Public spaces are not always shaped by planning but by the practices they host. Their existence stems from our inherent need for connection with others. As spaces of encounter, these urban, open, and accessible areas reflect how we interact with our surroundings and each other while offering places for exercise, play, socializing, and recreation.
Recognizing that public spaces are more than just physical environments, CatalyticAction is dedicated to fostering a sense of community, safety, and belonging, especially for children, who are among the most vulnerable in society. Their mission is not only to create spaces where children can play and grow but also to empower them, ensuring they have a voice in shaping their surroundings. To learn more about their work, Christele Harrouk, ArchDaily's Editor-in-Chief, spoke with Joana Dabaj, Co-founder and Director of Programmes at CatalyticAction.
Read on to discover the projects of CatalyticAction, including their community-centered approach and design guidelines. The conversation also explores their recent project in the Karantina neighborhood, where adolescent girls had the opportunity to co-design and build their public spaces in Beirut.
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The Times Architects Stepped Up in CrisesArchDaily (Christele Harrouk): Can you introduce CatalyticAction and share its mission and values? How did you get started?
Joana Dabaj: CatalyticAction is an organization dedicated to designing and building public spaces that empower vulnerable children by placing them at the heart of decision-making processes.
We believe that public spaces are more than just physical environments—they are essential for fostering a sense of community, safety, and belonging, particularly for those who are most vulnerable. Our mission is to create spaces that not only provide these children with a safe place to play and grow but also empower and uplift them, giving them a voice in shaping the environments that impact their lives.
CatalyticAction started in 2014 as an initiative of two alumni from the Development Planning Unit (DPU) at University College London (UCL): myself, Joana Dabaj, and Riccardo Conti. We wanted to apply our architecture skills and the participatory methodologies we learned at the DPU in a project for refugee children in my home country: Lebanon. The pilot project was a playground for Syrian refugee children living in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. It aimed to provide a safe space for children to play. The project was launched in May 2015 through a crowdfunding campaign to raise the necessary funds for its implementation. In June 2015 the campaign reached its target and the playground was implemented in the summer. The Ibtasem playground was co-designed and implemented with children's participation at the center of the process. One of the participants said: “I am here to build the playground with you, so when I go back to Syria, I can build one myself”, well capturing the empowering effect of this participatory design process.
AD: Your team recently completed a new public space in Beirut. Can you tell us how this project began? What was the initial brief, and what were the primary objectives? Why did you choose to focus on empowering adolescent girls through this project?
We chose to focus on empowering adolescent girls because, as they grow up, their access to public spaces often diminishes, while for boys it increases. By creating spaces that are welcoming to everyone, we can inspire and encourage girls and women to play an active role in public life.
JD: Our long-standing engagement in the Karantina neighborhood provided a foundation of trust, allowing us to address sensitive gender issues effectively. CatalyticAction has been working in the Karantina neighborhood for over 6 years. In 2016 we implemented the play items design as part of the public park rehabilitation, this was done following a participatory design approach with residents. After the devastating Beirut Port explosion on 4 August 2020, we have been working with children, young people, and their communities towards an inclusive recovery of the neighborhood’s public spaces, giving a voice to the community in shaping their neighborhood is very empowering in this context, giving agency and hope to the residents. We co-designed and implemented 6 public space interventions in Karantina (1 streetscape, 1 public park, 1 pocket area, 1 community center, 1 temporary installation, and 1 mural) and implemented an award-winning 3-year co-design program with children in the Karantina public park. We engaged adolescent girls in all these projects and identified that gender inequalities in public spaces are an issue we should address.
The latter finding was validated in a study we conducted with UNDP Lebanon on public life in Karantina. We prioritized working in this neighborhood to build on our previous successful community engagement activities. In a country where adolescent girls are excluded from decision-making processes that affect their lives, CatalyticAction’s established community trust facilitated us to work closely with teenage girls empowering them to tackle this sensitive and crucial topic together. So we launched our crowdfunding campaign that aimed to empower adolescent girls to take control of their neighborhood through co-designing and building public spaces.
On the Recent Project in the Karantina neighborhood
AD: As a pilot project, what are the main goals you hope to achieve?
By piloting this project, we aim to set a precedent for inclusive urban design that can be replicated not only across Lebanon but also in other contexts affected by displacement. The project serves as a critical learning opportunity for future initiatives.
