Uma recuperação centrada na comunidade: Análise das intervenções no bairro de Karantina após o impacto da explosão no porto de Beirute em agosto de 2020

Abstract

Any place is subject to a physical disaster, regardless of how prone to it its geographical location is. A disaster situation, whether natural or otherwise, requires an immediate response of relief to support the a!ected communities and of reconstruction or rehabilitation of the damaged areas. "e management of these situations involves the government, external organisations and companies, covering the emergency and other long-term work. In this type of situation, it is important to mention that it is up to the architect to face social responsibility as a core aspect of his profession and to seek solutions, not only for the reconstruction and restitution of what the community has lost, but also for the improvement of conditions and an optimised use of space. Within these themes, the present dissertation has as its subject of study the reconstruction of areas a!ected by natural disasters, explosions, bombings or con#icts, and its focus will be the Karantina neighbourhood, next to the port area of the city of Beirut, strongly shaken by the explosion that occurred in a warehouse on 4 August 2020. In this work, it is intended to explore how this reconstruction and this reality is approached, since Lebanon is a country where several cultures coexist, with a divided population and government, and which has been going through a political and economic crisis for several decades. "e main purpose of this work is to critically analyse the humanitarian intervention - completed or ongoing - in a post-disaster context, both from the perspective of housing and heritage reconstruction, and the opportunity that the problem represents for improving conditions in the Karantina area, the most vulnerable neighbourhood of the city, whose reconstruction was not immediately seen as a priority. Meanwhile, several organisations have focused on Karantina, using its rehabilitation as a pilot case for certain strategies, so their analysis will become essential for the formulation of principles for future intervention.