Metropolitan Seminar in Beirut 2023

After the rich exploration of the Metropolis of Izmir, AVITEM has the privilege to organize the second metropolitan seminar of the 2022 /2023 cycle in Beirut!

Our seminar in Beirut will aim to understand how the functioning of this metropolis, which represents 50% of the population of Lebanon, can revive a development dynamic, which will allow both to respond to emergencies and to give collective perspectives on the long term. The aim is to understand how the territory of Greater Beirut, which concentrates the successive crises of the country, remains a provider of urban services by playing a triangular system of action between the State, local authorities and civil society.

How can a new system of territorialized action succeed in imposing itself as a way out of crises? This will be our common thread during this week.

Our seminar, organized over five days, proposes an apprehension of the territory through five complementary prisms:

• The first day of the seminar will be devoted to a political, geographical, urban and socio-economic introduction to Greater Beirut, as well as a visit to symbolic spaces at stake.
• The second day of the seminar is dedicated to urban renewal operations and in particular the historic project of Beirut, the Solidere operation, but also a visit to the Karantina district located in the immediate hinterland of the port.
• We will then reflect on the challenges of the port of Beirut. Engine of economic development, the port is now heavily damaged by the explosion of August 2020. These elements push to include the stakes of the port, its regional positioning but also its governance system.

On Wednesday evening, a round table will be held in partnership with the French Institute, on the theme of metropolitan public space as a driver of transformation.

• The fourth day will deal with the sustainable management of urban services in Greater Beirut, in particular waste management and energy production & distribution. This day will debate the prospects for transforming urban services, between decentralization and “uberization”.
• The last day will deal with the governance systems of Greater Beirut, first through the history of the metropolitan project, and then through a debate on the possible perspectives.