The view from my balcony in Beirut, Achrafieh.
more common identification. Added group and spacial identification helps develop communities and gives meaning to the spacial dimension beyond its mere function e.g home instead of temporary shelter”**. * Heart of Beirut: Recaliming the Bourj, Samir Khalaf, Saqi Books, London 2006, p.22
“Lamartine, who visited Beirut in 1832 said that the roofs of some houses served as terraces to others”*
Another aspect which is also important in the cultural sphere of the Middle Eastern traditional city is the conceptual fluidity between private and public space. In Western or Modern urban planning, there are sudden splits between the private and public spheres; moreover, these splits are tangible physical obstructions such as fences, gates, private property signs, keep out signs...). They exist because of the individual need for security, psychologically and physically. Such borders and barriers are not common in the traditional Middle Eastern culture because communities share strong ties and are very familiar with one another, and this acts as their security network. Door and windows are left open, and people move freely within each others’ homes. A community member would undoubtedly recognize an intruder and **Quantum City, Ayssar Arida, Architectural inform the rest of the community. This aspect of the urban space makes Press, 2002 p. 190 it safe by design.** The natural behavior of the Middle Eastern culture to introduce collective meaning and associations into the space it creates and uses it as a security network might give insights about the different levels of relationships societies share with their surrounding. Not only does this particular urban space provide us with a rich source of information about the people that dwell in it, it also acts as a research tool for designing space within a user-centered context. Unlike modernist urban design where the form of each structure in the urban sphere is determined by its function, such a sample of culturally relevant design teaches us about the importance of living within a space that identifies us as much as we identify it.