PhD Urban Development Planning
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Development Planning Unit
Abstract
In the context of an urban crisis in Lebanon, where housing and basic infrastructure are unaffordable and inaccessible to many residents, ethno-sectarian institutions (such as Shi'a Islamist political party and militant group, Hezbollah) have become providers of goods and services. To claim their right to the goods and services they need to get by, inhabitants present themselves as members of ethno-sectarian groups. One effect of this system is that ethno-sectarian subjectivities (who we are and who we imagine ourselves to be in relation to other people and the world around us) become a dominant mode of relating to other people and to material goods. In this system, residents appear to have no option but to produce ethno-sectarian subjectivities, or risk losing access to much-needed resources. A 'new urban politics', based on a non-sectarian subjectivity, has therefore been prevented from emerging (Bollens, 2013: 198).
Recently, groups of civil society urban planners in Lebanon have begun contesting this way of managing goods and services, and have challenged the dominance of ethno-sectarian subjectivities in urban governance. The success of sustainable urbanism campaigns and movements, including campaign group Beirut Madinati's political successes across ethno-religious sects in promoting 'sustainable community alternatives' (Beirut Madinati, 2017), suggests that ethno-religious sectarianism is not an inevitably dominant mode of subjectivity in Lebanon.
This PhD sets out to identify civil society urban planners who I see as having non-sectarian subjectivities, and as actors who respond to emergent subjectivities of other urban inhabitants. I propose to examine the relationship between non-sectarian modes of subjectivity and sustainable urban planning issues in Lebanese cities through a comparative study of two cities. I will develop and connect contested cities literature, sustainable planning theory, and anthropological/socio-political theories of subjectivity, to progress understanding about how civil society urban planners can create new ways of living together in the city, sustainably.
Recently, groups of civil society urban planners in Lebanon have begun contesting this way of managing goods and services, and have challenged the dominance of ethno-sectarian subjectivities in urban governance. The success of sustainable urbanism campaigns and movements, including campaign group Beirut Madinati's political successes across ethno-religious sects in promoting 'sustainable community alternatives' (Beirut Madinati, 2017), suggests that ethno-religious sectarianism is not an inevitably dominant mode of subjectivity in Lebanon.
This PhD sets out to identify civil society urban planners who I see as having non-sectarian subjectivities, and as actors who respond to emergent subjectivities of other urban inhabitants. I propose to examine the relationship between non-sectarian modes of subjectivity and sustainable urban planning issues in Lebanese cities through a comparative study of two cities. I will develop and connect contested cities literature, sustainable planning theory, and anthropological/socio-political theories of subjectivity, to progress understanding about how civil society urban planners can create new ways of living together in the city, sustainably.
Organisations
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000592/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 2068129 | Studentship | ES/P000592/1 | 01/10/2018 | 17/09/2022 | Hannah Sender |
| Description | This award has facilitated research with a under-engaged group of young people living in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. It has investigated the political-structural conditions which prevent planning authorities in a Lebanese town from meeting residents' needs, and the impact this has on young residents' feelings about their futures there. It takes Bar Elias as a case study of a secondary city, which has probably doubled in size since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011 (UNDP, 2018). As in other towns and cities in the MENA region, recently displaced and long-term residents must share scarce resources (Darling, 2017; UNHCR, 2019). The presence of refugees is often given as the reason for the state's inability to provide necessary resources to its residents, and is also blamed for other crises, including environmental degradation and economic collapse (Al Ayoubi, 2018; Hussein, Natta, Al, Yehya, & Hamadna, 2020). In Bar Elias today, the authority to plan is distributed among municipal actors and humanitarian actors, who present their efforts as responses to exceptional crises (particularly the 'refugee crisis'). According to policy literature, local planning authorities play the role of adjudicator; judging the validity and urgency of claims at the municipal level to properly distribute resources. In practice, judgement is often suspended, or not enforced. The study finds that the political-structural conditions in which plans are made, and national planning policy itself, create ambiguity about which plans are ratified or will be enforced. Well-connected individuals are able to take advantage and act according to their personal desires. Policies and policy-making conditions, which have been in effect since before 2011, have set the tone for crisis-focused planning today. They present barriers to the provision of necessary services, and contribute to growing wealth inequality within the town. As a result, forced migrants' lives and long-term residents' lives are intersecting in ways which challenge dominent views of 'displaced' populations. Young Lebanese and Syrian residents are aware of the specific crises which are foregrounded by planning authorities, but they do not see their lives as defined by them. They are as concerned about a lack of change in the entrenched inequalities between residents. Their perspectives challenge dominant political discourses, and indicate their awareness of political-structural conditions which are not exceptional to a specific crisis. They have subsequently developed a negative view of the town, and about their own futures there. Whilst the future of Bar Elias is uncertain, it will certainly be affected by how this generation feels about planning authorities' desire and ability to deal with entrenched inequalities. This research was vital to understand the diversity of young people's experiences of displacement in Lebanon, and their political subjectivities which are infomed by experiences of displacement. Often, international media and research have focused on young people in the MENA region as activists and as staunch opposers of the status quo, who live in primary cities. This study nuances these perspectives by focusing on a smaller city with less overt political activism and media attention, but where young people are political subjects whose desires, disappointments and ideas about the future matter to the region. |
| Exploitation Route | This case study is relevant to other secondary cities which are deemed to be in 'crisis' or 'emergency' because of a major event. It supports the argument that planners and researchers ought to push beyond crisis-oriented discourses which can obscure the political-structural conditions that allow inequalities between long-term and recently-displaced groups, and within them, to become entrenched (Fawaz, 2016; Parreira, 2020). Finally, it argues that research into young people's shared conditions and common attitudes are vital to understanding diverse experiences of displacement, and how urban planning practices are prompting the emergence of political subjectivities which contest the status quo. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | Addressing Lebanon's 'double crisis': film in & as research |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2019 |
| End | 06/2020 |
| Description | Understanding the impact of displacement on mental health: A cross-sector cross-country initiative |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2020 |
| End | 06/2021 |