Beirut's Shiite bastion revives after 2006 war

[Abou Sandal]

Originally Posted by FBM

We are in 2009... and how can you explain the illegal building?

There are legal buildings in Lebanon?

[Dalzi]

For the smarties talking about illegal buildings; go live next to Israel so that we can see where you're going to end up building.

It's pathetic indeed.

As for electricity bills not being paid, spare me the hypocrisy and lies and go get some knowledge, or should I say education?

[Tararamtamtam]

The recontruction of Dahyeh is a very special case, legally speaking...

To start with some history, Dahyeh was a rural area which became labeled in the Ecochard Beirut master plan as a high income lightly urbanized suburb for the wealthy of Beirut... This plan started to be applied, and the high-end resorts ont the coasts of Dahyeh were a proof of that... Saint Simon, now Ouza3i is one of these...

However, many people were starting to come to Beirut, leaving their villages for the city, mainly from the south... A similar flow happened towards the eastern suburbs of Beirut, in Dekweneh, Bourj Hamoud, Nabaa, etc. This applied a growing demographic pressure on the southern suburbs, which increased exponentially with the war, as refugees from the south and eastern suburbs started converging towards the Beirut... This caused a hectic development of the area, which didnt follow the established rules and plan, with buildings built on small lots, without the necessary set back, and far beyond the maximal height and built-up volume... So technically, many of the buildings built at that time were illegal...

However, after the war, a special law was voted and the government legalized all buildings that were built, on one condition: that any new building built in the area, either on an empty lot or replacing a previous building, should follow the rules of the master plan... This has been perfectly applied, it's enough to see the newly developed western side of dahiyeh to notice that...

However, after the israeli war on Lebanon, another special case emerged... Tens of thousands of people were made homeless and a solution needed to be found quickly... Problem: if the buildings were to be re-built according to the standards of the master plan, which requires less density, only about half of the people would have been able to come back to Dahyeh... As a result, another special law was voted, allowing for this time only, the reconstruction of the buildings the way they were, same volume, same height, same footprint, etc. whether they fit or not into the standards of the plan... In this way, every individual could take back exactly the amount of living or commercial place that he/she lost in the war and no one would be forced to live elsewhere...

Now my problem with that is not about the legality or not of the situation... Everything is happening legaly since the government gave its official and legal approval... My problem is that there were other possibilities to preserve the previous densities and population, while still bettering the standards of living in Dahiyeh, by providing solutions to lack of parking, by bettering the circulation system, by opening large public open areas and giving more opportunity for pedestrian circulation, by respecting the minimal requirements that would avoid dark, humid streets and strong exposure of one building to another... It was a missed opportunity to act according to a fresh perspective in lebanese urban planning...

You can read a short publication, by Mona Fawaz and Marwan Ghandour and the ARD department at AUB: "The reconstruction of Haret Hreik, Design Options for Improving the Livability of the Neighborhood"

[Shuyu3i]

Is dahiye in beirut or in baabda?
What districts does it include? Bourj Hammoud?

[ius]

Originally Posted by Tararamtamtam

The recontruction of Dahyeh is a very special case, legally speaking...

To start with some history, Dahyeh was a rural area which became labeled in the Ecochard Beirut master plan as a high income lightly urbanized suburb for the wealthy of Beirut... This plan started to be applied, and the high-end resorts ont the coasts of Dahyeh were a proof of that... Saint Simon, now Ouza3i is one of these...

However, many people were starting to come to Beirut, leaving their villages for the city, mainly from the south... A similar flow happened towards the eastern suburbs of Beirut, in Dekweneh, Bourj Hamoud, Nabaa, etc. This applied a growing demographic pressure on the southern suburbs, which increased exponentially with the war, as refugees from the south and eastern suburbs started converging towards the Beirut... This caused a hectic development of the area, which didnt follow the established rules and plan, with buildings built on small lots, without the necessary set back, and far beyond the maximal height and built-up volume... So technically, many of the buildings built at that time were illegal...

However, after the war, a special law was voted and the government legalized all buildings that were built, on one condition: that any new building built in the area, either on an empty lot or replacing a previous building, should follow the rules of the master plan... This has been perfectly applied, it's enough to see the newly developed western side of dahiyeh to notice that...

