Public Urban Stairs as Social Infrastructure: The Case of Vendôme Stairs, Beirut

Urban stairs are integral to pedestrian infrastructure in some neighborhoods on the sloped side of Beirut. Typically designed for people to easily navigate their urban environment, public urban stairs are spatially vertical connectors to different neighborhoods and intricately linked to the social and cultural practices of the inhabitants. By being solely pedestrian and a car-free space, urban stairs play a critical role in providing socially inclusive spaces in between buildings. While they provide calm spaces in a dense fabric, residents of the surrounding potentially build up a strong Sense Of Place (SOP), a muti-dimensional concept that essentially embodies bonds between people and the physical environment. This paper explores Vendôme stairs, one of the many stairs in Mar Mikhael – Beirut, as a case study that matches the multidimensional SOP concept and thus contributes to the social infrastructure of the city. The Vendôme stairs plays play a vital role in navigating the city and was were heavily affected during Beirut’s port explosion in August 2020. In tandem between the physical and social aspects, the paper focuses on two interconnected layers of the case study, by collecting data, observing and mapping both spatial and behavioral patterns. The study aims at understanding and bringing evidence of the significant meaning and attachment of the residents to their urban space, through the various subdimensions of the SOP.