The urban hub

Abstract

Beirut as a war torn city is going through a critical transformation and being stretched between two extremes: The Western /Mediterranean and The Arabian /Middle Eastern cultures presenting itself through multilayer of civilizations through history. It becomes necessary to understand the historical background of the country as a whole and the territorial and sectarian impacts of the various local groups within and beyond the city boundaries. Given the historical background of Beirut as a Cultural Hub subjugated into a war torn city, the question raised is how to transfer the civil war conflict lines into an URBAN HUB that can act as a catalyst generating a safer, healthier and peaceful urban life towards the resurrection of Beirut? To study the Resurrection of the city of Beirut is to transcribe and study the evolving structure of the society, the specifics of the various groups and the Engagements of human and natural processes. This project presents an inventive framework of “Urbanism by Ecological Landscape” as an interdisciplinary approach in the study of the city in which urban-biotic engagements of human and natural processes are intertwining and encompassing People, Events and Places (PEP) for healing the fractious social order of Beirut. Reconstruction may evolve economic vision through urban methods, while resurrection balances social values, ethics, norms and traditions along with urban planning methods. Henceforth, a balance of methods and ethics is needed in the planning and reconstruction of our cities. Thus, Resurrection is a certainty for this war torn city where “Beirutis were never given the chance to experience full urbanity for any substantial period of time to permit the development and appreciation of civic ties and secular interests.”