RESEARCH

Current research at occlude rethinks urban experience and its transformations by social and material flows such as refugee displacement, consumption and waste, as well as the politics, and the governing structures of such transformations, and the way these impact urban experience and well-being.

Set at the belligerent crossroads of environmental and economic crises, regional wars and local social unrest, Lebanon becomes the focus of this research. We aim at identifying possible socio-economic, environmental and political development areas within Lebanon through research and design implementation.

Occupation nuances, mobility, spatial resistance, governance, environmental and urban wellbeing are among the research topics under investigation for their ability to map crucial structural transformation across change flows and unlock outcomes within the experience and development of ecological stewardship and sustainable urbanization.

Research Projects that OCCLUDE undertakes are broadly set under two research headings:

Urban & Humanitarian Research: Academic and funded research in Humanitarian and Urban analysis and development especially targeting the Lebanese context. .OCCLUDE’s research services profile include: Mapping, Urban Analysis & Profiling, Desk studies, literature reviews, Key Informant Interviews, Participatory Videos, Data mining & crowdsourcing and other services.

Urban Informatics: Information and communication technology applied research in urban contexts especially designed to inform and support socio-political and urban research levels to bring research in urban studies, people and their cities together through information and communication technologies and tools informing data-driven research and development. Recent applications include a photo imagery crowdsourcing tool and campaign using social media platforms as an alternative form of community opinion surveying in urban Lebanon and Jordan.

Environmental Solutions: OCCLUDE develops smart solutions for climate control in agriculture applications and for using environmental metrics to inform sustainable development in ecological and socio-urban research. This applied research at OCCLUDE is aimed at generating environmental and human wellbeing outcomes in urban and rural settings. Recent applications include developing a climate control system and facility design for an organic indoor agriculture farm in the Beqaa Valley.

Check out our blogs page for latest research projects.