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Theme Week Beirut – The Central District

Friday, 5 February 2016 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Levant / Levante
Category/Kategorie: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  9 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post The Beirut Central District (BCD) or Centre Ville is the name given to Beirut’s historical and geographical core, the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative hub of the country.” At the heart of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut Central District (BCD) is an area thousands of years old, traditionally a focus of business, finance, culture and leisure. Its reconstruction constitutes one of the most ambitious contemporary urban developments. It is situated on the city’s northern coast and is easily accessible from all parts of the city. This includes the adjacent Beirut Seaport and Rafik Hariri International Airport. Major roads converge on it or from boundaries to the east, south and west, or line its 1.5 km (1 mi) long seafront to the north.

Due to the devastation incurred on the city center from the Lebanese Civil War, the Beirut Central District underwent a thorough reconstruction and development plan that gave it back its cultural and economic position in the region. A master plan for reconstructing the city was officially approved by the Lebanese Government in March 1994, after a series of detailed studies and public and professional seminars and on May 5, 1994, Solidere, The Lebanese company for the development and reconstruction of Beirut Central District was formed, launching the largest urban redevelopment project of the 1990s. Ever since, Beirut Central District has evolved into an integrated business and commercial environment and the focus of the financial activity in the region. That evolution was accompanied with the relocation of international organizations, reoccupation of civic and government buildings, expansion of financial activities, and establishment of regional headquarters and global firms in the city center.

The city center houses more than 350 retail outlets distributed along its streets and quarters. Shopping in the city center mainly consists of upscale fashion boutique chains, world-renowned designer shops, high-end stores, and luxury boutiques boasting the most expensive designer labels. Stores sell fashion clothing, accessories, jewelry, furniture, Hi-Fi and electronic equipment, records and books, handicrafts and gifts, art and antiques. The stores are mostly at street level, but recently some have expanded onto upper floors. Buildings or group of buildings are dedicated to department stores. Starting from the conservation area, stores are spreading to other areas to finally culminate in the Beirut Souks. There are over 100 cafes, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs open in the Beirut Central District. Restaurants offer a variety of French, Italian, American, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese and other Asian cuisines. Sidewalk cafes are a trademark of the Downtown area, with tens of them lining the streets. They range from oriental cafes serving Turkish Coffee and Shisha to global franchises such as Starbucks.

The Heritage Trail is a pedestrian circuit in the city’s historic core and the traditional Beirut city center. The trail connects the main archaeological sites, places of historic interest, monuments and heritage buildings which are important to Beirut’s rich past. The trail’s path is marked by bronze medallions grouted into the sidewalk, with large general or district panels and smaller monument panels made from glazed lava stone tiles with texts in three languages (Arabic, French, English). The Heritage Trail is planned to start and end at the “City History Museum” on the ancient Tell Area. In an initial phase, pending the completion of the museum, the circuit will start at Beirut Souks, which retain the 2500-year-old ancient street grid and Ottoman access gates, and several other archaeological remains like the Phoenician-Persian quarter, Byzantine mosaics, old city wall and moat.

The “Shoreline Walk” is a sequence of connected spaces which form part of the reconstruction of the Beirut city centre. Following the 1975–91 Civil War in Lebanon, the Beirut city centre was left devastated, Avenue des Français and the coastline had become a dumping ground, extending the land by more than 600m to the north. The city was once known for its rocky shoreline Cornice, with its avenues of palms and cafés but during the war a rubbish mountain grew from daily waste tipped into the Mediterranean Sea. Areas have been both preserved and demolished by the new master plan, whilst the remediated landfill is set to become a new district, projecting out into the sea. Rather than leave the old coastline land-locked and redundant, it was decided to create a pedestrian route that straddled the old and new city boundaries. The ‘Shoreline Walk’ is placed between the natural topography and rationalised medieval street layout of the old city, and the engineered grid of the new land-filled area. Research revealed the evolution of Beirut’s coastline. The first Phoenician settlers arrived in 1220 BC, followed by Romans in 64 BC, Mamluks in 1291 AD, Ottomans in 1516 and the French in 1918. Successive civilisations adjusted the coastline to create harbors that brought wealth to the city. Along the Shoreline Walk five squares provide areas to pause and relax: Harbour Square, All Saints Square, Shoreline Gardens, Zeytoune Square and Santiyeh Garden. Research into each space revealed remnants of the character of the pre-war city that had been forgotten or destroyed. Each “memory” generated the development of each square’s atmosphere, aligned with the facilities and functions required by a contemporary city to create a network of complimentary spaces.

The Beirut Central District contains over 60 gardens, squares and open spaces. These spaces comprise landscaped streets, gardens, historical squares, pedestrian areas and sea promenades thus totaling to an area of 96 acres (39 ha) of open spaces. This makes the BCD home to 50% of the entire public spaces in Beirut, despite the fact that the BCD itself is only 10% of Beirut City. These public spaces gradually developed into a thriving social scene for the Beirut residents, thanks in part to the city’s mild weather. City officials have imposed several plans to attract the urban users and the nature lovers to Beirut’s squares and spaces. One of the plans is a “temporary uses” policy focused on a rambla pedestrian spine that links the existing city center and Beirut Souks northwards to the terraced corniche and promenade. The spine is now open for jogging and cycling, with surrounding roads being closed off to traffic on the weekends. They also include street markets and festivals, health and environment awareness campaigns, cat walks and dog shows.

Once the Zaitounay Bay, the Corniche promenade, the Eastern Marina, and the Beirut Port First Basin promenade are completed, the city center will provide an uninterrupted 3.5 km (2 mi) corniche along Beirut’s shoreline. This new addition will be four times the area of the existing Corniche Beirut. The new Sea Corniche will consist of a three-decked promenade, and will be more than 1.3 km (1 mi) long and between 110 to 45 meters in width. The master-plan for the Corniche intends to transform it into a socially active pedestrian arena with distributed “activity spots” for sports, recreation and children activities.

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Read more on Wikitravel Downtown Beirutand Wikipedia Beirut Central District (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.