Exploring alternative methods for developing and maintaining public spaces :case study in Tripoli, North Lebanon -

Abstract

This thesis seeks to develop viable strategies to address the declining nature of open urban spaces through a combination of institutional, legal, planning, and design interventions that promote walkability and facilitate pedestrian mobility, in line with contemporary planning discourses. The research method consisted of an in-depth analysis of land use and mobility patterns in a dense mixed-use (residential and commercial) neighborhood in the city of Tripoli (North Lebanon) that allowed the identification of a potential pedestrian passage, a green pedestrian network connecting two busy poles in the investigated neighborhood. In order to test the feasibility of the proposed pedestrian network, interviews were conducted with shoppers and shop owners in two main commercial streets, as well as dwellers in residential buildings where proposals were made to pedestrianize set-backs. Interviews entailed inquiring about walking habits, walking experiences, assessment of perceptions vis-à-vis public spaces, and receptivity towards the pedestrianization of passages in back alleys. The thesis also looked at devising an institutional and legal framework that capitalizes on local skills to manage and maintain this network and relies on existing planning tools in the Lebanese urban planning regulations. My findings indicate that dwellers, shoppers, and shop owners as well as local public authorities and non-governmental organizations receive very positively the proposal for enhancing walkability by inserting green spaces and passages. They further indicate that existing institutional mechanisms within the framework of planning in Lebanon can provide the grounds for appropriate and affordable tools to support such interventions.