Observations From Lebanon

Lebanon has a great potential to be capitalized in supporting the local development. However our rapid Urban Laboratory there revealed some important facts. To understand how difficult to implement a project of the Rock Village nature, an observer should be aware of such facts, some of which is shocking. The sewage networks drain into the Mediterranean creating a stinking air, where beaches suppose to encourage tourism development. Drainage networks in the inner lands drains into surface-open-ends in the uninhabited areas. The electrical current in the country cuts off everyday, people should either use generators, in a country with similar fuel prices as in Europe, or stay without electricity. The latter might be the motivation behind renewable energy solutions on the state, regional and local levels. As for agriculture, the very fertile land suffers from the lack of water and from building upon.  The inner and southern lands municipalities, some of which are of 3000 capita, formed lately regional unions to create a critical weight to solve their problems, the union ended to nothing. A mayor representative in Yahmor municipality reported that 70% of their budgets are to be spent in garbage collection. To brief the above, solving these problems is the key word in a real urban developing. This is the Lebanese context; fragmented individual initiatives and no concrete results adding a real value to the public good. These are the circumstance in which the Rock Village is to be read within.