The world is urbanizing continuously and at a vast rate. The United Nations predicts that by 2030 more than half of the world population will be living in cities. About thirty five percent of Lebanon’s inhabitants live in Beirut and its suburbs. This dense city that continues to densify at a rapid scale raises several concerns one of which is food security.
Food
security has taken the forefront in many debates recently and has also
been placed in the millennium development goals. Yet except for some
student interest and a few workshops and course work funded at the
American University of Beirut this debate has not been addressed and no
clear action or government proposals or initiatives can be found.
To
address food security for Beirut planners, policy makers, and municipal
officials need to reevaluate the potential of urban agriculture.
1923 map of Beirut http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lla146X4eX1qgzjpgo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1310980712&Signature=80Fq66T7dBs5MLH3api4SrFSgXQ%3D |
Beirut’s urban agriculture
Beirut
had a long and eventful history which makes its city plans and growth
difficult to study in detail and categorize. Yet taking a set of maps
from different periods shows a growth of the city that can be
characterized as unplanned especially from 1980s onward during which
the city’s political problems were exacerbated by a civil war that
over‐densified the city and caused the over‐taking of the agriculture
zone.
Beirut
is compromised of 60% of the urban population of Lebanon and almost
five times the population of the second largest city in Lebanon,
Tripoli. Its estimated population has reached 2 million, however, only a
century ago the population of the city was barely 6000.
“The
scale and scope of urbanization has overcome the city's resources and
ability to effectively supply the increasing demand for urban space
“(macalester.edu, 2010).
The case of urban agriculture in the city:
This
unplanned expansion took over Beirut’s outer suburbs and informally
urbanized them. The few urban agriculture plots are located in Chouifat
and extend into hay al selloum , the Nahr Beirut area, the
"Metropolitan" hotel area and Daychuniyyeh Valley. The largest of which
is Hay al selloum/ chouifat edge.
Beiruts Southern suburbs
Hay
El Selloum, a neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut which is
an informal settlement that grew from an olive grove to one of the
densest neighborhoods in Lebanon. The area houses about 15 percent of
the population of Beirut today.
Hay al Selloum: evolution from a productive land to an ‘unhealthy’ dense urban fragment
Phase 1: INDEPENDENCE (1943) TO 1970
Lebanon:
Hay
al Selloum is located in Beirut the capital of Lebanon. Lebanon’s
history is unique in that its independence from the French rule in 1943
did not introduce a process of nation building characterized by planning
agencies and welfare state promises that most post colonial societies
attempted on achieving. Instead, the state committed itself to ultimate
liberalism with total disregard to the public sector (Gaspard 2004).
The historical and blind faith in the “free market” has continually
translated by the reluctance and weak interventions of the Lebanese
government and the provision of services, including the provision of
housing (Sadik 1996).
During
that 1970s, the olive groves and agriculture land of Hay al Selloum
were being transformed into an area for low-income shelter for refugees.
The area is between the airport and the industrial zone of Choueifat. A
15-minute car ride takes the residents into the central district of
Beirut. The area was mostly controlled by Druze and Christian families
that owned the land or inherited it. As land value in the area
rose the agricultural land was transformed into one of the most
congested residential areas in Beirut, with a density of 1400people\ha
in 1999 (Fawaz, 2005) .
Phase2: informal markets (1975-1990)
The
Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) divided the country and Beirut into two
parts along religious lines. During that time, little planning
interventions were conducted. This phase is characterized by greater
violations of public regulations. As a result the area was unplanned and
the market encourages a total disregard to agriculture and the economy
it generated for the city, neighborhood and residents.
Phase 3: post-war phase(1992) – legal developments
Lebanon:
Since
the end of the civil war, the devastation did not change the states
historic faith in the market. Instead of recognizing the need to build a
nation, by strengthening its institutions, in addition to housing
interventions, that were much needed, the state limited itself to two
reconstruction projects (Najem 2000).
The
first is the national emergency plan (NERP), which is a five-year plan
and the second is the Plan Horizon 2005. These projects focused on only
physical infrastructure that was limited to airport, highways, water and
electricity systems and large-scale touristic projects, like renovating
the city’s urban core into a high-end business district for the
international elite.
The
implications of this situation shaped the third face of urbanization in
Hay al Selloum further. The developers who had taken control of the
market in such a high-risk situation were after making money. They
created large-scale multi story housing complexes that began as legal
projects with formalized permits and increased by a system of informal
land subdivision.
The disappearing of
most urban agriculture in a 30 years’ time frame destroyed a healthy
urban economic and ecological system. The lack of government
institutions to recognize the cities potential in the organic system it
had in the 1950s of embedding the urban agriculture with its urban
ecosystem continues today.
Previously Beiruts urban agriculture included
1- the use of typical urban resources such as organic waste as compost
2- the use of urban waste water for irrigation as early as the 1960s
3- In addition urban residents especially women worked as laborers in the fields.
4- direct links with consumers and vibrant healthy food markets
5- plus being part of the urban food systems created decreased urban poverty and increased urban food security
6- solved problems with the disposal of urban wastes and waste water
7- Maintained air and river qualities.
Past present and Future
The
case shows how the lack of government initiatives and problems with
land tenure and market land prices make urban agriculture rarer in
cities like Beirut. Moreover hardly controlled imported crops and
competition with them also make the agriculture sector in Lebanon weak.
Several steps can be taken to encourage urban agriculture. These may
include protection and promotion of urban agriculture by the government.
In addition planners may also encourage that all empty plots including
all municipal and ‘wakf’ land become productive fields. Crops planted in
the city and sold in the city should also be subsidized which will
increase demand and encourage other plot owners to plant crops.
Finally, plant some parsley, mint, and tomatoes on your balcony. I just
did …ill post a picture of my tomatoes plant next time
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Reference: http://spatiallyjustenvironmentsbeirut.blogspot.com
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