Segregation for aggregation? The pattern and logic of spatial segregation practices of young

237 Pages·2010·5.05 MB·English

Segregation for aggregation?
The pattern and logic of spatial segregation practices
of young affluent heads of households
in the post-war city of Beirut

A thesis submitted to University College of London
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Nadia Alaily-Mattar

Development Planning Unit
The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
University College of London
2010
Declaration

‘ I, Nadia Alaily-Mattar confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where
information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in
the thesis.'

.................................................................
06 October 2010

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ABSTRACT

This thesis describes, conceptualizes and explains the segregated spatiality of everyday life of
young affluent heads of households in post-war Beirut, Lebanon. It tracks how young affluent heads
of households have come to produce the living spaces of their everyday life in a spatially segregated
way that rejects the local and is stretched out over the totality of the city. Its main objectives are to
contribute to the literature on spatial segregation by (1) conceptualizing segregation in its
residential and non-residential manifestations as actively and passively practiced by a certain
profile of affluent individuals and (2) explaining the logic behind this type of segregation from the
point of view of affluent individuals that are actively pursuing segregation.

This research has utilized an ethnographic research approach that started from observing and
understanding the motivations of individuals who are actively pursuing segregation. Based mainly
on a qualitative research methodology, this research has utilized ethnographic field notes,
qualitative interviews and participant observation with young affluent heads of households. The
findings of this qualitative research have been supported by questionnaires that were distributed in
five elite childcare nurseries in Beirut in which young affluent heads of households were outcropped.
A total of 118 questionnaires were collected.

The four core chapters of this thesis discuss the relationship of affluence to the local place around
the home, to places of play, to non--places and to places of passage in post war Beirut. They
conceptualize the spatiality of affluence in Beirut and propose the concept of the layer as one that
captures the pattern of this spatiality and unlocks its logic. This thesis concludes by raising
questions related to the changing role of neighbourhoods in Beirut and the changing nature of its
urban condition. Indeed, to affluent individuals in Beirut the neighbourhood has become a space
with which they avoid getting in contact, while, paradoxically, the city is perceived as a small
neighbourly space where everyone knows everyone else.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This thesis is the result of some five years of research and writing. I would like to thank all of my
interviewees and informants for their generosity and patience.

In addition, so many people have supported me in the past years. I would like to mention and thank
the following:
Jorge Fiori, my supervisor who has been supportive throughout, my friend Michelle for her valuable
comments, Hanan, and Jolnar my London connections, Soha for her constant encouragement, Oma
whose strength is the source of my inspiration.

My special thanks go out to:
Mom who taught me how to dig for truth beneath the surface, Dad who in our long evening
discussions imbued me with the courage to see things differently, and my two little angels Jana and
Rhea who endured the process of this thesis.

This work is of course far too humble; nevertheless, I would like to dedicate it to you Wajdi with
love and thanks.

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ABREVIATIONS

BMR Beirut Metropolitan Area
GC Gated Communities
GBA Greater Beirut Area
MOE Ministry of Environment
MOSA Ministry of Social Affairs
VSE Voluntary social exclusion

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................... 10

1.1. DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................... 11

1.2. RESEARCH PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................ 12

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES ....................................................................................... 14

1.4. SIGNIFICANCE ................................................................................................................................. 15
CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................. 18

2.1. RESEARCH APPROACH ..................................................................................................................... 18

2.2. METHODS USED: .............................................................................................................................. 20
2.2.1. Choice of subjects of research ................................................................................................... 20
2.2.2. Ethnographic field notes ............................................................................................................ 24
2.2.3. Qualitative interviews and participant observation ................................................................... 26
2.2.4. The questionnaire ...................................................................................................................... 28

2.3. LIMITATIONS AND POSITIONALITY .................................................................................................. 31
CHAPTER 3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON BEIRUT............................................................ 34

3.1. THE RISE AND EVOLUTION OF THE CITY AND BECOMING THE CAPITAL OF MODERN LEBANON ........ 34

3.2. THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, THE DIVISION OF THE CITY ......................................................................... 40

