Fact: Starting in the early years of the 1990s, Beirut underwent a massive restructuring of its urban space to shed off its reputation of a war-torn city separated from the rest of the world by its unstable security situation. Common wisdom passed on to the new generation an image of a city that was a cosmopolitan hub for business and the arts. This legacy was leveled to the ground after years of urban warfare turned the city into isolated and uninhabited neighborhoods. As per Parliament law and government decree, the task of rebuilding the city was allotted to a private company, Solidere. Plots of land and other properties were exchanged for sums of money or shares in the company. Consequently, the reconstruction of a post-war urban lifestyle would be the function of the outlook of a single company. The sector with the latest frenzy about it has been the Zeitouneh Bay area.

But was this really the story of Beirut? Was the so-called Zeitouneh Bay area a picture-like promenade? In reality, Beirut of the 1950s and 1960s was mostly catering to the local population and local markets. The Zeitouneh area, a small neighborhood close to the coast that now extends further than its natural borders, catered to a different kind of service. The neighborhood, which now lends its name to the bay where St. George had allegedly slain his dragon, was a localized destination for prostitution, frequented by the militia men of every group or party at the time.

Our mental geography has become susceptible to what is created in the here and now, due to very little if any research done into this transformation of Beirut, and also our history education remains somewhat lacking. The war shed any form of identity from the city, and thus our minds have become a tabula rasa absorbing a city as created by the minds of business groups. Modern day Beirut, while very easy on the eyes, is now in the service of a certain class of people, those of the Lebanese business class and affording tourists. So instead of returning the essence of our urban life, we have recreated a false memory that has disconnected a wide segment of the Lebanese society from a shared urban space.