**4.1 Forging a locality's identity**

One of the main tools that was mobilized by the leaders in building their municipal actornetworks is the "locality's identity". This was used to problematize municipal issues. As said earlier problematization defines the universe of instruments from which the bricoleur actor-network will pull out the tools it needs for its action.

For the leaders of the actor-networks, reviving – or even constructing – a sort of local identity is crucial for bringing in other local actors to support their actions and gaining legitimacy of representation in the population's eyes. It is also important to problematize the municipal perimeter and redefine the centralities in it and with the rest of the agglomeration. In fact, asserting a locality's identity is a claim of emergence of a new centrality in the Beirut agglomeration; it is a way to warn the central government and its metropolitan reconstruction project that there is a local dynamic that should be take into consideration. It is also a way to affirm the need to recompose the urban structure according to other normative values.

History's reconstruction has an important role here. Those whose history is linked to that of the locality are the "legitimate" representatives of this locality while the others are often stigmatised as intruders and usurpers. The same goes for geography. Places do not have the same "weight": some places hold a certain symbolic or strategic importance for the population or more specific groups. Focusing on the importance of these places in the identity of the locality and the need to protect it and develop it, through conservation or projects, is a way to get new actors involved in the municipal actors-network.

If we look at the municipal discourse in Chiyah, we see a thoroughly constructed locality's identity. In the municipal publications, Chiyah's history is that of the traditional clans. The historic notables are presented as a pantheon of great leaders. The heavy antagonism that marked the relations between the family clans is here absent. Next to these notables a large place is given to the religious institutions and mainly the priests of the Maronite parish of Chiyah. However there were also a lot of absentees in this discourse, especially the war years. It is only presented as a dark period that brought destruction to the locality and which memory should be shunned away. The parties, the displaced and the squatters of the war are all absent. All these groups may contest in a way or the other the legitimacy and relevance of the municipal discourse by providing different versions of the "history" the core members of the actor-network are trying to impose on Chiyah.

The Chiyah's actor-network provides also his own version of the geography of Chiyah. Chiyah West and Aïn AlRemeneh are names given during the war to the neighbourhood controlled by the parties. These names are totally absent from the official municipal discourse. The leadership of the network resuscitates old names of these areas, names that are particularly relevant to the family clans whose own histories are affiliated to these toponymies. These toponymies were a way to reclaim these areas. In any case, the central message is clear: Chiyah is indivisible and all neighbourhoods in its municipal perimeter represent a one and single unity that should be reunited again despite the war scars around the traditional elements of historical and geographical centrality.

One of the main tools that was mobilized by the leaders in building their municipal actornetworks is the "locality's identity". This was used to problematize municipal issues. As said earlier problematization defines the universe of instruments from which the bricoleur

For the leaders of the actor-networks, reviving – or even constructing – a sort of local identity is crucial for bringing in other local actors to support their actions and gaining legitimacy of representation in the population's eyes. It is also important to problematize the municipal perimeter and redefine the centralities in it and with the rest of the agglomeration. In fact, asserting a locality's identity is a claim of emergence of a new centrality in the Beirut agglomeration; it is a way to warn the central government and its metropolitan reconstruction project that there is a local dynamic that should be take into consideration. It is also a way to affirm the need to recompose the urban structure according

History's reconstruction has an important role here. Those whose history is linked to that of the locality are the "legitimate" representatives of this locality while the others are often stigmatised as intruders and usurpers. The same goes for geography. Places do not have the same "weight": some places hold a certain symbolic or strategic importance for the population or more specific groups. Focusing on the importance of these places in the identity of the locality and the need to protect it and develop it, through conservation or

If we look at the municipal discourse in Chiyah, we see a thoroughly constructed locality's identity. In the municipal publications, Chiyah's history is that of the traditional clans. The historic notables are presented as a pantheon of great leaders. The heavy antagonism that marked the relations between the family clans is here absent. Next to these notables a large place is given to the religious institutions and mainly the priests of the Maronite parish of Chiyah. However there were also a lot of absentees in this discourse, especially the war years. It is only presented as a dark period that brought destruction to the locality and which memory should be shunned away. The parties, the displaced and the squatters of the war are all absent. All these groups may contest in a way or the other the legitimacy and relevance of the municipal discourse by providing different versions of the "history" the

The Chiyah's actor-network provides also his own version of the geography of Chiyah. Chiyah West and Aïn AlRemeneh are names given during the war to the neighbourhood controlled by the parties. These names are totally absent from the official municipal discourse. The leadership of the network resuscitates old names of these areas, names that are particularly relevant to the family clans whose own histories are affiliated to these toponymies. These toponymies were a way to reclaim these areas. In any case, the central message is clear: Chiyah is indivisible and all neighbourhoods in its municipal perimeter represent a one and single unity that should be reunited again despite the war scars around

projects, is a way to get new actors involved in the municipal actors-network.

core members of the actor-network are trying to impose on Chiyah.

the traditional elements of historical and geographical centrality.

