Exploring the interface between the sea and the city: The case of the bay of Jounieh

Abstract

The bay of Jounieh is a valuable natural asset of the Mediterranean Sea. Historically, the bay was mainly affected by two major eras; the Fouad Chehab era and the civil war. The Chehab era was the era of visioning and planning that transformed the bay from a quasi-rural area into a touristic hub. The civil war on the other hand, was marked by a lack of planning and a massive unregulated urban growth.

Nowadays, the bay of Jounieh suffers from various coastal problems. The lack of provision of public spaces along the waterfront due to the development of privatized and gated coastal developments stands out as a prominent issue. Several of these coastal developments present illegal coastal encroachments on the Public Maritime Domain and have disfigured the shoreline of the bay. Moreover, most of these privatized developments are serving touristic functions and are making the access to the beach exclusive and limited. This lack of access has led to a disconnection between the coastal cities of the bay with their seafront. Besides issues of beach access, the bay suffers from a discontinuity of character in terms of land use and visual cohesiveness between its historic souk and its northern part. Lack of visual connectivity with the sea, lack of walkability are additional factors that strengthen the difference between the southern part and northern part of the bay.

This thesis builds on the hypothesis that an integrated sustainable design strategy can restore the integrity and continuity of the coast by drawing its method from a multidisciplinary approach, which combines a landscape design, and an urban design approach via identification of character zones across the waterfront.

This thesis aims at articulating a holistic urban design strategy for the bay of Jounieh by reintroducing pedestrian and visual connections along the coastline of the bay and by reconnecting the cities of the bay with their seafront. It aims at capitalizing on the bay’s natural asset and at developing design solutions to facilitate access to the sea, by rethinking the city’s relationship with the sea.