Building on waste? Extension of former waste mountains (jabal zbeleh, in Arabic) on the sea in Jdeydeh, a northeastern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut © KCC, March 9, 20199
Coastal embankments in Lebanon
Between metabolic disturbances, waste crisis management and extracted material flows
Joëlle ABOU ISSA (Géographie-cités / Laboratoire de Recherche en Architecture, Environnement et Développement Durable de l’Université Libanaise) will present her doctoral thesis in geography, architecture and landscapes entitled “Coastal embankments in Lebanon: between metabolic disturbances, waste crisis management and extracted material flows”, supervised by Nada CHBAT and Éric DENIS
Tuesday, December 10th
2:00 pm
Sorbonne Center
Salle Duroselle – Galerie J.B. Dumas
14 rue Cujas
75005 Paris
If you would like to attend the presentation, either face-to-face or remotely, and join in the drinks reception afterwards, please fill in this form as soon as possible: https://framaforms.org/soutenance-de-these-joelle-abou-issa-10-decembre-2024-14h-1732287575. Given the limited number of seats in the auditorium and the entrance control for people from outside the university, registration is required to gain access to the premises.
Jury
Nadine CATTAN, Research Director, CNRS Laboratoire Géographie-Cités – Jury member
Nada CHBAT, Professor, Lebanese University – Thesis co-director
Valérie CLERC, Research Fellow, Institut de Recherche du Développement (IRD) – Jury member
Éric DENIS, Research Director, CNRS Laboratoire Géographie-Cités – Thesis Co-Director
Nouha GHOSSEINI, Professor Emeritus, Lebanese University – Jury member
Joseph MECARSEL, Professor and Dean of Antonine University – Rapporteur
Roman STADNICKI, Senior Lecturer, HDR, University of Tours – RapporteurAbstract
Abstract
This thesis examines the political economy of embankments in Lebanon. It aims to highlight the close link between the dysfunctions of the waste management system and the urban planning ambitions of the embankments. The latter are articulated by the shifting elites of the political scene from the pre-civil war period to the present. This study traces the transformation of four coastal dumps (jabal zbéleh) into embankments: those in downtown Beirut, Saïda, Borj-Hammoud/Jdeydeh, and Costa-Brava. These sites have, at different times, capitalized on the availability of waste and rubble resulting from the metabolic disruption caused by the war. They have faced political, economic and technical impasses, and in some cases have not yet been completed or valorized to the extent expected. Using a material approach, this research focuses on the profitable circulation of waste through embankments and upstream of major projects.
It demonstrates their capacity to create and transform territories, and to influence the imagination of urban actors. It also examines the often-underestimated potential of the circulation of construction materials around embankments. Seeing through materials and their dynamic circulation around construction sites is a valuable tool that can be used in conjunction with other methodological tools to study the materiality of embankments. The results make it possible to understand the coalitions of actors at play between the political and the economic. They reinforce the idea that the purpose of embankments, which rarely if ever derives from the sale or use of the real estate they generate, lies primarily in the circulation and capture of material flows to generate income and private profit.