**4. The construction of municipal actor-networks** 

actor-network will pull out the tools it needs for its action.

**4.1 Forging a locality's identity** 

to other normative values.

The construction of the locality's identity in Ghobeiri is at the extreme opposite of that of Chiyah. The history of the locality is that of the resistance. A resistance that goes beyond Hezbollah's fight against Israeli occupation, to be "that of the oppressed, against any occupation". This discourse allows to aggregate a large majority of the population of Ghobeiri while at the same time ridicules the claims of the family clans opposition that seem reactive and egocentric in front of such a national and noble cause. Two other aspects of Ghobeiri history are emphasized. On one hand, the "religious piety" of its population and the number of clerics and religious scholars born here, to emphasize a continuity with the conservatism and religiosity of the party. On the other hand, the picturesque village and green areas before the massive urbanization of the 60s and the "irresponsible urban policies" of the central authorities that destroyed this "haven of peace".

This last point, emphasizing a geographical reading of the historical identity of Ghobeiri, is linked to the central challenge for the municipal actor-network: the Elyssar project. Elyssar is a large urban development project in the suburbs of Beirut, one of the development projects of the metropolitan reconstruction strategy of the central government. It is put under the jurisdiction of a special public agency specially created for this purpose. The political stalemate on the national level in the late nineties gave a stop to the project but kept the project zone under the authority of Elyssar public agency. However, this zone includes very large areas of Ghobeiri, its main real-estates reserves and the seashore. It is also composed of large informal settlements. The municipal actor-network depicts this as in the continuity of "irresponsible policies" of the national authorities, especially since it leaves the informal settlements with no assistance and deprives the municipality from intervening in this strategic sector.

In Furn AlChebbak, the locality's identity is constructed pretty much as that of Chiyah: family clans' history, a prominent place for the Maronite parish and a resuscitation of the old toponymies. Here too the toponymy is a way for local actors to reclaim the different neighbourhoods. However, the actor-network core actors have gone a step further than Chiyah's actor-network, by changing the name of the locality in order that the three large neighbourhoods that form Furn AlChebbak find their place in it. This would be anecdotic if it wasn't one of the first measures of this municipality. This is related to the fact that family clans are much linked to one or the other neighbourhoods. Those family clans, at the centre of the actor-network want to stress this linkage and to confirm symbolically the geography they're promoting. This "federalization" of the geography of the locality had then its rationale in the structure of the municipal actor-network and its governance. However, it had its impact on the way this actor-network will construct its urban planning agenda.

In fact, the new geographies promoted by the three actor-networks have a similar impact on urban planning. They aim to transform the municipal perimeter that lost all significance in the war into a territory. This situation is different from the first historical development of the municipalities in Lebanon at the turn of the twentieth century. Back then, the family clans were the only political actors in the localities and their claim on the municipal perimeter was unquestioned. The new municipal actor-networks in these suburbs faced a multitude of conflictual appropriations and actors contesting their representativeness. Negating the existing territorialisations and imposing a new top-down territorialisation is here much in the continuity of the normative physical planning that modernizing nation-states tried to impose on their national territory. This implicates a holistic vision of the territory and a large systemic project to develop it.

Bricolage Planning: Understanding Planning in a Fragmented City 111

the public initiative, the development project bets on private sector initiatives. The project of the Maronite parish – an important landlord in this neighbourhood – to build several

However, this project necessitated first the resolution of the displaced and squatters issues, by restoring their rights in this neighbourhood to the first, and providing indemnities to the latter. This will later show a critical issue that will hinder the whole development project the municipal actor-network was counting on. The development project was never officialised in any document. It was a set of projects and actions put together conjointly and in complementarity by different actors. We will elaborate on the project in the next section. But we can say here that in urban planning terms and for pragmatic reasons, we have a smooth slide from the normative physical planning perspective of the locality's identity to an

