A freelance writer, researcher and consultant on contemporary urbanism, with specific research interests including public space and the public realm, and community-based participatory planning. Before completing the MSc in Urbanisation and Development at the London School of Economics, she was the recipient of the Revson Fellowship at Columbia University and was the founder and director of DreamYard's ACTION project, an arts and social justice program for teenagers in Bronx, New York.
How can we reimagine a public space divided by civil war, sectarianism and redevelopment? Rather than sophisticated urban design, Tanya Gallo argues that allowing public space to retain its indeterminacy will keep it accessible for all citizens.
Martyrs' Square was the focal point for the 2005 demonstrations that saw Syria relinquish control of Lebanon. How do its citizens now regard this polarising space, and how should placemakers respond? Tanya Gallo investigates.
In the first of three articles, Tanya Gallo explores the capitalist redevelopment of downtown Beirut, and how it is threatening to create new segregations between the wealthy and the general public.
