Beirut Urban Lab
  • About
  • Platforms
    • Beirut Built Environment Database
    • The Territories of the Covid-19 Response in Lebanon (March - July 2020)
    • Beirut Urban Observatory
    • Government-Designated Shelters in Lebanon
    • Beirut's Post-Blast Urban Recovery
    • Precarious Homes
    • Oral Narratives by the Residents of Karantina
    • City of Tenants
    • Lebanese-Israeli Border Escalation
    • West Bank Violence Tracker
    • Tracking the Urbicide in Gaza
    • Levant Carta | Beirut
  • Thematic Areas
    • Social Value Of Land
    • Urban Recovery
    • Urban Citizenship
    • Critical Mapping
    • Planning Actors and Scales
    • Spatial Practices
    • Urban Informality
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • People
  • Eyes On
Search
search
عــربي
Browse
TWEETS
Homeless in the City of the 44 Thousand Empty Homes…
21.11.2024
Our Reflections

Homeless in the City of the 44 Thousand Empty Homes…

In this short piece, we argue for the urgency of including Beirut’s vacant buildings in a medium-term emergency shelter response for the city. Secured and managed through a public actor and a reliable framework, a section of Beirut’s large stock of vacant apartments should be used as temporary shelters.
Not Collateral Damage but a Deliberate Act of Cultural Erasure
20.11.2024
Our Reflections

Not Collateral Damage but a Deliberate Act of Cultural Erasure

Cultural heritage has long been a target during wars, as it represents the identity, values, and history of a community. It is often the first casualty of conflict, symbolizing what a people stand for, cherish, and pass down through generations.
Mapping One Month of Announced Strikes in South Beirut (September 27 - November 4, 2024)
29.10.2024
Our Reflections

Mapping One Month of Announced Strikes in South Beirut (September 27 - November 4, 2024)

Since September 27, Israel’s war on Lebanon has expanded its brutal violence to Lebanon’s capital, Beirut as well as many regions across the country. No less than 325 buildings have been destroyed south of the city where the radius of devastation (seen in the outlined gray zones) extends over 11.87km2, or more than half the capital’s immediate urbanization perimeter.
Israel’s Assault on Lebanon, Sept. 2024
04.10.2024
Our Reflections

Israel’s Assault on Lebanon, Sept. 2024

Over the past year, the Beirut Urban Lab has invested in regularly sharing information to counter media misinformation by coding and visualizing data on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon’s southern border. Our findings show unequivocally Israel’s use of excessive and disproportionate violence against civilians.
Twenty Years of City Debates - The 20th Edition's Introductory Note
09.08.2024
Our Reflections

Twenty Years of City Debates - The 20th Edition's Introductory Note

The following are the introductory notes given by Mona Fawaz to open the conference, Disrupted Urbanisms, prior to the first keynote. The recordings of the 20th edition's sessions are available on the City Debates website.
Robert Saliba’s Mental Imaging of Downtown Beirut
04.04.2023
Article

Robert Saliba’s Mental Imaging of Downtown Beirut

We are honouring the memory of our colleague, friend, and teacher, Professor Robert Saliba, by publishing one of the early and ground-breaking works which he conceived and coordinated, and which remains a hard-to-find yet incredibly insightful text. At a time when Beirut’s memory continues to be erased, the relevance of his work stands out.
In Memory, Habib Debs
17.02.2023
Our Reflections

In Memory, Habib Debs

Since the early 1990s, Habib Debs has been involved in nearly every battle to improve urban planning and design in Lebanon (and beyond), its standards, methods, and practices. A champion of cultural heritage protection, a gifted public space designer, and a leading figure in city planning, he will be remembered for his incredible talent, innumerable contributions, deep humanism, and his role as an engaged citizen fighting for a more just and secular country.
Disaster Governance and Aid Effectiveness: the Case of Lebanon’s 3RF
09.11.2022
Our Reflections

Disaster Governance and Aid Effectiveness: the Case of Lebanon’s 3RF

Following the Beirut Port Blast, the Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework "3RF" came to life. Sophie Bloemeke and Mona Harb examine three interconnected sets of structural constraints that limit the platform's performance.
Launching an Urban Observatory Amidst a Painful and Slow Recovery
10.08.2021
Our Reflections