The urban project is a plurivocal term that encompasses very different situations (Toussaint & Zimmermann, 1998; Mangin & Panerai, 1999; Ingallina, 2001, Pinson, 2009). Its main characteristic is a strong anchorage in the local, a place, that is seen as the starting point of the project. The urban project is a return to the materiality of the urban. It is a countermovement to the resolute abstraction of earlier urban planning to found planning on material reality. But it also has a communicative dimension where the project becomes a "*mediation apt to make emerge a form of collective life since it articulates a mental representation to a significant appropriation of the material world*" (Rémy in Toussaint & Zimmermann, 1998). Consequently, it is usually an open to public-private complementarity and partnerships. All these dimensions are present in the urban development project of the municipal actornetwork of Chiyah. Through this project the municipal actor-network hopes to make emerge from the local a centrality that could position the locality on the metropolitan level and at

The case of Ghobeiri is largely different. The municipal actor-network chose the confrontation path. In fact, there was no room for compromise. The negotiations between the central government, Amal and Hezbollah around the Elyssar project arrived to a deadend in the nineties, and the positions of the different stakeholders were still the same. On the other hand, it was not acceptable to have a negotiation between a central government and a municipality on this issue after the stalemate of the project. The municipal actor-network who wanted to "conquer back" its municipal perimeter had opted to two strategies. The first is what we call here a "guerrilla urban planning" in order to change, bit by bit, facts on the

In fact, as in the case of Chiyah, the municipal actor-network of Ghobeiri, even with the backing of the party, had no enough power to impose its will on a government led project. On the other hand, even if the Resistance based discourse on the locality's identity was well received in the informal settlements of Elyssar, these neighbourhoods are traditional Amal influence zones. The political goal of the "guerrilla urban planning" strategy is to gain support of the population and render the application of the project more difficult. This "guerrilla urban planning" in its applications could be in a way assimilated to Davidoff's (1965) advocacy planning. As in advocacy planning a certain technical expertise was

residential, offices and retail units in this area, was in this sense.

"urban project" perspective.

**4.2.2 Guerilla urban planning** 

the same time federate its different actors together.

ground. The second is what we can call the "modernizing path".

It can be seen in the case of the three municipalities that the issue of local identity develops before any vision is proposed to the territory. It seems as an initiator for building a network that could then be mobilized to imagine and defend a project. The fight for defining a locality's identity could best be understood in a governance perspective. Asserting the legitimate representativeness of the municipal actor-networks and mobilising local actors into coalition building to compensate the shortcomings and limitations of the municipal institution and assemble the needed resources for action. These actor-networks, in 1998, tended to reclaim their "rights" on all their municipal perimeters. Instrumentally speaking they knew that they lacked the usual urban planning tools to back these claims. Even more importantly, they were incapable of imposing such projects on the different local actors.

#### **4.2 The municipal vision: Positioning the municipal actor-network strategy**

The three municipal actor-networks have opted to three different positions in the way to overcome the resistances to their claims over their municipal perimeters. The municipal vision is central in this positioning. The municipal vision is, after the locality's identity, the "second half" of the municipal discourse. What we call here a municipal vision is a number of statements that could represent a more or less cohesive body of ideas of what are the major objectives this municipal actor-network is defending and what he hopes to achieve for the locality. Each municipal vision could be decomposed in a series of projects and actions. These projects and actions are of various kinds. Some are development projects including construction or restoration of public – sometimes private – buildings, public spaces, facilities and monuments. It may well be autonomous projects restricted to one or the other of these actions. In addition to these projects, we can also consider a diversity of actions in the governance, social and cultural fields. What brings all these projects and actions together and inscribe them in a vision are the more or less clear objectives they answer to.

#### **4.2.1 Place-making urban planning**

In the case of Chiyah, though the municipal actor-network had a strong implementation in the Aïn AlRemeneh neighbourhood, it was practically disconnected from the actors and actants of Chiyah West. In this area, the Shiite communitarian party Amal had strong support and was well present. The municipal actor-network was in no position to impose a top-down project on this party, neither on the population of Shiite community in Chiyah West. Consequently, the municipal actor-network of Chiyah chose to go down the road of the compromise. The municipal vision it presented was a way to seal this compromise.

