Exception as the Rule: High-End Developments in Neoliberal Beirut

Abstract

This paper presents the first findings of ongoing research documenting the changing modalities of governing and organizing the built environment in the past two decades in Lebanon, a phase widely associated with the advent of neoliberalism in the country. Taking building permits as the entry point for an investigation of these modalities, our research shows that in line with trends documented elsewhere, the neoliberal ‘turn’ has materialized in public interventions deployed at several levels in order to facilitate the circulation of capital to this sector and foster more intensive construction practices. These include changing regulations, delegating planning to private actors, and changing the institutional environment in ways that accommodate the needs of capital. We further argue that additional flexibility is provided to capital through the informalization of public decision- making within the regard to planning decisions, meaning more decisions taken by mutual agreement, on ad hoc basis, at multiple levels of the public hierarchies. Our findings are based on a thorough investigation of the public regulations issued over the past two decades as well as interviews with public sector officials, with developers, and with real estate experts.

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