JD: We engaged a diverse group of 40 adolescent girls aged between 10 and 24 years old in a series of immersive participatory activities. A co-design program was tailored to the context and participants. It set out to raise awareness of gender equality, promote girls’ rights to safety in public spaces, understand how girls experience public spaces, and co-create design ideas for safer and more inclusive public spaces.
Using various participatory tools to engage with adolescent girls (e.g. neighborhood safety walks, body mapping, large-scale model making) the first phases aimed at learning about girls’ needs in public spaces, the public spaces adolescent girls use in their neighborhood, their experiences using these spaces, and their aspirations to transform these spaces to better suit their needs. Adolescent girls selected the sites that they want to transform in their neighborhood and their ideas shaped the designs of these interventions. The program sparked new friendships, and improved relationships, especially among Syrian and Lebanese girls. The co-design activities gave the girls the chance to practice communication skills, express their ideas, and respect each other’s opinions. Working together to achieve the shared goal of creating safe public spaces helped the girls learn how to overcome differences and form friendships they value and cherish.
Adolescent girls co-designed three built interventions in their neighborhood: a mural and two street interventions. The preliminary designs of these interventions were presented to the wider community in the form of a public design consultation. Engaging the girls in every step of creating public spaces – including construction - is essential to increase their sense of ownership of the spaces created. Adolescent girls participated in painting and creating colorful mosaics, leaving their physical mark on the final built product.
From co-design to construction, empowerment materializes. The co-designed public spaces created an opportunity for girls to build new memories and helped them cope with the distressful memory of the Beirut blast.
AD: What are the next steps after this project's completion?
JD: Once the public space spatial interventions were completed, adolescent girls took on the role of activating the public spaces. They held a neighborhood tour to present their project to the neighborhood and key stakeholders. They organized picnics, photoshoots, dance sessions, and meet-ups in the spaces they co-created. Adolescent girls are now seen more often in their neighborhood’s public spaces, especially the ones they co-created. They are more confident in spending time as opposed to before the project. The girls are now empowered to stand their ground and claim spaces that they enjoy.
The continued presence of adolescent girls in these spaces is a testament to their newfound confidence and ownership. We will build on this success by monitoring the project’s impact and using our findings to advocate for broader implementation of gender-sensitive urban planning.
On Community Engagement
AD: How does CatalyticAction engage deeply with the community during projects?
JD: We follow a participatory approach that is context-specific and tailored to the participants’ diversity. To engage deeply, we must understand the context and people, and follow a process that puts people at the center. We have disseminated our learning and approach in the DeCID Handbook on co-designing built interventions with children affected by displacement. By placing the community at the heart of the design process, we ensure that the spaces created are not just built for the people but with the people, fostering a deep sense of ownership and sustainability.
AD: How does your engagement process differ from project to project or location to location?
JD: Our engagement process is flexible and tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of each project, always prioritizing community involvement despite potential constraints like budget or timeline. The engagement process differs from project to project based on the overall aims, target users, donors, partners, timeline, and budget. In many cases, participatory engagement is mostly affected by budget, timeline, and lack of understanding of partners and donors towards the importance of engaging the community in designing their spaces. In the humanitarian and development sectors we work in, often design in general is overlooked and most built interventions are just built by contractors. We speak about this in more detail in our DeCID handbook.
The engagement process differs from location to location, based on the context, the community members and their diversity, the culture, our own previous experience in working with the community, and our experience working with the local municipality and other key stakeholders in the location.
On Public Spaces in Lebanon
AD: How do you define a public space in the context of Lebanon? How do public spaces in Lebanon reflect the identity and culture of the community?
JD: We define public spaces where work in Lebanon as spaces that are accessible by everyone free of charge. In this context, public spaces are mostly parks, community centers, and playgrounds. Streets are also public spaces. We also consider schools and school courtyards as public spaces when the school doesn’t charge any tuition (e.g. public schools and schools run by NGOs). Public spaces in Lebanon represent a much-needed breather for residents, especially in dense cities like Beirut and Tripoli, they are spaces to meet up with friends and family, spaces of expression, protest, rest, eating, …
AD: What are the main challenges to working in the Lebanese context and specifically in public spaces?
