Upon starting my masters, our first assignment for our practice module required grasping the concept of a design research frameowrk - producing through thinking interdisciplinarily - as designers, geographers, action researchers, feminists and so on. We were asked to pick a context that meant something to us, and that we would eventually analyse through a particular lens and methodology, depending on the trans-local circumstances and our own theoretical curiosities.

I chose Hamra - partially out of my own love for the interesting ‘third’ spaces in the capital’s neighbourhood - like Barzakh Space - but largely because many of these spaces and organizations were the first responders to a growing mutual aid microecology in Beirut and beyond, supporting those who were most vulnerable to the increased assault and disaster pursued by the colonial entities attacking out southern borders and many of our cities, the very same responsible for the genocide in Gaza and Palestine. The project was deeply chalanged and pushed me to think through co-production, rather than prescribing ‘solutions’ or top-down masterplans, but treating the design process as an act of care and infrastructurally supportive tot he existing and situated work alreayd taken on by groups like Barzakh, Ahla Fawda, ARM, and many others.