Launching an Urban Observatory Amidst a Painful and Slow Recovery

One year after the Beirut port blast, we remain in awe at the social mobilization that continues to surround the people in the neighborhoods affected by the explosion. Over 12 months, and amidst devastating, economic, political, and health crises, city-dwellers—organized or not, working side by side with a large array of local and international organizations, are still struggling to repair homes, businesses, schools and hospitals and restore the viability of their city.
On Apartheid Planning
27.05.2021
Our Reflections

On Apartheid Planning

In line with our commitment to produce informed scholarship on urbanization and advocate socially-just and viable urban policies, we launch the Beirut Urban Lab’s Arabic website on the heels of the anniversary of the Nakba, the 73rd commemoration of the massacres that marked the establishment of the State of Israel, while Palestinians continue to count their dead and while the residents of Gaza, sieged for the past 13 years, discover the daunting destruction after 11 days of relentless military aggression.
view all
Call for Applications: Winter Institute on “Urban, Ecological and Infrastructural Politics in SWANA”
12.03.2025
Call for Applications

Call for Applications: Winter Institute on “Urban, Ecological and Infrastructural Politics in SWANA”

The Urban Political in SWANA Research Network is soliciting applications from doctoral researchers and early career researchers for a Winter Institute on the theme “Urban, Ecological and Infrastructural Politics in SWANA.” The Winter Institute is scheduled for 12-16 January 2026, and will be hosted by the Beirut Urban Lab, American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
Beirut Urban Lab in the Media - Israel's Assault on Lebanon
16.01.2025
Media Round Up

Beirut Urban Lab in the Media - Israel's Assault on Lebanon

This media roundup compiles all articles and media features citing the Lab's work and initiatives during Israel's Assault on Lebanon (September - November 2024)
Call for Abstracts at the RC21 meeting in Rabat 2025
28.08.2024
Call for Abstracts

Call for Abstracts at the RC21 meeting in Rabat 2025

We invite interested scholars and practitioners to share with their networks and/or consider sending an abstract to our session “(Un)Commoning amid Disruptions and Disasters: Insights from South-West Asia and North Africa Cities” at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology in Rabat, Morrocco in July 2025
BUL at the RC21 Conference in Santiago 2024
06.08.2024
Video

BUL at the RC21 Conference in Santiago 2024

Mona Fawaz gave the closing keynote of the RC21 conference in Santiago, Chile, where she presented recent work with graduate students at the Beirut Urban Lab exploring the intersection of forced displacement in Beirut with the financialization of the city's housing in the past two decades.
BUL Launches New Collaboration with King’s College London
22.07.2024
News

BUL Launches New Collaboration with King’s College London

The Beirut Urban Lab and King's College London launched a new collaborative project that will explore state-making and governance through an urban lens with a focus on Middle Eastern case studies as sites for broader theorization.
Hijacked City: Urban Planning for a Better Beirut
25.04.2024
Interview Q&A

Hijacked City: Urban Planning for a Better Beirut

Mona Fawaz was hosted by Afikra Podcast's host Mikey Muhanna to explore Beirut's alternative histories and the vision for people-centered cities. She shares insights into the projects and research undertaken by Beirut Urban Lab, along with her aspirations for the city's future.
(Un)Archiving the City: The Case of Beirut - Closed Workshop
28.02.2024
Workshop

(Un)Archiving the City: The Case of Beirut - Closed Workshop

As part of the Beirut Investigative Lab, a closed workshop was curated, entitled “(Un)Archiving the City: the Case of Beirut” and conducted on February 8th, 2024.
Call for Papers for Research Committee 21 Conference Santiago 2024
28.11.2023
Call for Papers

Call for Papers for Research Committee 21 Conference Santiago 2024

As part of the RC21 conference held in Santiago, Chile, next July 24-26, 2024, the Beirut Urban Lab is co-organizing Panel 9: South-South collaborations and dialogues: variegated epistemologies, knowledges, and experiences for postcolonial urban studies.
Virtual Discussion Series: Housing Uncertainties, Financial Crisis, and Social Protections
02.10.2023
Video

Virtual Discussion Series: Housing Uncertainties, Financial Crisis, and Social Protections

Watch the video recordings of all four sessions of the webinar series "Housing Uncertainties, Financial Crisis, and Social Protections" which were held in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity (HfH) through the Lebanon National Programme and the MENA Urban Housing Practitioners Hub (MENA-UHPH), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Lebanon Country Programme throughout June 2023.
City Debates 2023 - Recap Video
13.09.2023
Conference

