The Beirut Urban Lab, a collaborative and interdisciplinary research space based at the American University of Beirut, actively documents urbanization in Lebanon and the broader region, studying transformations of natural and built environments, especially from the perspective of the Global South. With a mission to contribute to academic and public knowledge and dialogues on urbanization, the Lab envisions a future where research and critical inquiry empower communities aspiring for just, viable, and inclusive cities.

I had the chance to speak with Dr. Mona Fawaz, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the American University of Beirut and co-founder of the Beirut Urban Lab, to understand the Lab’s response to the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza and Lebanon and its ramifications on urban landscapes.

Mapping the Consequences of War: The Core of Beirut Urban Lab’s Media Activism

Dr. Fawaz explains that the Beirut Urban Lab has been mapping the impacts of war crimes since October 7, 2023, covering areas along the Lebanon-Israel border, Gaza, and the West Bank. “As researchers, our main tool is mapping,” she says, emphasizing that the Lab’s strategy was to deploy its mapping knowledge towards media activism, denouncingthe extent of the Israeli violence and the consequent demolitions. In Gaza, the mapping also seeks to preserve the history of a Palestinian community that faces erasure and destruction.

Therefore, and since there was no reliable map of Gaza’s current landscape, the Lab’s team has created an accurate base map of Gaza, including damaged mosques, UNESCO-protected sites, housing, schools, and hospitals. By georeferencing satellite images and mapping each site of destruction, the Lab provides a historical record that could eventually support post-war recovery and reconstruction. This is what her colleague, Professor Howayda al-Harithy describes as an effort to build an archive from the materials of the city and its practices.

Expanding Documentation to Lebanon’s Impacted Cities

Following the recent escalation in Lebanon in early October, The Lab expanded its documentation efforts to include Greater Beirut, Tyre, Baalbak, and Nabatieh in Lebanon. This includes producing base maps, recording damage, and supporting media activism by collaborating with scholars, PhD students interested in studying how bombings are currently affecting schools, hospitals, and communities in general. Although reconstruction is ultimately the responsibility of public authorities, the Lab’s work is providing an essential framework for future rebuilding efforts.

Mapping Relief Efforts: Ensuring Transparency and Accountability

Another essential aspect of the Beirut Urban Lab’s work involves supporting the documentation of relief distribution. While the Lab does not distribute aid directly, its team is collaborating with Lebanon’s Ministerial Crisis Group to georeference shelter locations, such as schools, and to map how aid is distributed at the municipal level. Dr. Fawaz explains that this mapping tool is crucial for creating transparency, ensuring that resources reach those in need and encouraging continued support.

Addressing Beirut’s Housing Crisis: Mobilizing Vacant Units for Displaced Persons

In addition to documenting damage and relief efforts, the Lab has conducted surveys identifying vacant housing units across Beirut. Dr. Fawaz reveals that there are 44,000 empty residential units, more than enough to shelter the displaced population currently housed in schools. Of these, 7,000 units are located in buildings that have been fully vacant for years. By mobilizing these units as temporary homes, neighborhoods could be revitalized, and schools now used as collective shelters can be reopened for all children, including those displaced.

Beirut Urban Lab argues that policies enabling access to these vacant units are urgently needed, whether through existing legal channels or under an emergency state that would temporarily limit certain rights to respond to the crisis. However, she notes that for a long-term solution, Parliament should pass laws imposing taxes on owners of vacant properties. The high rates of vacancy reflect a speculative tendency that is encouraged by current regulations; it undermines the right to housing, exacerbates social inequalities, pushes neighborhoods in downward spirals, and reduces tax revenues.

Shaping Post-War Reconstruction for Social Cohesion

Reflecting on the recent clashes in Hamra, Beirut, between displaced individuals and security forces, Dr. Fawaz stresses that the government’s response should prioritize policies that allow for dignified housing solutions. For the long term, she sees the need to approach post-war reconstruction as an opportunity to unify rather than segregate communities.

Dr. Fawaz concludes by cautioning that displaced individuals often find refuge in areas controlled by traditional political factions, a reality that may risk entrenching existing social divisions post-war. Instead, she envisions post-war reconstruction as a chance to encourage solidarity and social cohesion, building a more inclusive urban future for Lebanon.

Reflections

The Beirut Urban Lab’s mission is critical, especially in a time where post-war discussions are often neglected. Lebanon has faced multiple wars, and too often, the imposed wartime realities persist in peacetime, bypassing any opportunity to address political and social issues within reconstruction processes. If the documentation work led by the Lab isn’t accompanied by political commitment, valuable collective memories could be irreparably lost.

Documentation is important, but it is insufficient if not followed by a willingness to address the structural challenges at hand. Addressing Lebanon’s housing crisis and facilitating access to vacant properties requires both immediate solutions and long-term legislative reform. This work is also a call to reimagine public spaces, not only as places of consumption but as important spaces for dialogue, and reconciliation.

Public transportation infrastructure also deserves attention, as its current limitations fuel segregation. If some Lebanese remain today disconnected from the reality of war, it is because of Lebanon’s fragmented social fabric and the state’s minimal role in implementing socio-economic rights.

While the current political rhetoric often calls for the state to reclaim its role as protector against external threats, genuine reclamation should also address Lebanon’s immediate and worsening socio-economic reality. With the end of the war, conditions will only worsen, as millions are displaced today and thousands have lost their homes—homes they may never return to, even after a ceasefire.

Charbel Chaaya

Charbel Chaaya earned his bachelor’s degree in French and Lebanese Law, followed by a master’s 1 in Public Law from Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth. He then obtained a master’s 2 in Constitutional Law and Fundamental Rights from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is a trainee lawyer, a senior research assistant at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at AUB, and a program manager at the Arab Association of Constitutional Law.