Member

Status / Position

Assistant Professor, School of Architecture of Beirut (USJ-ESAR)

Associated Researcher, UMR 8504 Géographie-cités (CNRS)

Institution

USJ – School of Architecture of Beirut (ESAR)

UMR 8504 Géographie-cités (CNRS)

Research Themes

– Socio-spatial interfaces

– Urban mobility

– Metropolitan centralities

– Urban fragmentation and cohesion

– Territorial practices and everyday geographies

– Urban crises and reconstruction

– Social geography

– Architecture & urbanism

Presentation

Nisrine Mezher is an architect and geographer. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture of Beirut (USJ-ESAR) and an Associated Researcher at UMR 8504 Géographie-cités (CNRS). Her work lies at the intersection of social geography, urban studies, and architecture, focusing on mobility practices, socio-spatial interfaces, and the reconfiguration of centralities in metropolitan contexts marked by crisis, displacement, and fragmentation.

She completed a joint PhD between Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Lebanese University, titled Beirut Between Fragmentation and Cohesion: Reading the Metropolitan Space Through the Notion of Interface, under the supervision of Nadine Cattan and Nada Chbat. Her dissertation offered a relational and practice-based analysis of articulations, ruptures, and territorial practices within Beirut’s metropolitan space.

She subsequently carried out a postdoctoral fellowship within the ANR DITES project at Géographie-cités, studying mobility patterns, micro-centralities, and adaptive strategies developed by residents during periods of instability. Her current research focuses on forced mobility and displacement during the 2024 war in Lebanon, and on reconstruction strategies grounded in socio-spatial continuities, interface analysis, and everyday practices.

At USJ-ESAR, she teaches urban analysis, critical thinking, and architectural design studio, promoting strong links between geographical reasoning and architectural practice.

Teaching Activities

– Urban Analysis & Critical Thinking

– Architecture, City & Territory

– Architecture & Landscape Studio

– Research Methodology and Territorial Studies

– Diploma Studio & Thesis Supervision

Supervision

– Final architecture Diploma Thesis

– Master’s thesis supervision (USJ-ESAR)

– Methodological support for research in geography and urban studies

Scientific Activities

– Postdoctoral Fellow, ANR DITES, UMR 8504 Géographie-cités

– Participation in ANR Action-Liban (2022–2023)

– Socio-spatial fieldwork in Beirut (Ghobeiry, Chiyah, Badaro, Tarik el-Jdideh)

– Presentations at international conferences

– Member of the research axis Espaces, Société, Urbanités

Selected Publications

Mezher, N. (2022). Beirut Between Fragmentation and Cohesion: Reading the Metropolitan Space Through the Notion of Interface. PhD Dissertation.

Mezher, N.; Chbat, N. (2021). Lines of Rupture, Interactions and Territorialities in Beirut’s Public Space. African and Mediterranean Journal of Architecture & Urbanism.

Conference Presentations

Mezher, N. (2020). The Interface in the Urban and Social Fabric of Beirut. Annual International Geography Conference, Athens, Greece.

Education

2017–2022 — PhD in Geography (Joint Degree), Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / Lebanese University. Supervisors: Nadine Cattan & Nada Chbat

2015–2016 — Master of Research – Architecture, Landscape, Territories, Lebanese University

2007–2013 — Master of Architecture, University of Balamand

Contact

Email: nisrine.mezher@usj.edu.lb

Affiliation: USJ-ESAR / UMR 8504 Géographie-cités