The Making and Reclaiming of Communal Spaces in Beirut: The Story of the Dalieh

Due to the lack of appropriate public space, Beirut dwellers lay claim today to a number of open areas in the city, the uses of which are akin to ‘public’ spaces – they are accessed freely and allow for an unconfined range of social activities.

This lecture advocates learning from the public by observing several left- over spaces in the city, in order to understand them as public, multicultural, socially just, and open. By focusing on the seafront area of Dalieh in Rawche, the lecture attempts to abandon the modern notion of public space and open new possibilities for understanding public space.

Abir Saksouk-Sasso is an architect and an urbanist. She has been involved in several research projects, including the history of spatial production of the informal suburbs of Beirut, and more recently that of the neighborhoods surrounding Ein el-Helwe refugee camp. She produced a project about public space on the coast of Beirut entitled “This Sea is Mine”.