La rue, espace réservé : voituriers et vigiles dans les nouvelles zones de loisirs à Beyrouth

Abstract

New actors are emerging as new leisure areas develop in post-war Beirut. Car parkers look after the vehicles of customers of bars and restaurants while private security guards protect the newly rebuild CBD. Besides their official functions, these actors seem to exercise a permanent controlling influence over public spaces. Their simple presence on the streets provides a permanent reminder of the kind of population which comes to these areas as well as the social rules that this population is expected to abide by. This continued presence of private actors in charge of public spaces is not new in Beirut ; on the contrary/ it reflects policies of social control apparent before and during the war. However, by adapting these measures to the contemporary urban leasure context, Beirut seems to demonstrate its willingness to modernise. Security norms found increasingly in world cities are applied efficiently, going beyond the social demand for security and creating an important social and cultural segregation.

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