An integrated urban design approach : the case of North Bassatine, Tripoli – Lebanon

Abstract

This thesis investigates the issue of urban sprawl at the expense of natural and open areas. Urban design and planning become more challenging if development occurs in a market-oriented and laisser-faire context. Many social and environmental problems result from inappropriately planned urban growth. Such problems are related to the quality of life, incompatible land uses, traffic congestion, pollution, loss of open green spaces, and fragmentation of ecological habitats. The study explores urban growth management and urban containment strategies in both the international and the Lebanese contexts. Containment strategies applied internationally throughout the world could be accomplished through a variety of planning mechanisms such as: Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB), urban service areas, acquisition of conservation easements, transfer of development rights and greenbelts. This thesis adopts a holistic ecological landscape approach in dealing with the issue of urban sprawl. This inter-disciplinary approach covers the total urban landscape, and tackles its social, economical and ecological dimensions. Vertical coordination through the different levels of governments is also essential for making this approach successful. It is necessary to link the different scales of planning, from national to regional to local. The case of Bassatine Al-Saqui Al-Shimali area in Tripoli-Lebanon proved the possibility of preserving ecologically valued lands taking into consideration the need to provide for potential urban expansion. Such objective could only be achieved through an urban design scheme that is guided and supported by an integrative planning approach coordinated among the different scales of governance. After setting the design vision and intervention objectives, the study explores the appropriateness of the planning tools in the Lebanese context and the design strategy formulation is based on quantitative methods of projection.