AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE MARKET DRIVEN URBAN DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF NORMANDY LANDFILL

Abstract

The reconstruction of Beirut’s downtown after the war was undertaken by Solidere, a real estate company. Among their responsibilities was financing sea defenses, public spaces, infrastructure, and reclaiming and cleaning the ‘wartime landfill’/ Normandy landfill. The Solidere’s market-driven, exclusive and up-market model for urban reconstruction failed to reclaim the role of the historic city center as an inclusive, economic and cultural hub of Beirut. The urban fabric and spaces created were designed as a finality with no provision made for them to evolve, and the landscape was used as a setting for buildings rather than a platform to engage the inhabitants of the city. Solidere failed to deliver the promised ‘spill-over economic development’ due to the lack of engagement with the rest of the city and instead turned into a ‘walled garden’.

Solidere’s ‘Waterfront District’ project, the Normandy Landfill, currently owned by the Solidere, banks, private owners and the public sector, was planned with the same corporate, exclusive character as the downtown. Plans to implement the Normandy Landfill development, however, were interrupted due to the economic recession. This thesis seizes this opportunity to test an alternative model for urban development. The research explores a more sustainable alternative to the market driven model that will address (1) ecologically vibrant and environmentally sustainable landscapes (2) spatial integrated socially inclusive development and (3) economically viable program. We ask whether an Ecological Design and Planning’s layered and process-driven methodology and Landscape Urbanism’s opportunistic design tools help inform this alternative approach? Drawing on methods and tools from a range of case studies, the research constructs a conceptual framework rooted in these design approaches. We then use this conceptual framework as a tool to assess the site within its context, and respond to its potentials and limitations, with the aim of enhancing its inclusivity by spatially and virtually anchoring it with the cultural hub network of Beirut.