Regenerative Place-Making of Decaying Entertainment-Retail Strips (ERS): The Case of Kaslik, Lebanon

Abstract

Between 1975 and 1990, war-led decentralization instigated the relocation of business and entertainment activities to Beirut’s suburban expansions and peripheral coastal towns. Kaslik strongly emerged as an exclusive entertainment-retail and tourist destination due to the presence of sea resorts and higher education institutions, i.e., the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (Bou Lahdo, 1999; Davie, 1993). The last three decades underwent a reverse process of post-war recentralization, mallifiction, and e-commerce, reducing the attraction of street-based shopping. Peri-urban Entertainment-Retail Strips (ERS) such as Kaslik witnessed high vacancy rates and a sharp decrease in their commercial activities. This global trend, referred to as the “dying strips” phenomena (Depriest-Hricko & Prytherch, 2013), has been addressed through various regeneration strategies involving marketing and urban management (Portas, 2011; Irazábal & Chakravarty, 2007), catalytic interventions (Logan and Attoe, 1989) as well as place-making, i.e., a people-centered approach in designing public spaces (Southworth, 2005). This thesis is an attempt to learn from international case studies in strip regeneration and to critically assess their adaptability to the local context. It proposes a set of context-sensitive economic and urban design guidelines for enhancing streetscape identity, improving vehicular and pedestrian connectivity, and providing a framework for private development aimed at reclaiming the role of Kaslik as a peri-urban shopping and entertainment prime destination.