Ms Joana Dabaj, Prof Camillo Boano
Funding period: 1 October 2026 – 31 January 2028
Type of funding:
Urban Urgencies
Award Number: USF-URU-260701
Partner organisations: CatalyticAction (Lebanon and United Kingdom), Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), Ruwwad Al Tanmeya (Lebanon)
Investigators: Ms Joana Dabaj, Prof Camillo Boano
Team members: Mrs Sara Maassarani (CatalyticAction), Mr Hady Naal (CatalyticAction), Mr Reem Haj Ali (Ruwwad Al Tanmeya), Ms Tania Kammoun (Independent Sound Recordist), Prof Antonio Stopani (University of Turin)
Contact: Ms Joana Dabaj
Abstract:
Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, is experiencing an acute convergence of crises, including economic collapse, climate-related disasters, displacement, deteriorating infrastructure, and prolonged political instability. These overlapping pressures have exposed profound inequalities in urban life while creating new forms of everyday uncertainty. Recent building collapses following heavy rainfall have highlighted the urgent need to understand how communities live with continuous urban risk rather than isolated emergencies.
This project investigates how women in three historically marginalised neighbourhoods of Tripoli—Qobbe, Jabal Mohsen, and Bab al-Tabbaneh—experience, interpret, and respond to conditions of urban collapse. Bringing together Politecnico di Torino, CatalyticAction, and local community partner Ruwwad Al Tanmeya, the research combines feminist urban theory with participatory and creative methods to explore how care, adaptation, and survival are practised amid ongoing polycrises.
The project will work collaboratively with women residents through workshops, narrative interviews, and audio storytelling. Working alongside a local recordist and audio producer, participants will co-produce a collection of audio stories that document lived experiences of urban collapse, care, and adaptation. These narratives will contribute to a publicly accessible digital archive and inform a temporary research-led spatial installation and public dialogue in Tripoli. Alongside these community-based outputs, the project will produce peer-reviewed academic publications and policy recommendations addressing housing safety, climate adaptation, and gender-sensitive urban planning.
By foregrounding women’s everyday experiences, the research challenges technocratic understandings of resilience and contributes new perspectives on climate urbanism, care, and urban justice. While grounded in Tripoli, the project speaks to wider debates about cities across the Global South facing overlapping environmental, political, and socio-economic crises, offering insights relevant to researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and communities working towards more just and inclusive urban futures.