A development frenzy has wiped out the natural coastline of Lebanon, replacing it with concreted marinas and upscale resorts that are off-limits to the public. Now developers have their eye on the last bit of Beirut waterfront.
Today, this rocky peninsula, the size of a few football pitches and known as the Dalieh of Raouche, is the city’s last natural outcrop. It is walled in by glass luxury towers where apartment prices begin in the millions of dollars. All along Beirut’s coastline it is the same – a development frenzy that has changed the face of the city, wiping out much of the craggy natural shore and replacing it with concreted yacht marinas and upscale resorts.
The Dalieh area was a rare survivor, drawing crowds of working-class Beirut families to swim in its natural pools and picnic in its grassy hills. Yet last summer, the site was fenced off with barbed wire, except for a few small openings.
... news leaked that renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas had been commissioned to draw up plans for a major project, on a roughly 100,000 sq m plot that extends across much of the natural site.
The news came as a shock to all those who thought Dalieh was an officially protected natural reserve – the last bastion of raw coastline in the city.
The land had originally been owned by several Beirut families who had been custodians since Ottoman times. No building was allowed, and the land was available to the public for farming and fishing. In the 1990s, the Hariri political dynasty came together to buy it.
When the Koolhaas news leaked last year, a loose coalition of architects, professors and young professionals, the Civil Campaign to Protect Dalieh, reacted swiftly. They organised weekly protests, university lectures and musical performances along the rock cliffs at Dalieh, and encouraged Facebook followers to share black-and-white photos of diving contests and family gatherings ....