JD: We face several significant challenges when working in the Lebanese context, particularly in the realm of public spaces: Political and Economic Instability, Cultural and Social Barriers, Community Trust and Participation, and Maintenance and Sustainability.
Political and Economic Instability: Lebanon's ongoing political and economic instability creates a challenging environment for implementing and sustaining public space projects. When we implement public spaces, we often must adapt and be flexible to these ongoing changes. Funding co-designed interventions is a key challenge in the Lebanese context. This also often leads to difficulties in maintaining public spaces after completion, as municipalities and local governments may lack the resources to support ongoing maintenance.
Cultural and Social Barriers: Lebanon's diverse social fabric can present challenges in creating inclusive public spaces. Designing spaces that are truly inclusive and accessible to all community members requires sensitive and tailored approaches, extensive community engagement, and often overcoming resistance to change. Additionally, many community members do not believe it is important to engage children in shaping their environments, so changing this mindset is a challenge too.
Community Trust and Participation: Engaging communities in a meaningful way can be difficult in a context where there is often a lack of trust in institutions and initiatives, particularly in marginalized or underserved areas. Building trust takes time and consistent effort, which can slow down project timelines. However, without this trust, projects are less likely to succeed or be sustained over the long term.
Maintenance and Sustainability: Ensuring the long-term sustainability of public spaces is a major challenge, particularly in a context where public sector support is limited, and communities may not have the resources to maintain these spaces themselves. We develop robust strategies for maintenance, including designing durable infrastructure and fostering community ownership to ensure spaces are cared for even after the project concludes.
These challenges require us to adopt a flexible, adaptive approach to their projects, placing a strong emphasis on community engagement, creative design solutions, and sustainable practices to overcome the obstacles present in the Lebanese context.
Best Practices of Urban Design
AD: What are the best practices for designing inclusive public spaces? How can these spaces be designed to promote safety and security?
Inclusive public spaces are vital for creating a sense of belonging. By integrating community input and ensuring cultural sensitivity, we create spaces that not only meet practical needs but also foster social cohesion and safety
JD: Designing inclusive public spaces involves creating environments that are accessible, welcoming, and accommodating to all people, regardless of their age, gender, abilities, or cultural backgrounds. Some best practices for designing inclusive public spaces include community engagement in the design process from the beginning, flexible and multi-use spaces, universal accessibility, cultural sensitivity, safety and security, and inclusivity in programming.
Public spaces should be designed to ensure that all users feel safe and secure. This can be achieved through inclusive design features, community stewardship, and natural surveillance (very relevant for adolescent girls’ public spaces). We apply many of these best practices in our work, particularly in contexts where communities are facing significant challenges. We engage local communities in the design process, ensuring that the spaces they create are culturally relevant, accessible, and sustainable. For example, we often focus on creating safe, inclusive environments for vulnerable populations, such as refugees or those affected by conflict, where the principles of safety, security, and inclusivity are paramount. By incorporating community input, universal design principles, and a deep understanding of local contexts, we ensure that the public spaces they help create are not only functional but also foster a sense of belonging, cohesion, and safety for all users. Our work serves as a model for how inclusive design can be successfully implemented in challenging environments, promoting both safety and inclusivity in public spaces.
AD: What challenges do you face in maintaining public spaces after project completion? How do you ensure the sustainability and continuity of these spaces?
JD: Public spaces maintenance is one of the key challenges in Lebanon where the state is absent, and local governments (municipalities) do not have the capacities (financial or technical) to maintain these spaces.
We ensure the sustainability and continuity of these spaces through 1) most importantly the participatory approach with the community, which generates a sense of belonging to the spaces they create and therefore they look after them after the project completion, in many of our projects the community members fix broken items in the place themselves because they see its value for them and their community (children, etc.) Our participatory approach ensures that these spaces are not just well-maintained but are also cherished by the communities that helped create them, making them sustainable in the long term.; 2) the participatory approach with the municipality that ensures full endorsement of the project and shared responsibilities within their capacity 3) the technical design of the spaces that ensures the interventions have a long lifespan and are hard to vandalize or remove e.g. using steel and concrete for the structure, welding of key points to avoid disassembling, etc.; 4) the use of local material and construction knowhow which ensures that all design elements can be maintained by the local community members without the presence of the architect or the need to have an external laborer; and 5) we do not purchase off-the-shelves play items but rather manufacture everything locally so they can be easily maintained.
