Principal Investigator
Professor Beverley Milton-Edwards
Co-Investigator
Dr Gehan Selim
Research Institution
Queen’s University Belfast. The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
Project Summary
Urban revolutions have been envisaged as hybrid, unpredictable and somewhat incidental in the political arena, In some cases political instability, mass protests, riot and revolt erupts as a reaction to a particular event. Other times protest gathers momentum over time. This project looks at the emergence of urban unrest in the Middle East. It focuses on a pilot study on the Lebanese capital Beirut and Martyrs Square. This meeting place in the national capital has been a site of repeated unrest reflecting protest and dissidence in this fragile multi-confession state.
Impact
This research aims to build a multi-disciplinary partnership in the field of Politics, Architecture and Spatial modelling. It will develop platforms of spatial modelling of urban stability and acts of dissidence in light of political instability and in security in the Middle East. The research will reflect upon and facilitate an understanding of how spatial models of protest in public spaces in context against state and governing authorities can be used to contribute to violence reduction and conflict prevention. For instance the project will provide local groups and governing authorities with the tools and vision to think about protest and dissidence and strategies for preventing conflict and disorder in public spaces.
Contact Information
For further information, please email Beverley b.milton-edwards@qub.ac.uk
