoenicians’ route [online]. Available at: https://lcf.lau.edu.lb/images/phoenician-tripoli.pdf (Accessed: 18 July 2020)

March Lebanon (2020). Arts on the streets, a message of peace and unity [online]. Available at: https://bit.ly/32L1dmU (Accessed: 23 July 2020)

Melki, S. (2019). ‘Urban development in Beirut: Gender and space’, Middle East Topics & Arguments [online]. Available at: https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0003/article/view/7928 (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

Monroe, K. (2016). The insecure city: Space, power, and mobility in Beirut. New Brunswick, New Jersey; London: Rutgers University Press [online]. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1b67ws4 (Accessed: 23 July 2020)

Naamani, A. (2019). Lebanese youth are reclaiming public spaces with arts and dialogue, International Alert [online]. Available at: https://bit.ly/39mKveG (Accessed: 5 July 2020)

Nazzal, M. and Chinder, S. (2018). ‘Lebanon cities’ public spaces’, The Journal of Public Space, 3(1) [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5204/jps.v3i1.323 (Accessed: 6 July 2020)

Nobajas, A., Casas, J.G., Agustí, P. and Peacock, A. (2020). Lack of sufficient public space can limit the effectiveness of COVID-19’s social distancing measures [online]. Available at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.07.20124982v1.full.pdf (Accessed: 1 November 2020)

Oxford Analytica (2020).Securitised Middle East COVID-19 responses raise risks, July [online]. Available at: https://dailybrief.oxan.com/Analysis/DB254157/Securitised-Middle-East-COVID-19-responses-raise-risks (Accessed: 1 November 2020)

Public Works (2018). Urbanism and law: Master-planning in Lebanon and its impact on people and places [online]:. Available at: https://bit.ly/2E9OLml (Accessed: 17 July 2020)

Rabbat, N. (2012). ‘The Arab revolution takes back the public space’, Critical Inquiry, 39(1) [online]. Available at: 10.1086/668055 (Accessed: 5 November 2020)

Reyes, J. (2015). Direct and indirect forms of violence & education: The need for a relevant response for out-of-school boys and girls [online]. Available at: https://bit.ly/3eRwNBW (Accessed: 23 July 2020)

Sinno, W. (2020). ‘How people reclaimed public spaces in Beirut during the 2019 Lebanese uprising’, The Journal of Public Space, 5(1) [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v5i1.1258 (Accessed: 6 July 2020)

UN-Habitat Lebanon (2016). Tripoli City Profile 2016 (Updated September 2017) [online]. Available at: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/60482 (Accessed: 18 July 2020)

UN-Habitat (2018) SDG Indicator 11.7.1 Training Module: Public Space, United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), Nairobi [online]. Available at: https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2020/07/indicator_11.7.1_training_module_public_space.pdf (Accessed: 23 July 2021)

University of Sheffield (2020). ‘Research project to investigate inclusion in public spaces in Lebanon’, Department of Landscape Architecture, 7 December [online]. Available at: The https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/landscape/news/research-project-investigate-inclusion-public-spaces-lebanon (Accessed: 23 July 2021)