Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Beirut's Civil War (1975-1990) and subsequent reconstruction (1994-1998) led to widespread demolitions, erasing most prewar buildings and turning Beirut’s historical city centre into a blank slate. Solidere, a real estate company, was given control over the city's redevelopment, privatizing it through a series of demolitions. Red and white opaque metal fences appeared, marking deep foundations, empty lots, or remnants of old buildings. Inspired by Brighenti’s framework on urban walls (Brighenti, Andrea Mubi. 2009. Walled urbs to urban walls - and return? On the social life of walls. In The wall and the city Il Muro e La Città Le Mur et La Ville, ed. Andrea Mubi Brighenti, 63–71. Trento, Italy: Professional Dreamers. https://www.academia.edu/66793760/The_wall_and_the_city), I conducted fieldwork in 2019, examining the lived textures of these fences in the urban context through materiality, territoriality, visibility, rhythmicality, and uses. Using walking practices with a body camera, the study highlights their evolving materiality, role as political barriers, use as surfaces for appropriation, and removal during the October 2019 protests. This analysis reveals how these fences, persisting for over thirty years, structure the urban space by examining the material and immaterial relationships they embody.
Source: Journal of Borderlands Studies
Author: Joanne Choueiri
Institution: Queensland University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7130382291