In this talk, Public Works Studio reflects on mapping as a method of research and visualization that actively generates meaning, reshapes perception, and reinforces relationships to land, geographies, people, histories, and nature. From this standpoint, mapping becomes a discursive tool—one that intervenes in how we understand and inhabit space.

The discussion centers on recent mapping exercises that spatialize various forms of destruction—domicide, ecocide, spaceocide, culturocide, and memoricide—that Lebanon continues to endure under ongoing Israeli aggression. By tracing patterns of weapon deployment, threatened geographies, targeted sites, timeframes, and attack intensities, these maps challenge dominant narratives that reduce space to mere battlegrounds. Instead, they reveal an intent to erase viable environments and foreclose return—while simultaneously proposing blueprints for future recovery and reconstruction.

Alongside this, the talk explores mapping as a participatory practice that uses diverse methods to mediate place-based narratives. In the city of Tyre, for example, mapping became a platform for collectively identifying local challenges and reimagining pathways for reconstruction and renewal.

The talk will be in Arabic. To register, please fill in the form here. 

Nadine Bekdache is a practicing designer and urbanist, and co-founder of Public Works Studio. She researches socio-spatial phenomena through multidisciplinary methods; including mapping, imagery and film as both processes of investigation and representation. As part of her research on urban displacement, she authored “Evicting Sovereignty: Lebanon’s Housing Tenants from Citizens to Obstacles”, and co-directed “Beyhum Street: Mapping Place Narratives”. Nadine is also a graphic design instructor at the Lebanese University.

Tala Alaeddine is the Research Department Coordinator at Public Works Studio. Her work focuses on the intersection of urbanism and law, property rights, shared spaces, and ensuring the right to the city for marginalized communities. She coordinates and contributes to projects that involve analyzing regional master plans and urban data, monitoring planning practices, and advocating for people-centered approaches to post-war reconstruction and recovery and for policy changes to protect housing rights and democratize urban planning. Tala holds an MA in Architecture from the Lebanese University, Faculty of Fine Arts II, and brings expertise in diverse research and analysis methods, including fieldwork, mapping, writing, and active engagement with communities and stakeholders through presentations, lectures, focus groups, workshops, and facilitation.