3.3. POST-WAR BEIRUT: THE HARIRI ERA .............................................................................................. 43

3.4. POST-HARIRI BEIRUT ...................................................................................................................... 50

3.5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 54
CHAPTER 4. UNDERSTANDING THE URBAN, NEIGHBOURHOOD AND AFFLUENCE IN
THE CONTEXT OF BEIRUT ....................................................................................................................... 55

4.1. DEFINITIONS OF THE URBAN ............................................................................................................ 55

4.2. WHERE AND WHAT IS BEIRUT? ........................................................................................................ 60

4.3. THE CONCEPT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD ................................................................................................ 68
4.3.1. Physical or social? .................................................................................................................... 69
4.3.2. Different scales .......................................................................................................................... 70
4.3.3. Social ties in neighbourhoods .................................................................................................... 71
4.3.4. Important to whom? ................................................................................................................... 72

4.4. NEIGHBOURHOODS AS SECTARIAN ENCLAVES IN BEIRUT ................................................................ 74

4.5. THE CONCEPT OF AFFLUENCE .......................................................................................................... 81

4.6. AFFLUENCE IN BEIRUT, A MATTER OF CLASS OR LIFESTYLE? .......................................................... 84

4.7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 94
CHAPTER 5. SPATIAL SEGREGATION A LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................. 95

5.1. SPATIAL SEGREGATION AS A SPATIAL AND SOCIAL PHENOMENON ................................................... 95
5.1.1. Spatial segregation and spatial partitioning/divisions .............................................................. 95
5.1.2. Spatial segregation and social exclusion ................................................................................... 96
5.1.3. The limitations of the concept of gated communities ................................................................. 98
5.1.4. The public and the private ....................................................................................................... 100

5.2. FACTORS PROMOTING INCREASED SPATIAL SEGREGATION ............................................................ 105
5.2.1. The trans-nationalization of affluent individuals and the accentuation of their “post modern
fear” (Ellin, 2001) ................................................................................................................................. 105
5.2.2. Efforts to counter democratization tendencies......................................................................... 106
5.2.3. Supply-led segregation? The role of development firms .......................................................... 107
5.2.4. Cities looking for a role in the global economy ....................................................................... 108
5.2.5. Intuitional evolution: Less government, more market ............................................................. 109

5.3. RECENT DEBATES OF SPATIAL SEGREGATION: TWO MAIN PERSPECTIVES AND A THIRD ONE.......... 110
5.3.1. Spatial segregation reflecting the social, spatial and economic divorce of income groups .... 111
5.3.1.1. Defensive, gated, carceral urbanisms ................................................................................. 112
5.3.1.2. “Multiple” urbanisms ......................................................................................................... 114
5.3.1.3. “Revanchist” urbanisms ..................................................................................................... 116
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5.3.2. Spatial segregation alongside the economic interdependence of income groups .................... 117
5.3.2.1. The dual city thesis.............................................................................................................. 117
5.3.2.2. The city of clubs .................................................................................................................. 118
5.3.3. Do social and spatial realities always reflect each other? ...................................................... 118

5.4. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 119
CHAPTER 6. CONCEPTUALIZING THE SEGREGATED SPATIALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
OF YOUNG AFFLUENT HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN BEIRUT: THE LAYER ............................ 121

6.1. THE PROBLEMATICS OF MEASURING SEGREGATION AND THE APPROACH ADOPTED BY THIS

RESEARCH.................................................................................................................................................... 121

6.2. THE CONCEPT OF THE LAYER- THE NETWORKING OF GEOGRAPHICALLY SCATTERED NODES TO

PRODUCE A CONTINUOUS SPATIALITY OF SEGREGATION .............................................................................. 123

6.3. THE NOVELTY OF THIS CONCEPT OF THE LAYER ............................................................................ 124