However, after the israeli war on Lebanon, another special case emerged... Tens of thousands of people were made homeless and a solution needed to be found quickly... Problem: if the buildings were to be re-built according to the standards of the master plan, which requires less density, only about half of the people would have been able to come back to Dahyeh... As a result, another special law was voted, allowing for this time only, the reconstruction of the buildings the way they were, same volume, same height, same footprint, etc. whether they fit or not into the standards of the plan... In this way, every individual could take back exactly the amount of living or commercial place that he/she lost in the war and no one would be forced to live elsewhere...

Now my problem with that is not about the legality or not of the situation... Everything is happening legaly since the government gave its official and legal approval... My problem is that there were other possibilities to preserve the previous densities and population, while still bettering the standards of living in Dahiyeh, by providing solutions to lack of parking, by bettering the circulation system, by opening large public open areas and giving more opportunity for pedestrian circulation, by respecting the minimal requirements that would avoid dark, humid streets and strong exposure of one building to another... It was a missed opportunity to act according to a fresh perspective in lebanese urban planning...

You can read a short publication, by Mona Fawaz and Marwan Ghandour and the ARD department at AUB: "The reconstruction of Haret Hreik, Design Options for Improving the Livability of the Neighborhood"

Don't worry too much about this. There will be more wars and certainly after one of them the rebuilding will be done right.

[Danny Z]

Originally Posted by Shuyu3i

Is dahiye in beirut or in baabda?
What districts does it include? Bourj Hammoud?

it spans from iklim el teffe7 to iklim el batata passing by rib3 el khali under jisr el lawziyyé

[CPE]

Originally Posted by The Jade

Ummm....yes they do.....
And they do it pretty good actually.

But let's not fool ourselves, this is not a model to follow.
Maybe they're doing a good job, but they're not here because there are not enough policemen, it's because they took their place which is unacceptable

no thats not true!! these guys appeared just after July war!! when everything was destroyed and streets got really crowded so they had to organize themselves!!!
HA asked several times to increase the number of the Darak... but nothing happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and just couple of days ago.. they went to Rifi and Shakoor and asked for an increase in the number!

[CPE]

Originally Posted by ius

Don't worry too much about this. There will be more wars and certainly after one of them the rebuilding will be done right.

And at that time... you will also need to rebuild ur destroyed cities but guess what.. u will never be able to!!! Trust me!!! ;)

[teshesh]

dahye isn't a homogeneous block from east to west, north to south.
there are huge disparities inside dahye itself socially and economically. i was familiar with the haret hreik part of dahiye for long time.
but in the last 2 years i had several occasions to visit other parts. when you go to areas like hay el sellom and laylaki you can only be shocked by the very low standards of living, the lack (non existence) of infrastructure and by the randomness that people are living in. there, you CAN find the electricity theft, illegal construction, non registered cars, .... in other words, you can find the dahiye that haters and racists are diffusing 24/7 and trying to generalize on the 700.000 human beings.
i think that the efforts should be distributed among all the neighborhoods specially the ones that need it the most. while what is being done is concentrating all those efforts in the west/north sectors of dahiye, that have already very good living standards.

[Tararamtamtam]

Originally Posted by teshesh

dahye isn't a homogeneous block from east to west, north to south.
there are huge disparities inside dahye itself socially and economically. i was familiar with the haret hreik part of dahiye for long time.
but in the last 2 years i had several occasions to visit other parts. when you go to areas like hay el sellom and laylaki you can only be shocked by the very low standards of living, the lack (non existence) of infrastructure and by the randomness that people are living in. there, you CAN find the electricity theft, illegal construction, non registered cars, .... in other words, you can find the dahiye that haters and racists are diffusing 24/7 and trying to generalize on the 700.000 human beings.
i think that the efforts should be distributed among all the neighborhoods specially the ones that need it the most. while what is being done is concentrating all those efforts in the west/north sectors of dahiye, that have already very good living standards.

Exactly... For example, if you check any map that shows the footprints (outlines) of the buildings, anyone would notice that the western part of Dahiyeh, mainly located between the old airport road and the Haret Hreik main street is half less dense than areas which developed during times of war and state carelessness... The mass/void distribution there is perfectly comparable to any new neighbourhood in or around Beirut...

On a side note, those that like to take cheap and generalizing shots at Dahyeh's illegal buildings should start looking under their front door... Indeed, one of the highest concentration of illegal buildings is the Keserwan coast, with Jounieh being the extreme example with around 50% of buildings built agaisnt legal standards... Just to focus on the shoreline, if the law was to be applied, all resorts on the Jounieh souk, all of maameltein, most of tabarja, along with Holiday beach, Rimal, Siwar or Samaya would be destroyed :)