Fadi Shayya will present At the Edge of the City during TINAG’s 3^rd Annual Festival, 22-24 October 2010, London, Hanbury Hall, 22 Hanbury Street, E1 6QR

DISCURSIVE TALKS

Re-imagining Beirut’s Park

a film projection & talk with Lasse Lau

Tuesday, June 22, 2010
7:00 @ Café T-Marbouta, Hamra

The continuing closure of Beirut’s park has led to a physical space that only exists in the minds of people. In Pine Nuts, the mind frees itself from the associative and historical memories where physical detachment informs new social utopian aspirations. The film will be followed by a discussion with 98 WEEKS and DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS.

Lasse Lau (born 1974) is a queer and social activist, visual artist and filmmaker based in New York and Copenhagen.

DISCURSIVE TALKS is a semi-structured, self-organizing production, and a series of unconnected events about space & design culture whose aim is to instigate critical thinking and produce alternative discourse.

The talk is organized by DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS, Lasse Lau is hosted in Lebanon by 98 WEEKS, the event is hosted by T-Marbouta > for info: 01-352302

The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs

and the

Department of Architecture and Design

cordially invite you to

A panel discussion for the newly released book

At the Edge of the City: Reinhabiting Public Space toward the Recovery of Beirut’s Horsh Al-Sanawbar

with panelists

Jala Makhzoumi, Professor, Department of Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management, AUB
Samir Kalaf, Professor, Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, AUB
George Arbid, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture & Design, AUB

and book editor

Fadi Shayya, urban planner and architect

Date: Monday May 31, 2010; Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm; Location: Auditorium B1, College Hall, AUB

Book Synopsis
Since the early 1990s, Beirut’s Park, Horsh Al-Sanawbar, was sealed off from the lives of many Beiruti residents and visitors, with numerous justifications for their exclusion. At the Edge of the City is a multidisciplinary research, documentary, and advocacy project about Beirut’s park and public space culture and discourse. The undertaking is a contemporary critique of urban governance and spatial production in Beirut, which aspires to chart alternative public space policies and strategies. The book is an edited volume and a visual reference that includes essays, policy memos, personal experiences, art contributions, infographics, photographs, and newspaper articles. It is published by DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS and supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation–Middle East Office.

For more info
Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs
408 Diana Tamari Sabbagh (DTS) Building, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Riad el Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon, Tel: +961 1 350000 (ext 4150/1), Fax: +961 1 737627, Email: ifi@aub.edu.lb

DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS has the pleasure to announce the release of At the Edge of the City: Reinhabiting Public Space toward the Recovery of Beirut’s Horsh Al-Sanawbar, a new edited volume on Beirut’s park and public space. The book is self-published and supported by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung-Middle East Office; it is a genuine, non-academic research effort to document and critique park closure in Beirut for almost 20 years now.

The 192-page volume (B&W + color) is rich in research texts, personal experiences, photographs (historical, contemporary, and aerial), information graphics, and art work. Some contributions analyze current policies and situations of public space in Beirut while others present recommendations to diverse issues related to social justice and good governance, focusing on the production of public space. The volume includes a poster (by Danny Khoury) and a documentary DVD (by Lasse Lau).

The book is available in all major bookstores in Lebanon and from Amazon.com. You can refer to the book blog for the Table of Contents and Introduction. I hope you find this book enjoyable and useful.

