Landscape and Urban Governance: Participatory Planning of the Public Realm in Saida, Lebanon

Jala Makhzoumi and Salwa Al-Sabbagh
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Jala Makhzoumi: UNIT44 Architecture, Landscape, Ecological Planning, Urban Design, Yassine Building, Phoenicia Street, Ain Mreiseh, Beirut, Lebanon
Salwa Al-Sabbagh: UNIT44 Architecture, Landscape, Ecological Planning, Urban Design, Yassine Building, Phoenicia Street, Ain Mreiseh, Beirut, Lebanon

Land, 2018, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: The political shift in Lebanon since the 1990s towards market-led development has encouraged the incremental appropriation of public spaces and state lands, and their conversion into gated, monitored enclaves that serve a privileged few. The process disregards the role of the urban public realm and undermines its potential as an inclusive space and enabling platform for urban governance. This article advocates a participatory approach to urban development, one that engages local stakeholders, institutions, and the public at large as active partners working towards sustainable urban futures. We draw on a case study in Saida, Lebanon, to illustrate participatory planning methods and demonstrate the role of landscape architects in enabling community-led development that is place responsive and sensitive to local narratives of heritage and identity. The project’s participatory methodology and landscape architecture’s expansive framing, the paper argues, democratizes the planning process and contributes to urban governance that empowers local authorities and local stakeholders in the face of privatization and market-led development.

Keywords: participatory; governance; landscape; public realm; urban environment; local authority; Lebanon; Mediterranean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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