Segregation for Aggregation? the Pattern and Logic of Spatial Segregation Practices of Young Affluent Heads of Households in the Post-War City of Beirut
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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 2 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. 3 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. 4 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 5 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 .........................................................