Beirut’s Riverside Marginal Landscape: The Case Study of Mkalles Industrial Area
Conference “The place that remains: Recounting the un-built territory”. Lebanese American University. March 23-24, 2018
There is an odd case of cohabitation happening along the riverside of Beirut, a situation in which what remains of the agricultural lands now residual and unused, floats around the remains of an industrial area already in decay. Throughout continuous and progressive urbanization along with a sense of necessity for industrialization, the riverside area of Mkalles have witnessed a complete mutation from an agricultural area to a densely urbanized industrial one. This paper aims to problematize the marginal nature of Riverside areas such as Mkalles industrial area (MIA), in comparison to the existence of somehow “active” industrial activity located within its edges surrounded by what remains from the agricultural heritage now given place to unused terraces and abandoned fields overtaken by dense vegetation. This paper builds on a review of approaches towards the concept of appropriation of marginalized urban spaces focusing on renaturalization as a specific mode of space transformation.
By examining the specificities of unused vacant land and degrading industrial facilities and the role they could play in enhancing the relationship of the area to its context, this paper will attempt to examine the impact of these urban transformations on cities’ urban fabric and the sustainable revitalization this form of transformation might have on society. Throughout this paper, the re-naturalization process in the form of space appropriation and the components necessary for the activation of such residual spaces will be defined, and new urban strategies will be discussed. Moreover, this paper will attempt to shed some light upon the status of historical industrial structures v/s the agricultural heritage or what’s left of it along Riverside Beirut. Moreover, this paper will attempt to seek the main actors and interest groups fueling the discussion about industrial/agricultural heritage, and what arguments are being used in the discourse.
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Conference proceedings here
