Solidere's Downtown Project In The Context Of Post-Civil War Beirut's Urban Transformation Discussions

Abstract

War and systematic political violence, which serve the purpose of establishing hegemony and control over the city for states, communities or existing governments, have a significant impact on shaping these dynamic systems. As in the case of the capital Beirut, which became the center and target of political conflicts in the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War and was also exposed to the direct or indirect effects of this sociological process. The city, whose social and urban geography was divided by war, In the post-civil war period, strategic intervention forms have been developed under the name of urban transformation, on the basis of managing the physical, natural and built environment, ensuring the integrity of the human environment, protecting the right to life, understanding and improving the economic, ecological, social and urban environmental destruction. In the study, the zoning planning of Beirut, which is discussed in the context of four different urban transformation projects guided by neoliberal property developer denial policies and political-ideological structuring, will be discussed primarily through Linord, Elyssar and even the Al Waad project, which is the reason for Elyssar's existence. The main purpose, organizational form, practical political consequences of Hezbollah's Al Waad project, which is especially important in the context of 'on-site transformation', will be evaluated by discussing its impact on the Shiite people in the Haret Hreik subjective of Dahiyya (Dahieh), the southern suburb where the project is implemented. Later, the purpose of establishment of Solidere (Societé Libanaise, le Développement et la Reconstruction de la Center Ville de Beyrouth), based in Beirut city (El Bourj/Downtown), which was designed to deny the personal memory of the war, its vision, functioning, envisaged strategy, differences, method and its techniques will be analyzed in detail and evaluated in a cause-effect relationship, whether it is a project approved on a global and city scale. In addition, whether the Solidere project, which was implemented with the claim of social reconciliation, ensures urban and social integrity in line with its strategic political aim, the positive and negative effects of the project on the city and its people within the framework of urban transformation practices and purposes, whether the urbicide implementation strategy is a form of political war/violence against the city. An attempt will be made to examine whether it is.