{"id":31774,"date":"2025-01-06T11:13:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T11:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avitem.fr\/bourj-hammoud-project-2021-2031"},"modified":"2026-08-26T09:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:36:14","slug":"bourj-hammoud-project-2021-2031","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/avitem.fr\/en\/bourj-hammoud-project-2021-2031","title":{"rendered":"Bourj Hammoud Project 2021-2031"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Bourj Hammoud Project 2021\u20132031: Together for a Better Present and Future<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon, is committed to a major urban transformation of its territory, supported by a decentralised cooperation project coordinated by AVITEM.<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A Vision Matching the Territory\u2019s Challenges<\/h2>\n\nThe Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon, is driving a sustainable urban renewal strategy<\/strong> that rises to the multiple challenges of its territory. It is shaping the prospects for a better future for its residents by initiating the dynamics and levers for transforming the area.\n\nFirst, imagine and then begin to build\u2014the city of tomorrow: towards an eco-city, a city for all, a productive city<\/strong>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Bourj-Hammoud-mars-25\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn Urban Genesis Marked by Hospitality to Refugees<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Until the early 20th century, the site of Bourj Hammoud primarily consisted of agricultural and marshy areas, dotted with sporadic human settlements. After 1928, Armenian refugees who had survived Ottoman persecution began settling in the region, establishing compact, grid-like neighbourhoods. Each of these was originally populated by people from the same village, from which the neighbourhood derived its name.<\/p>

After 1945, some of the population returned to Armenia, while new immigrants\u2014drawn by the economic opportunities of Lebanon\u2019s capital\u2014arrived from distant rural areas. Bourj Hammoud began to attract populations from the south, primarily Shiites and Palestinians, who settled mainly in the south-eastern part of the city (Nabaa). In the 1960s, it saw an influx of Armenians from Syria, particularly from Aleppo, who established numerous small businesses.<\/p>

Between 1975 and 1995, the city experienced significant demographic shifts due to ongoing rural exodus and the various Lebanese conflicts\u2014civil and regional\u2014of the period. This led to the first major waves of displaced populations from war zones (Armenians, Christians, and Shiites). The resulting population boom transformed Bourj Hammoud, a century after its founding, into one of the most densely populated residential areas of Greater Beirut. The population of this thriving commercial, industrial, and artisan hub was then estimated at (\u2026) inhabitants.<\/p>

Over the following three decades, two new Lebanese-Israeli conflicts\u2014in 2006 and since 2023\u2014as well as the Syrian war since 2011, triggered further mass displacements, with approximately (\u2026) people arriving in the past year alone. These movements have placed considerable strain on living conditions, future prospects, resources, and the urban environment of Bourj Hammoud.<\/p>

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It is interesting to consider Bourj Hammoud in the context of its dual urban and metropolitan relationship, which grants it a unique, both positive and negative role.<\/p>

On the eastern flank of Beirut, Bourj Hammoud extends the Lebanese capital\u2019s port line and its heavily polluted waterfront, where industrial zones, a fishing port, and a vast open-air landfill succeed one another. The landfill is a stark example of the role long imposed on Bourj Hammoud by national and metropolitan authorities: as a receptacle for harmful infrastructure and facilities pushed to the outskirts of the capital.<\/p>

One feature holds particular significance: the surface highway system. On one hand, it undeniably positions Bourj Hammoud as a metropolitan crossroads, a powerful logistical and economic hub, particularly with its long-standing, highly developed productive, industrial, and artisan sectors. On the other hand, this connectivity comes at the expense of a city centre fragmented by traffic arteries, including links to the southern, northern, and eastern suburbs of the capital, as well as the international Beirut-Damascus axis through the Bekaa Plain.<\/p>

