ABSTRACT
This paper builds on a review of approaches towards the concept of appropriation of urban space and leftover spaces in particular. Focusing on re-naturalization as a specific mode of space transformation, it examines the specificities of leftover spaces and the role they could play in relation to urban strategies for municipal Beirut. The current Lebanese urban legislation acknowledges a certain number of parcels as non-constructible; integrating these parcels within the existing urban fabric and implementing a strategy that will allow flexible and innovative space management, would require a process of identification, innovative urban tools, revised legal mechanisms as well private and public actor’s involvement. Throughout this paper, building upon the collection and the analysis of non-constructible parcels’ data within the study districts of municipal Beirut, a re-naturalization process in the form of urban acupuncture will be proposed and recommendations for eventual urban strategies, urban operations, tools and programs will be developed.
