Work

Emergence of an aero-city: path dependency and ‘internal’ dimensions in BEY/Beirut from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Examining the early post-colonial Beirut International Airport (BEY), we make two arguments. First, BEY had the potential to become the Middle East’s largest airport only because from the mid-1800s Beirut, which had a large maritime port, had been the Arab East’s global cultural, commercial, communications and transport hub, which created a path dependency. Second, BEY deepened Beirut’s regional-global role throughout the 1960s, making it an aero-city piggybacking on a port-city. We explore four dimensions. First, in urban planning, the government was exceptionally interventionist where BEY was concerned; second, BEY’s construction triggered sociopolitical conflicts; third, BEY intersected with Palestinian and Lebanese unskilled labour flows; and, finally, air-travel, including tourism, affected Beirut’s cityscape deeply yet unevenly.

Source: Urban History

DOI: 10.1017/s0963926825100291

Author: Cyrus Schayegh

Institution: Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Language: English

Topic: Global Urban Networks and Dynamics

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550