The municipal actor-network in Chiyah first concern was to overcome the stigmas of the war and its consequences, mainly the tension on the demarcation line. Turning this area of tension into a place of encounter and openness between the southern and the south-eastern suburbs seemed the only reasonable way to provide sustainable peace and chances for development. To do so, the municipal actor-network had to enrol significant actors from Chiyah West. The municipal vision had precisely this role. This vision proposed the rise of an economic and functional centrality on the demarcation line. The main tool here was a large scale development project and included: the restoration of the old village centre neighbourhood destroyed by the war and cut by the demarcation line, the construction of different public facilities and of a public housing project, and the backing of the development of an existing dynamic souk in Chiyah West near the demarcation line. Next to

It can be seen in the case of the three municipalities that the issue of local identity develops before any vision is proposed to the territory. It seems as an initiator for building a network that could then be mobilized to imagine and defend a project. The fight for defining a locality's identity could best be understood in a governance perspective. Asserting the legitimate representativeness of the municipal actor-networks and mobilising local actors into coalition building to compensate the shortcomings and limitations of the municipal institution and assemble the needed resources for action. These actor-networks, in 1998, tended to reclaim their "rights" on all their municipal perimeters. Instrumentally speaking they knew that they lacked the usual urban planning tools to back these claims. Even more importantly, they were incapable of imposing such projects on the different local actors.

**4.2 The municipal vision: Positioning the municipal actor-network strategy** 

and inscribe them in a vision are the more or less clear objectives they answer to.

In the case of Chiyah, though the municipal actor-network had a strong implementation in the Aïn AlRemeneh neighbourhood, it was practically disconnected from the actors and actants of Chiyah West. In this area, the Shiite communitarian party Amal had strong support and was well present. The municipal actor-network was in no position to impose a top-down project on this party, neither on the population of Shiite community in Chiyah West. Consequently, the municipal actor-network of Chiyah chose to go down the road of the compromise. The municipal vision it presented was a way to seal this compromise.

The municipal actor-network in Chiyah first concern was to overcome the stigmas of the war and its consequences, mainly the tension on the demarcation line. Turning this area of tension into a place of encounter and openness between the southern and the south-eastern suburbs seemed the only reasonable way to provide sustainable peace and chances for development. To do so, the municipal actor-network had to enrol significant actors from Chiyah West. The municipal vision had precisely this role. This vision proposed the rise of an economic and functional centrality on the demarcation line. The main tool here was a large scale development project and included: the restoration of the old village centre neighbourhood destroyed by the war and cut by the demarcation line, the construction of different public facilities and of a public housing project, and the backing of the development of an existing dynamic souk in Chiyah West near the demarcation line. Next to

**4.2.1 Place-making urban planning** 

The three municipal actor-networks have opted to three different positions in the way to overcome the resistances to their claims over their municipal perimeters. The municipal vision is central in this positioning. The municipal vision is, after the locality's identity, the "second half" of the municipal discourse. What we call here a municipal vision is a number of statements that could represent a more or less cohesive body of ideas of what are the major objectives this municipal actor-network is defending and what he hopes to achieve for the locality. Each municipal vision could be decomposed in a series of projects and actions. These projects and actions are of various kinds. Some are development projects including construction or restoration of public – sometimes private – buildings, public spaces, facilities and monuments. It may well be autonomous projects restricted to one or the other of these actions. In addition to these projects, we can also consider a diversity of actions in the governance, social and cultural fields. What brings all these projects and actions together the public initiative, the development project bets on private sector initiatives. The project of the Maronite parish – an important landlord in this neighbourhood – to build several residential, offices and retail units in this area, was in this sense.

However, this project necessitated first the resolution of the displaced and squatters issues, by restoring their rights in this neighbourhood to the first, and providing indemnities to the latter. This will later show a critical issue that will hinder the whole development project the municipal actor-network was counting on. The development project was never officialised in any document. It was a set of projects and actions put together conjointly and in complementarity by different actors. We will elaborate on the project in the next section. But we can say here that in urban planning terms and for pragmatic reasons, we have a smooth slide from the normative physical planning perspective of the locality's identity to an "urban project" perspective.

The urban project is a plurivocal term that encompasses very different situations (Toussaint & Zimmermann, 1998; Mangin & Panerai, 1999; Ingallina, 2001, Pinson, 2009). Its main characteristic is a strong anchorage in the local, a place, that is seen as the starting point of the project. The urban project is a return to the materiality of the urban. It is a countermovement to the resolute abstraction of earlier urban planning to found planning on material reality. But it also has a communicative dimension where the project becomes a "*mediation apt to make emerge a form of collective life since it articulates a mental representation to a significant appropriation of the material world*" (Rémy in Toussaint & Zimmermann, 1998). Consequently, it is usually an open to public-private complementarity and partnerships. All these dimensions are present in the urban development project of the municipal actornetwork of Chiyah. Through this project the municipal actor-network hopes to make emerge from the local a centrality that could position the locality on the metropolitan level and at the same time federate its different actors together.
