Year
2014 – 2019
Following the development of the Urban Sustainable Development Strategy (USUDS) of Saida, Hariri Foundation partnered with the Municipality of Saida and the Directorate General of Urban Planning in Saida to organize a design charette with national universities and the local community to inform the urban planning carried out in the Eastern Wastani district at the time and envision the future of its urbanization. The three-day charrette engaged faculty and students from the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University, Beirut Arab University, and the Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts with public authorities, architects, planners, and designers. Students and university professors discussed the possible forms of interventions as well as areas to be protected, strengthened, and re-imagined.
Community members also took the time to actively participate in the charette and share their expertise and knowledge. Workshop outcomes, including the interventions of a handful of scholars and student projects, were assembled into the publication, “An Exercise in Visioning and Planning – Al Wastani and The Future Urbanization of Saida,” initiating a public debate and informing consultative sessions on the ongoing planning and potential transformations upon land pooling and parcelization.
