In the first of three articles on the remaking of Martyrs' Square, an intensely political space in downtown Beirut, Tanya Gallo explores the capitalist redevelopment of the city centre, and how it is threatening to create new segregations between the wealthy and the general public in the city's public spaces.
Alan Gilbert doesn't believe there is one, but if one must speak of a global urban agenda, he would point to local private sector lobbies as the common force driving similar agendas in cities around the world.
...but with the Al Maktoum International Airport, the logistics centre in Jebel Ali, and a flourishing of small-scale economic life, evidence would suggest otherwise, as Michele Acuto observes.
While governments remain focused on economic indicators and the image a city projects, writers who wish to remain egalitarian must discount both of these in favour of the basic needs of all people.
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A freelance writer, researcher and consultant on contemporary urbanism, with specific research interests including public space and the public realm…
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