عند حافة المدينة : إعادة إحياء الحيز العام نحو استعادة عافية حرش الصنوبر في بيروت
إصدار فبراير 2010 باللغة الإنكليزية

الكتاب هو مشروع نقدي معاصر عن الحاكمية/الإدارة الحضرية والإنتاج المكاني في بيروت، وهو جهد تحليلي وتوثيقي لسياسات الحيز العام، يركز على قضية حرش الصنوبر. فبالإضافة إلى كونه منصة بحثية في القضايا الاجتماعية-المكانية والاجتماعية-البيئية المعاصرة، يشكل الكتاب منصة مساهمة ومشاركة لأعمال نصية وبصرية لأكثر من 25 من الشباب المهنيين، الأكاديميين، الصحافيين، الناشطين، والفنانين عن ثقافة المكان والمواضيع ذات الصلة: الأنثروبولوجيا، العمارة، الفن، الجغرافيا الثقافية، الإقتصاد، الهندسة، تصميم المساحات، القطاع العقاري، التخطيط، علم الإجتماع، التصميم الحضري. يهدف الكتاب إلى تعزيز الوعي المكاني والإهتمام بأموره لدى العموم، وليس فقط في الأوساط المهنية الضيّقة، ويصدر بدعم من مكتب الشرق الأوسط لمؤسسة هينرخ بُل و مبادرة ديسكُرسيف فورميشنز.

Aux Limites de la Ville: Revitaliser l’Espace Public pour la Réappropriation de Horsh Al-Sanawbar à Beyrouth
Parution Février 2010

Ce projet constitue une critique contemporaine de la gouvernance urbaine et de la production de l’espace à Beyrouth. Il a la portée d’un plaidoyer, une approche pluridisciplinaire et un style journalistique. Cet ouvrage édité sur l’espace public à Beyrouth se concentre sur le cas du Parc des Pins ou Horsh Al-Sanawbar. Il comporte des contributions de plus de 25 chercheurs, professionnels, journalistes, activistes et artistes. Ce livre a obtenu le soutien de la Fondation Heinrich Böll (Bureau Moyen-Orient) et de DISCURSIVE FORMATIONS.

The blog of the new book At the Edge of the City: Reinhabiting Public Space toward the Recovery of Beirut’s Horsh Al-Sanawbar is running now. The book is expected to be released during mid February 2010; stay tuned.

Visit the blog

Fadi Shayya is presenting at the 6th edition of Pecha Kucha Beirut, which will take place at the Harboyan Shopping Center in Burj Hammoud on Wednesday, October 21st 2009 @ 8:00 pm.

The presenters are: Randa Mirza [artist], Alexandre Paulikevitch [choreographer and dancer], Raya Kazoun [illustrator, textile & fashion designer], Georges Haddad [photographer], Adam Aboualeiwi [architect], Maya Zankoul [visual communicator, illustrator], Halim Sabbagh [photographer], Mira Minkara [tourist guide], Fadi Shayya [design strategist, spatial consultant], Lara El Khoury [fashion designer], Cherine Yazbeck [writer, photographer], and Cindy Menassa [architect].

Looking forward to seeing you there…

For directions and info, check Pecha Kucha or PK6 on Facebook

Fadi Shayya is invited to lecture LDEM 296 Landscape Seminar students on the notions of governance and space in landscape studies building on Christoph Görg’s notion of “Landscape Governance”. The lecture is on 04 May 2009 at American University of Beirut.

Fadi Shayya participated in the two-day international seminar “PhD Seminar on Public Space” organized by the Chair of Spatial Planning and Strategy (Department of Urbanism/Faculty of Architecture) and the Department of Urban Renewal and Housing (OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban, and Mobility Studies). The seminar brought together scholars from fields of architecture, sociology, urban geography, cultural anthropology, and spatial planning to share international and interdisciplinary perspectives in studies of public space, through the themes of public space and neighborhood quality, public space interventions and politics of public space.

The seminar was dedicated to the presentation and discussion of selected papers from PhD students from all over the world, under the leadership of ranking scholars in the field: Professor Talja Blokland (Humboldt University Berlin, Germany & OTB Research Institute, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands), Professor Matthew Carmona (Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, United Kingdom), Professor Rob Shields (Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta, Canada). Also, the seminar included a field-trip to various ‘public space-scenes’ in the city of Rotterdam.

The PhD Seminar was held at the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands between 19 and 20 March 2009. A journal publication will be announced later.