Hiba Bou Akar's For the War Yet to Come is an important contribution, shedding light on urban planning in unstable contexts. Here Bou Akar questions the meaning of planning in conflict and divisions with a lens on peripheral areas in Beirut. Four main issues are discussed: reconsidering the relation of the urban center and the peripheries; the role of nongovernmental actors; the manifestation of politico-sectarian difference in space and time; and the role of urban planning in reviving or forming demarcation lines that lead to current and future contestations.
The author uses the concepts of “doubleness,” “lacework,” and “ballooning” as metaphors for urban transformations shaping three peripheral areas and establishing frontiers in anticipation of future conflict. “Doubleness” refers to the persistence of war-affected buildings that remain standing, playing the dual role of preserving the past and sustaining the presence of one sectarian group within the territory of another. “Lacework” refers to the seemingly haphazard mixing of usually unconventional land uses such as residential, industrial, and agricultural in Sahra Choueifat with implications for the sectarian and political power struggle over territory. This results from iterations of planning modifications to redraw boundaries within territories of different sectarian groups, and particularly for housing purposes. “Ballooning” is explained at different scales, starting with illegal extensions to building constructions, or real estate transactions that are indirectly forced, resulting in “demographic” and “environmental” changes within the territories of certain sectarian groups. It reflects brokering land for sale as a tactic for minorities to dominate land in a highly divided politico-sectarian context.
The last chapter explores the relation between urban planning and development in Beirut's southern and southeastern suburbs in comparison to developing countries that were former colonies, and cases worldwide with broader international trends. It traces the origins of planning and development and their relation to each other since the formation of the Republic of Lebanon.
The end story is planning without development, manifested through the presence of contrasts, and the definition of future frontiers between areas of different politico-sectarian affiliations. Planning was reduced to tools serving zones of politico-sectarian strongholds to provide equal shares of power to these groups rather than serving equitably the public good. It often projects transnational politics and discourse on religion, finance, and military.
The author presents sufficient background and detailed accounts from several sources for a comprehensive understanding of the cases under study. A clear explanation of the methodology is provided. The author was keen on presenting methodological limitations and their mitigation while carefully reflecting upon her positionality as an urban planner, and as a female, Lebanese, Druze person living in Aramoun, a southeastern suburb in Beirut.
The author provides a concise and clear background of Lebanon and the evolution of its planning system to explain the current popular understanding and opinions about urban planning in Beirut. The two terms biʿa (environment) and “demography” (implications of population shifts) are used to explain perceptions and realities of the temporal and spatial manifestations of political contestations, and the politico-sectarian stronghold in areas that were previously mixed or had coexisting differences. Using these terms provided the book with a vivid and realistic language based on people's perceptions of planning in Beirut's peripheries.
The book is well written and arguments are clearly weaved through an ethnographic study on urban planning, corroborated with documents and the analysis of maps. It is divided into five chapters, with the introduction presenting the research question and necessary background, and the conclusion broadening the discussion to relate lessons learned from the selected case studies to a wider global context of instability. The three other chapters each addresses one of the three planning operations per study area, with the purpose of explaining planning in anticipation for future violence in a segregated context.
The book is skillfully crafted, moving the reader from words of the common resident in a politically and religiously charged context with tensions and contestations, to planning processes and urban concepts applicable in contexts elsewhere. Its language reflects both local insider knowledge and broader perspectives related to the literature on conflict, planning, and the production of urban divides. The writing style is not only pleasant but also accessible to a broad spectrum of readers. It is first and foremost of interest to Lebanese planners, urban planners more broadly, and any professionals working with unstable urban contexts, specifically scholars working on the Middle East.
Footnotes serve the purpose of providing further explanations that enhance the understanding of readers, especially those not familiar with the Lebanese context. The book is well illustrated and the provided visuals are useful in approaching the context, but also in the case of mapping, allowing the reader to come to conclusions regarding the arguments being raised.
The book contributes to debates on urban planning in unstable contexts worldwide, and proposes rethinking the scope of planning, to plan for anticipated contestation rather than peace. This contribution serves in understanding urban morphology merged with social dynamics that could result in sparking conflict in urban areas. It shows how sectarianism can manifest itself spatially and across time, and how this production is dynamic rather than static and shifts with changes in political alliances and allegiances. I highly recommend this book to readers interested in further understanding how urban planning could be viewed as a sword with two edges, for consensus or conflict building.