City Debates 2023 - Recap Video

How can we make our cities more livable when their most essential component, land, has become a global financial asset? Watch the Recap video and full playlist of City Debates 2023 conference, titled “Taming the Growth Machine: The Promises and Pitfalls of Land Value Capture.”
view all
City Debates 2025: Co-map, Re-map, Un-map
04.04.2025
Conference

City Debates 2025: Co-map, Re-map, Un-map

The 21st edition of City Debates —on collective, exploratory, and radical cartographies— engages with mapping, data visualization, and spatial representation, specifically as they intersect with urban research, furthering a variety of ways through which cities, geographies, and environments are studied and understood.
Talk: “Hawksmoor and the de-Modernization of London”
30.04.2025
Talk

Talk: “Hawksmoor and the de-Modernization of London”

Join us for a talk with Professor Saree Makdisi based on his paper titled “Hawksmoor and the de-Modernization of London”
Book Launch and Research Talk: Palestine in the “Arab Modern” Project
17.04.2025
Book Launch

Book Launch and Research Talk: Palestine in the “Arab Modern” Project

Join us for the launch of Arab Modern: Architecture and the Project of Independence (gta Verlag, 2025), a new volume edited by Nadi Abusaada and Wesam Asali that explores how architecture intersected with the political imaginaries and cultural formations of Arab modernity across the twentieth century.
The Beirut Port Discussion Series
17.06.2024
Discussion

The Beirut Port Discussion Series

This initiative comprising several sessions aims to foster a deeper understanding of the multiple critical planning challenges raised after the port explosion
Denial at the Limit of the Human
24.04.2024
Talk

Denial at the Limit of the Human

Join our BUL Talk with Professor Saree Makdisi titled "Denial at the Limit of the Human," on Tueday May 7, 2024 at 6:00PM, Architecture Lecture Hall, AUB
City Debates 20th Edition: Disrupted Urbanisms
26.02.2024
Conference

City Debates 20th Edition: Disrupted Urbanisms

The 20th Edition of the City Debates Conference ambitions to unravel some of the il/logics behind forces of rule and imagine alternative possibilities for more equitable and viable paths to contemporary urbanization.
Imprisoned! Voices and Images from Confinement Landscapes in Palestine
20.11.2023
Talk

Imprisoned! Voices and Images from Confinement Landscapes in Palestine

The Palestine Land Studies Center, the Department of Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management, the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at AUB, and the Beirut Urban Lab invite you to a talk by Dr. Gary Field (University of California, San Diego) titled: Imprisoned! Voices and Images from Confinement Landscapes in Palestine
The Revolutionary City: Urbanization and the Global Transformation of Rebellion
29.05.2023
Book Talk

The Revolutionary City: Urbanization and the Global Transformation of Rebellion

The Beirut Urban Lab, in collaboration with the Bobst-AUB Collaborative Initiative at AUB, invite you to a discussion of Mark Beissinger's book: The Revolutionary City: Urbanization and the Global Transformation of Rebellion on Monday, June 5, 2023 at 5:30 pm, at West Hall Auditorium A, AUB
Housing Uncertainties, Financial Crisis, and Social Protections
25.05.2023
Virtual Discussion Series

Housing Uncertainties, Financial Crisis, and Social Protections

Join us throughout June 2023 for a series of online presentations and discussions on Housing Uncertainties, Financial Crisis, and Social Protections with leading scholars and practitioners. Tuesdays 6, 13, 20 & 27 June 2023, at 5:00 pm Beirut Time (GMT +3)
Islamophobia and Lebanon: Visibly Muslim Women and Global Coloniality
18.05.2023
Book Talk

Islamophobia and Lebanon: Visibly Muslim Women and Global Coloniality

The Beirut Urban Lab invites you to a discussion of Ali Kassem’s book Islamophobia and Lebanon: Visibly Muslim Women and Global Coloniality on Monday, May 29, 2023 at 5:00PM at the Architecture Lecture Hall, AUB
view all
beirut-logo
  • Raymond Ghosn Building, American University of Beirut, Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
  • Copyright © 2025 Beirut Urban Lab. All rights reserved
  • PO Box. 11-0236 Riad El Solh 1107 2020, Beirut Lebanon
  • +961-1-374374 ext: 3603
  • [email protected]
  • beiruturbanlab.com
contact us
work with us
BUL in the Press