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Posted at Nov 30/2011 09:20PM:
Raisa:

I am really fascinated by the connections between urban public space and identity. I kept swinging between two extremes as I did the reading- the implications for identity of top-down city planning according to certain interests; and the ways in which individuals will consciously and unconsciously assert identity and agency irrespective of these plans. I hope we can talk about both of these within a general discussion on whether planning matters or not in the construction of urban identity, and why.

1. De Certeau emphasizes the ways in which the city fabric is created by individuals' practices of everyday life, rather than the panoptic vision of planners. Are individuals still able to reassert their agency and identity through these practices in a city in which they simultaneously feel they have claim to, but are excluded from? Are these practices of everyday life an inevitable way in which the diverse characteristics of the city are expressed and shaped, irrespective of planners' goals? If so, does it matter how Beirut's (or any other city's) reconstruction is planned?

2. Lefebvre argues that all space is social space, and is produced by the social relations that it encompasses. Our reading discusses the role of outside capital in Solidere's reconstruction plans. What does the prioritization of financial capital mean for the production of space? Does this prioritization always imply the neglect of the 'powerless'/marginalized individuals that have claim to a particular space? If space is socially produced, and economic powers dominate this production, are urban public spaces always unequal? How does this relate to the accessibility of urban public space? How does spatial inequality affect the creation of a public identity? What does the prioritization of outside capital in Beirut's reconstruction mean for the identity of the city's residents?

Posted at Nov 30/2011 11:39PM:
Peter:

The topic of identity is obviously central in the case of Beirut. While reading Saree, I was struck by the author's introduction of the relationship between history and pain. Saree states that Beirut's collective amnesia, which has resulted in a loss of historical memory, "expresses a sense of numbness where there really ought to be a sense of pain" from self-recognition. I’m not quite sure I agree with this assessment. The residents of Beirut, who have lived through the civil war and are currently living among the wreckage, certainly know pain; they have not forgotten what they experienced (like the taxi driver whose friend was killed). Yet, it is the multitude of cacophonous individual narratives that result in an inability for the city to move forward.This brings me to my question, which Saree frames in the remainder of the article. In which way can a group (city, society) reconcile multiple narratives? “In the final stages of the contest between the old and new, the inevitable often slips through unnoticed.” Is private investment, uninhibited by the multiplicity of narratives, the “inevitable” that Beirut needs? In such a contested space it seems that no one story will prevail and that Solidere’s intention to form a new uniform identity might be a way of reconciling these narratives. Should Solidere consider personal experience in how they institutionalize the space?

#Aly Abouzeid

While reading both Saree and Khalaf's readings one of the most things that struck me was the relationship between history and identity. How would a country with no official history define itself architecturally and socially, what images and past memories could it draw on to allow for the reinvention of the state? "instead one can find dozens of cards showing the city in its former glory, presenting, for example, images of Martyrs' Square bustling with cars and people in the 1950s" As a country that has no official history the commodification of places and spaces has been a large part in the reinvention of the city and this heavy consumerism and global outreach hides the obvious lack in identity and official history.

Posted at Dec 01/2011 12:29AM:
Camila:

While reading about Beirut, I have been drawn in by the issue of history and the discontinuity that exists between the past, present, and future of the city. Two extremes seemed to jump out to me in particular-- the postcards discussed by Saree that emphasize an idealized, pre-war past; and the Solidere reconstruction project that, while claiming to show a continuity with the past, is mainly concerned with the presentation of a modern global future. These two examples illustrated to me the attempts of the city and country to forget the recent past and the trauma of the war. My question is, then, can the city / country expect to move forward without acknowledging or coming to terms with what lies directly behind? If the conflicts and tensions that caused the war are still obviously a problem--representatives of the different factions cannot write their own recent history in agreement, or even define heritage or culture--will this amnesia or collective forgetting solve their problems? Can this issue be addressed in the reconstruction of the city, and if so, can that be done by a single, private company that may have more global rather than local interests?

Kasia-

We envision that the city at its best is the public space where politics and citizenship comes into being. A city that continues to be rebuilt, Beirut has great opportunity to change when its historical trajectory is lost.  With a need of identity, can Beirut’s urban planning not only move forward from its pain stricken past by erasing destruction, but also learn from it and deal with segregation?  I would like to discuss Solitere’s developer motifs and commercial character of the city center.  What resulting identity can it bring and what new perspectives does it place on the past?  Saree argues that Solitere’s “obsessive desire to preserve whenever possible the appearance of an older heritage” as a visual hoax to history.  Can this romanticism of the past be a positive aid in bridging a continuum from past to future?