ABSTRACT

Beirut’s post-war Central Area renewal, now at its midway stage, is widely recognized as a successful model of inner-city regeneration, delivering restoration, new development and public space of the highest quality. Its Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework is unique in the way it leveraged hidden value from disaster. But, driven by the specifics of central Beirut at the close of the civil war—large-scale destruction, squatterization and uncontrolled landfill on the city center waterfront—it is unlikely to be transferable as an institutional framework for other urban projects.