People Places, Exhibition of New Student Designs for the Neighborhood

Snapshots of the exhibit

In an exhibition entitled “People Places,” AUB students exhibited designs proposing enhancements for the residential area located between Bliss, Makhoul, Sidani, and Hamra Streets. The exhibition, sponsored by the Neighborhood Initiative, Student Affairs, the Department of Landscape and Ecosystem Management, and the Department of Architecture and Design, was inaugurated on October 20 and ran until October 25 in West Hall.

The designs offered many innovative ideas to increase green spaces, improve the interaction between AUB and its surroundings, and preserve the architectural heritage of the neighborhood. Some projects proposed adding wooden benches along the streets of the neighborhood as well as setting up winter and summer gardens for relaxation and interaction with nature. The exhibition also included an overview of the evolution of the Ras Beirut area from agricultural land to a commercial and residential center.

The Neighborhood Initiative is a project launched by AUB in 2007 to encourage the University to better engage with its surroundings. Led by anthropologist and urban architect Cynthia Myntti, PhD, the initiative team has been working on understanding the impact of the University on its neighborhood and on Beirut as a whole, as well as on finding ways through University resources in which AUB could act constructively “to make Ras Beirut a better neighborhood for all its inhabitants.”

As noted by former AUB President John Waterbury, the current phase of the Neighborhood Initiative is to figure out what AUB can and should do to bring about positive changes in its neighborhood.

“The Neighborhood Initiative hopes to encourage research by AUB faculty and students on problems facing the area of Beirut surrounding the University, and then, using participatory approaches, to devise solutions to them,” said Myntti.