Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
143
resources, Ardavanis delves deep into the meaning of migration and the negotiation of ethnic identity
in the contemporary urban context
.
Name:
Maya Hélène Balhawan
Affiliation:
CLERSE – CNRS
Awarded:
January 2013
Beirut and Reconstruction Issues: The Case of the District of Hamra and of Downtown
In recent decades, city centres around the world have been undergoing urban transformation,
such as renovation, rehabilitation, revitalization or reconstruction. Beirut is one of the capital
cities which have seen the rebuilding of their central squares, after a civil war which lasted
more than fifteen years. My interest in researching urban transformation is not only based on
the fact that a territory is a space of creation, management and even conflict resolution, but on
the need also to understand how peace can be restored in a formerly divided city. It is within
Lebanese territory that I wanted to question the reconstructions of central areas (Downtown
Beirut and the district of Hamra
1
) in order to investigate the processes at work in the evolution
of the city; that is, gentrification on the one hand and “elitization” on the other, and to bring to
light the underlying issues. The reconstruction of central areas is at once a way to establish a
new order after a civil war and the conjunction of various strategies of demographic,
symbolic, social and spatial reorganization of the territory. Thus, the districts of Hamra and
Downtown are now at the centre of new conflicting tensions, including strategies of
placement and displacement of the population and local actors’ strategies of appropriation of
and resistance to public and residential areas. Conflicts are no longer religious. They have
become political and social; particularly so since Rafic Hariri’s death (2005), which redefined
the country’s political scene. Thus, my Doctoral Dissertation focuses on the duality between
urban strategy and territorial re-appropriation in the new Downtown and Hamra districts of
Beirut. Finally, the study of urban transformations is an excellent revelation of territorial,
symbolic, social and political conflicts, which are currently taking place in Beirut. It is also a
way to understand around which principles this post-war Lebanese nation is built.
Key words:
Gentrification, strategies of domination and resistance, territorial and political re-
appropriation, Beirut.
Dr Maya-Hélène Balhawan
,
a French Sociologist, was born in Saudi Arabia from Lebanese
parents. During the civil war (1975-1990) she left Beirut to settle in France. She obtained her PhD in
Urban Sociology from the University of Lille with a thesis titled Beirut and reconstruction issues : the
case of the district of Hamra and of Downtown. Specializing in the Middle-East studies, particularly
in Beirut studies, she became interested in city-centres transformations, focusing on reconstruction,
gentrification, elitization, territorial representation and re-appropriation, and then territorial,
confessional and political resistances. Dr Balhawan has taught in urban sociology, contemporary
1
Hamra has been considered the second centre (economic and cultural) of the capital city since 1950. It is
situated West of the former green line which split Beirut into two parts: the East is mainly Christian whereas the
West is mainly Muslim.
