Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reconstruction and Its Discontents: Post-Conflict Urban Renewal in Beirut

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how Beirut's locally based ethnic and religious factionalism affects the plans for urban reconstruction in the wake of the Lebanese civil war. Global and national elites have championed plans for a new modern commercial city but now have to negotiate with previously subordinated ethnic groups who seized neighborhood power bases during the war. Urban reconstruction is therefore shaped by struggles between centralization and decentralization, elite and subordinate groups, global and local economics. The process in Beirut is expected to reflect similar conflicts in multi-ethnic cities around the world. Archival newspaper data will supplement qualitative field work and interviews that have already been completed.