United Cities Lebanon
Technical Office of Lebanese Municipalities

En English

Creation of an Urban and Regional Development Agency in the North of Lebanon

Period:
2019 - 2021

Lebanese beneficiary cities
The Municipality of Tripoli and the Municipality of Zgharta-Ehden

Context

Municipal services lack necessary financial and human resources for the implementation of their urban plans. Also, there is no dialogue entity that would allow an enlarged and shared reflection on urban planning among different actors, and especially with the State which is supposed to be the bearer of urban policies. Furthermore, the administrative division appears to be inadequate for regional development, and the regions are having potential difficulties to engage in a dialogue with each other which is hampering the action of the municipalities and their sustainable development. In the same time, local authorities are faced with common challenges on the management and local development levels, which justifies and makes it necessary to create an urban and regional development agency.

Objectives

Main objective: Creating a supporting tool for the building of a shared vision which would include all the development plans, as well as for reflecting and exchanging on regional issues and on expected regional development projects.

Specific objectives: Through the creation of an urban and regional development agency where the municipalities of Abu Ali basin region are brought together, this projects allows the municipalities to strengthen their knowledge of the territory and its main actors. It encourages the local authorities to engage in a dialogue with each other to define and/or to apply the strategies, and in fact, to strengthen local governance. This project gradually builds a technical and political collaboration that would lead to a joint integrated urban planning tool and produce, at last, an urban and regional development agency replicable in other Lebanese regions.

Actions

Within the framework of this project, the following actions are or will be carried out:

Creating an urban and regional development agency within the defined region. The agency will have a coordinating role among different actors in the process of planning the territory and will accompany them in defining and implementing integrated urban projects.
Initiating similar initiatives in other Lebanese cities which would allow the creation of an urban agencies network on a national level.