Social Inclusion: An Urban Development Rationale for Societies in ConflictRiadh Tappuni, PhD Architecture, Focal Point on Urban Inclusion, Coordinator of the Task Force on Iraq, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Urbanization is a most challenging problem facing nations today. Unless cities prepare to meet its demands, the social consequences could be detrimental to the well being of lower income and less fortunate groups. The case of the countries of Asia and the pacific [1], demonstrates this point clearly. All the population increase of the 1st quarter of this century, which is close to one billion people, will be absorbed by urban areas. This will be coupled with an increase of the over 60 population from 9.3% to 15.5% of the total. This demographic pressure will be compounded by an increase in the cultural and ethnic diversity of cities due to national and international migration. Present day urban development poses major challenges to the planner. Development in economic terms is usually expressed as economic growth; to architects it is often the physical development of the urban fabric and the city's infrastructure. But what is at the heart of the cities' development is its social context as expressed and assessed through their social capital. The exclusionary quality of a city is imbedded in its socio-economic and physical forms, being presented here as a complex network of stratified systems. Urban slums are an extreme case of stratification where a section of the community is economically deprived, socially contained and physically isolated. From a social point of view, urban community stratification indicates a form of exclusion; a negative measure of the city's social capital. Progress in technology, particularly transportation and communication, enabled the rich to live far from the slums. This fragmentation of society was accentuated when households were able to afford being further apart, all leading to an erosion of social capital. Exclusion, corruption, fragmentation and denial of rights often result in conflict, transpiring into physical confrontation. Reconstructing cities after the devastation of civil unrest is a task that is considerably more complex and difficult than conventional city development. Social inclusion cannot achieve its full potential without an urban environment that is physically inclusive. This can be especially difficult in traditional and old cities, where human movement is substantially hindered, and accessibility is hard to achieve. Over the past thirty years, the city of Beirut went through staggering transformations. It shifted from its 1974 status as the vibrant cosmopolitan east Mediterranean city to a state of utter destruction in the late nineties. Beirut has now completed 14 years of its reconstruction age, a process that was led by a political evolution and stability, paving the way for a social contract. The physical reconstruction of Beirut had its institutional foundations in the early nineties, with the beginning of the construction work around 1994. Ten years on, the Beirut Central District can now boast an up to date infrastructure and a reconstructed building fabric that retained the visual character of the old district. Through good planning decisions, the BCD became the hub of leisurely and touristic activities, achieving a level of accessibility that is unparalleled elsewhere in Lebanon. The BCD experience emphasized the importance of confluence of Political will by the decision makers, public awareness of the significance of inclusive design, suitability of guidelines and legislation to the local environment, feedback from the field, and the participation of the beneficiary groups. Notes: 1. Including India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Japan, and Australia |