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Deen Sharp is a doctoral candidate in the Earth and Environmental Science program, specializing in Geography, at the CUNY Graduate Center. Previously, he was a freelance journalist and consultant based in Lebanon. His research focuses on the geography of the Arab world and his current project concerns the corporation and urban space in post-war Beirut. He is Co-Editor of Beyond the Square: Urbanism and the Arab Uprisings and he has written for a number of publications, including Jadaliyya, Portal 9, the Arab Studies Journal and The Guardian.
Few expected the 2016 municipal elections in Lebanon to create any momentum that would reinvigorate civil society in order to attempt to overcome Beirut’s challenges. Traditionally, the municipal elections in post-war Lebanon are a stage-managed affair in which the electoral pie is split between a coalition of traditional Beiruti families and national parties along with a confessional parity between Christians and Muslims. However, the rise of the municipal campaign Beirut Madinati (Beirut, My City) breathed much needed fresh air, and with it hope and enthusiasm, into a social structure that is stratified and filled with anxiety and fear.
