Nonprofits and Collective Goods in the Aftermath of the Beirut Port Blast

Abstract

Five years after the August 4, 2020, Beirut Port explosion, the neighborhoods of Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhael, and Karantina bear visible marks of reconstruction, including restored heritage buildings, stairs, rehabilitated parks, and upgraded streetscapes, largely led by nonprofit organizations. In the absence of a state-led coordinated recovery plan, more than 200 nonprofit organizations mobilized after the Beirut port blast to respond to the urgent needs of reconstruction. This thesis seeks to explore the role of nonprofits that have actively participated in the reconstruction of the neighborhoods affected by the Beirut port blast, the projects they implemented, and how their interventions shaped planning practices in Beirut and expanded the horizons of urban commoning. The analysis focuses on actors engaged in providing collective urban public goods and services, which we considered proxies for urban commons. Ten key actors and their respective projects were identified and analyzed in terms of their operation, challenges, and financing. Findings reveal that an ecosystem of nonprofits, primarily national NGOs, associated with professionals and universities, and supported by a few international NGOs, played a central role in governing reconstruction efforts. These reconstruction efforts sought to expand urban imaginaries toward urban commoning by activating and municipalizing public spaces and community facilities; however, they did not succeed into sustained urban commoning initiatives and were ultimately captured by sectarian, aid, and market interests. The thesis contributes to debates on the role of nonprofits in hybrid governance systems and on the possibilities and limitations of urban commoning in cities characterized by state retreat, donor dependency, and protracted crisis.