Incorporating sustainability thinking into existing long-term master plans for the development of megaprojects : the Beirut Central District case

Abstract

The world’s scientists have been under increasing pressure to establish the most efficient and innovative solutions to prolong the lifespan of all its depleting natural resources and thus enduring the survival of life on the face of planet earth. A sustainable strategy is now defined to have to address environmental concerns balanced with social and economic factors. This study takes a closer look at master plans because they affect more directly the three pillars of sustainable development. In fact this thesis attempts to propose a template for how to include sustainability thinking into existing long term master plans while developing each sustainable development pillar along with defining each criterion crucial to achieving this goal. This thesis then validates the proposed template by using the master plan of the Beirut Central District as case study to explore how the template can be utilized and how mitigations can thus be formulated.