Introduction
Purpose
UN-Habitat City Profiles are formulated to offer a cross-sectoral perspective on urban vulnerabilities that will inform holistic and inclusive interventions by local authorities, humanitarian partners and others to respond to needs and alleviate poverty amongst host and displaced populations. They also aim at contributing to an analytical knowledge base that will facilitate nuanced medium to long term public sector planning and investment agendas.
Thematic scope
Concerned with the status of urban infrastructure and services and how these interplay with the distribution and socioeconomic characteristics of host and refugee populations across the city, UN-Habitat City Profiles are structured around the five themes of space, governance, population, services and social stability. National and city-specific data is presented against each theme followed by identification of gaps and challenges.
In the fourth and fifth themes, services (divided into economy, basic urban services and social services) and social stability, relevant activities reported by partners to the Lebanese Crisis Response Plan in the online portal ActivityInfo is included, forming part of the evidence base against which gaps and challenges are suggested2. Three reporting years are currently included, covering 2014 until end of 2016.
Methodological outline
Data collection is primarily desk-based, with supplementary primary data collection and surveying where necessary. In defining the study area, continuous built-up area is used as an imperfect morphological proxy for the functional urban area. This methodological choice is aimed at facilitating analysis of the city in terms of its active spatial interactions as opposed to historic administrative boundaries. To illustrate, topics optimally addressed at this scale elsewhere typically include economic development, mobility including public transport infrastructure, spatial planning including housing, and implementation structures. Delimiting the study unit in this transparent, replicable way allows for comparison between cities on a like-for-like basis.
UN-Habitat City Profiles are characterisable not only as geographical and multi-sectoral but also participative, developed through a collaborative and consultative process that engages from the outset local authorities (unions of municipalities and municipalities), NGOs and other UN agencies. ‘Round tables’ facilitated by UN-Habitat are convened by the local authorities at key profile development stages for consultation and endorsement purposes. Information and validation is gained from services providers as well as the humanitarian sector leads for the relevant territory.
UN-Habitat promotes an ‘area-based’ approach for urban response, with urban profiles as one of the key features, followed by formulation of multi-sector and multi-stakeholder strategies, project implementation, as well as capacity support of local authorities and local communities.
Structure
Following an outline of the city’s historic and developmental context, the five themes (Space, Governance, Population, Services and Social Stability) are addressed in turn. Each begins with key summary points, followed by discussion in terms of their national and functional urban area dimensions. Conclusions are then drawn, focussing first on resounding findings and second on policy and research implications. The latter incorporates a set of suggested projects of potential strategic impact which may respond to some of the challenges identified.
Terminology
The term ‘city’ is henceforth used to refer to the multi-municipality urban area focussed on Tyre, defined by the extent of the continuous built up area.
Whilst the terms Tyre and Sour are used interchangeably by some, here the term Tyre refers to the multi-municipality city and the term Sour is reserved for the Municipality of Sour.
Related UN-Habitat Lebanon publications
Tripoli City Profile
Haddadine (Tripoli) Neighbourhood Profile & Strategy
Nabaa (Bourj Hammoud, Beirut) Neighbourhood Profile & Strategy
Maachouk (Tyre) Neighbourhood Profile & Strategy