6.4. OPERATIONALIZING THE CONCEPT OF THE LAYER INTO TERRITORIES AND OBJECTIVES LINKED

THROUGH CORRIDORS .................................................................................................................................. 126

6.5. THE BOUNDARIES ADJUSTING CONCEALMENT AND EXPOSURE: THE MEMBRANE AND THE MASK .. 128

6.6. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 134
CHAPTER 7. AFFLUENCE AND THE HOME IN BEIRUT: FLUCTUATING BETWEEN
EMBEDDEDNESS AND DIS-EMBEDDENESS ....................................................................................... 136

7.1. THE DUAL FUNCTION OF HOME AS A ENABLER OF PRIVACY AND CONTAINER OF A CONGREGATIONAL

SPACE 137

7.2. THE END OF EVERYDAY LIFE NEIGHBOURLINESS- “EL-JIREH”? ..................................................... 145

7.3. THE ROLE OF SECURITY IN FORGING A ROLE FOR OCCASIONAL NEIGHBOURLINESS ....................... 151

7.4. CONCLUSION: FLUCTUATING EMBEDDEDNESS AND DIS-EMBEDDENESS IN THE RESIDENTIAL

CONETXT ..................................................................................................................................................... 155
CHAPTER 8. AFFLUENCE AND THE PLACES OF PLAY AND NON-PLACES IN BEIRUT-
SEARCHING FOR SELECTIVE CONCENTRATION ........................................................................... 157

8.1. A TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF LAYLA .......................................................................................... 158

8.2. THE CONCEPT OF THE OUTING ....................................................................................................... 164

8.3. THE OUTING SITE AS A SEGREGATED PLACE OF PLAY AND CONCENTRATION ................................. 167

8.4. NON-PLACES ................................................................................................................................. 174

8.5. CONCLUSION: SEGREGATION FOR AGGREGATION ......................................................................... 178
CHAPTER 9. AFFLUENCE AND THE PLACES OF PASSAGE IN BEIRUT, PRIVATIZING
MOBILE SPACE ACHIEVE A CONTINUUM OF SEGREGATION .................................................... 181

9.1. THE PRIMACY IN THE USE OF THE PRIVATE CAR AS A MODE OF TRANSPORT .................................. 182

9.2. THE TACTICS: RECURRING ROUTES, DRIVERS AND DOMESTISIZING THE CAR ................................. 186

9.3. HINGE SPACE ................................................................................................................................. 189

9.4. CONCLUSION: MOBILITY AS DETACHMENT AND AS CONNECTIVITY .............................................. 192
CHAPTER 10. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 195

10.1. THE CONCEPT OF THE LAYER AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF SPATIAL SEGREGATION ....... 195

10.2. THE CONTEXT SPECIFICITY OF THE LAYER AS APPLIED ONTO BEIRUT: THE RESIDENTIAL ELEMENT

197

10.3. THE LOGIC OF THE SPATIALITY OF SEGREGATION IN BEIRUT: THE SEARCH FOR CONDITIONAL

PROXIMITY AND CONCENTRATION-INDUCED ADVANTAGES ......................................................................... 199

10.4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BEIRUT FROM DIVIDED CITY TO LAYERED CITY ........................................ 202

10.5. POLICY RELEVANCE ...................................................................................................................... 204

10.6. FUTURE RESEARCH ....................................................................................................................... 206
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 210
WEB-REFERENCES: .................................................................................................................................. 225
APPENDIX 1 226

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Summary of methods used in this research ........................................................... 20
Table 2 Areas in which ethnographic field notes were taken in this research ..................... 25
Table 3 List of case studies interviewed in this research ................................................... 27
Table 4 Profile of questionnaire respondents .................................................................... 30
Table 5 Population of Beirut 1856- 2000 .......................................................................... 40
Table 6 Lebanon's Ten-Year Reconstruction Programme 1992-2003 ................................ 45
Table 7 Population, area and density of different versions of Beirut .................................. 63
Table 8 Conceptions of neighbourhoods ........................................................................... 71
Table 9 Class divisions in Lebanon as per Khuri, 1969 (Source: author) .......................... 87
Table 10 Percentage of class make-up in Lebanon 1959-1994 .......................................... 88
Table 11 Focus of the public/private distinction .............................................................. 103
Table 12 The quartered city as per Marcuse (2002) ......................................................... 116

