Mona Fawaz: Planning Amid Division — The Politics of the “Public” in Beirut | City & Regional Planning Lecture
Mona Fawaz interrogates the normative foundations of progressive planning, particularly its assumption that participatory and co-productive practices can yield inclusive planning responses. She does so against a global rise in right-wing populist politics that has unsettled assumptions about a functional public. Once grounded in a belief in a shared interest, planning now operates within an increasingly fragmented political and epistemic landscape (Rivero et al., 2020). Populist discourses have deepened social divisions and eroded the state’s legitimacy as custodian of the common good. Concurrently, the post-truth era further complicates co-production by destabilizing expert knowledge — the foundation on which scholars engage communities (Perry 2020). These political and epistemic ruptures expose the limits of consensus-driven planning, echoing Chantal Mouffe’s (2005) critique of the “post-political” denial of conflict.
Fawaz examines these dynamics through a case study of a public intervention in Beirut, Lebanon, following the 2020 Port explosion. Researchers affiliated with the Beirut Urban Lab attempted to co-design a public square, confronting tensions between knowledge, politics, and representation in a post-truth environment. Drawing on this work, Fawaz reflects on how co-production might be reimagined, proposing pathways for reintegrating power, acknowledging conflict, and rethinking a fractured public within planning.
About the Speaker
Mona Fawaz is professor of urban studies and planning at the American University of Beirut and co-founder of the Beirut Urban Lab, a regional research center advancing more inclusive, just, and viable cities. Fawaz’s research focuses on urban justice, examining informality, law, land, housing, property, public space, and in-disaster recovery with the aim of informing planning theory and practice. A vocal advocate for the right to housing, inclusive public space, and just urban governance, she publishes across academic and public platforms and has advised on urban and regional development, housing, land, and property.
Fawaz has held teaching appointments, honorary professorships, and fellowships in Europe and the U.S. She currently serves as editor for the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, along with being a member of Planning Theory’s editorial board. She also serves on the board of several research and planning bodies in Lebanon and its region.
This lecture is part of the Department of City & Regional Planning’s fall lecture series.
If you require accommodations to fully participate in this event, please contact dcrpadmin@berkeley.edu.