The city comprises nine neighbourhoods: Shatiq-al-Bahri (coastal area), Dora, Haret-Sader, Marashe, Nor Adana, Nor-Sis, Mar-Doumit, Nabaa, and Ghilane.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A Collaborative and Participatory Approach to the Project<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe “Bourj Hammoud 2021\u20132031: Together for a Better Present and Future”<\/i> project is co-funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE)<\/a> as part of a decentralised cooperation programme between France and Lebanon<\/b>.\n\nThe project is led by the Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, the Sud Provence-Alpes-C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur Region, the City of Marseille<\/a>, and the Nice C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur Metropolis<\/a>, all members of the AVITEM Public Interest Grouping, as well as Le Havre Seine M\u00e9tropole<\/a>. Technical coordination is provided by AVITEM.\n\nThe project benefits from the conceptual input and research capabilities of students and teachers<\/b> of the Faculty from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA)<\/a> and the Lebanese University<\/a> (Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture).\n\nCertain operational aspects of the project have been developed in close collaboration with local UN agencies<\/b> \u2014 UN-Habitat<\/a> and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)<\/a> \u2014 as well as local associations, which support its implementation under the municipality\u2019s leadership.\n\nThis project is also the result of collaborative efforts at the local level<\/b>, already engaging economic, social, and cultural stakeholders in a participatory territorial planning process. If the context allows, it could in the future open up to broader citizen participation.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInternational Cooperation with a Dual Dimension<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Initially launched as part of a France-Lebanon decentralised cooperation programme led by the MEAE, the strategic development project for Bourj Hammoud was originally conceived within this single framework.<\/p>

Under this initiative, the Municipality of Bourj Hammoud was to benefit from technical support provided by the AVITEM-led group, as well as from the feedback and experiences of the French local authorities that are members of the association. However, the open and participatory project dynamic developed from the outset could hardly ignore the various international cooperation and assistance initiatives already underway in the area.<\/p>

Conversely, key external actors such as UN-Habitat and UNOPS did not hesitate to express their interest in the approach taken by the municipality, supported by AVITEM. This approach offered new frameworks for coherence and planning that aligned with their own programmes. Formally, this partnership convergence was naturally achieved through a Steering Committee, which facilitated information sharing among the various project stakeholders, collaborative adjustments to certain strategic visions, and other operational project perspectives.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Over the past half-century, periods of peace and prosperity in Lebanon have unfortunately been rare. What dominates the country\u2019s recent history, reflected particularly in Bourj Hammoud, its population, and its municipalities, are crises. Political, social, and sectarian crises; economic and ecological crises; local and international crises, all have had considerable and lasting impacts on the population, the city, and public authorities. And then there are the wars, with their trail of fear, physical and psychological harm, the disintegration of families and society, and the resulting exacerbation of other crises, new population displacements, and refugee movements.<\/p>

The “Bourj Hammoud 2021\u20132031: Together for a Better Present and Future”<\/em> project, whose very title sounds like a challenge in these times, was deliberately launched despite the acute economic and financial crisis. It has since been overtaken by regional conflict and the Syrian crisis.<\/p>

The initial initiative might have seemed paradoxical from an external perspective. However, it was not, for two reasons. First, from the municipality\u2019s political standpoint, there came a point when it was necessary to attempt to take control of the city\u2019s trajectory and evolution. Second, the philosophy of the strategic project was simultaneously focused on providing concrete solutions to current issues, those that directly affect the population, while also attempting to build a more sustainable future. This forward-looking perspective is harder to grasp when anxiety about the next day dominates.<\/p>

The outbreak of a new conflict took Bourj Hammoud by surprise and hit it hard, perhaps because the scars of previous conflicts had not truly faded. And yet, the municipality chose to continue developing the strategic project to its conclusion and to prepare its operational implementations, as far as materially possible, based on the previously established principle. As long as the project connects its responses to both the present and the future, it is legitimate to build and implement it for the benefit of the population and their future.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Two Phases in the Development of the Strategic Project: L\u2019Atelier and La Fabrique<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The development of the “Bourj Hammoud 2021\u20132031: Together for a Better Present and Future”<\/em> project was initially structured into two phases: L\u2019Atelier (2021\u20132023)<\/strong> and La Fabrique (2024\u20132025)<\/strong>, the latter still ongoing. The COVID-19 health crisis and recent regional conflicts have certainly impacted its progress, but the project has never been fully interrupted thanks to the determined commitment of all stakeholders.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tL\u2019Atelier and Priority Commitments<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

L\u2019Atelier<\/em> focused on establishing a solid foundation for the project through a shared diagnosis with local stakeholders<\/b>, particularly economic actors<\/b>, followed by the collective definition of the fundamental orientations for the future urban strategy. The partnership dynamic between the Municipality of Bourj Hammoud, the international cooperation technical group led by AVITEM, and the local development stakeholders was built through continuous bilateral exchanges between the first two parties, as well as significant opportunities for civil society engagement, such as consultative workshops under the “Open Forum” and thematic webinars.<\/p>

Quite rapidly, and by consensus, three key areas of concern emerged:<\/p>