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TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Terrain Map of the Middle East .......................................................................... 34
Figure 2 Physiognomy of Beirut, with Beirut intra murus shown (Source: Davie, 1987) ... 35
Figure 3 Beirut ca 1841 (Source: Davie, 1987) ................................................................. 36
Figure 4 Expansion of Beirut 1840- 1945 (Source: Gebhardt, 2008) ................................ 39
Figure 5 Beirut green line (Source: Kassir, 2006: 555) ..................................................... 42
Figure 6 Constituents of the “urban” as a concept ............................................................. 60
Figure 7 Municipal Beirut, Metropolitan Beirut ................................................................ 67
Figure 8 Sectarian divisions in Beirut (Source: Gebhardt, 2008) ...................................... 79
Figure 9 The constituent elements of the layer ................................................................ 127
Figure 10 Spatial hierarchy of interaction ....................................................................... 132
Figure 11 Spatial hierarchy of interaction at times of security in the context of home ..... 138
Figure 12 Spatial hierarchy of interaction at times of insecurity in the context of home .. 152
Figure 13 Spatial hierarchy of interaction at spaces of concentration .............................. 168
Figure 14 Spatial hierarchy of interaction at non-spaces ................................................. 175
Figure 15 Spatial hierarchy of interaction on the road ..................................................... 182
Figure 16 Hinge space .................................................................................................... 190
Figure 17 What are the consequences of urban life that is divorced from urban form? .... 208
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Chapter 1. Introduction

The starting point for this research has been the search for understanding the way affluent
individuals have come to appropriate the city of Beirut during the post-war period. In Beirut,
following the end of the civil war, gradually the perception accentuated that groups, or maybe
communities, of up-scale flat dwellers, gated resorts and mall visitors, SUV drivers, luxury
commodities consumers and bar-hoppers etc… that these groups are conspicuously detaching
themselves from their localized spatial and social context, and connecting to largely invisible
networks while being residentially dispersed throughout the city. But how can we
conceptualise this detachment and connectivity? Is it a form of segregation? Is it a form of
spatial and social exclusion? Is it practiced at the residential level only? How can we
conceptualize the emerging spatiality of this type of detachment and connectivity? Why do
affluent individuals seek to detach themselves from their localized contexts and connect to a
dispersed network?

Clearly, one must be careful of the limitations of affluence to be an overarching attribute
capable of grouping individuals into homogeneous groups or entities. Moreover, the
relationship of people to place is quite complex. Several factors impact this relationship such
as gender, age, length of residence and in Beirut specifically sectarian affiliation. With these
reservations in mind, this research chose to focus on the spatial segregation practices of a
selected profile of affluent individuals namely, young affluent heads of households who
formed their households during the after-war period.

This analysis of spatial segregation and aggregation practices relies on ethnographic research
carried out with young affluent heads of households in Beirut in the period between June
2005 and July 2006 and the two months of July and August of 2007. I lived in Beirut during
these periods and conducted participant observation and semi-structured interviews and
distributed questionnaires to different groups of affluent individuals. At the beginning my
primary questions were focused around the relationship of affluent individuals with their
residential context. My questions about the spatiality of everyday life emerged as I
conducted my participant observation methodology of monitoring the everyday life of eleven
affluent heads of households residing in different areas of metropolitan Beirut. This research
also draws on the experience of 118 affluent parents of young children residing in the
metropolitan region of Beirut. These parents were outcropped from a selection of elite private
nurseries operating in municipal Beirut. An extended questionnaire was distributed at these
nurseries with the aim of collecting data on the pattern and logic of spatial segregation
practices of affluent parents of young children.
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