The Neighborhood Initiative of the American University of Beirut was launched in 2007 to encourage faculty and students to contribute to solving the problems affecting the district of Beirut located just outside the university walls.  The Initiative is housed in the President’s Office, and works with academic and non-academic units across the university and a wide variety of stakeholders in the neighborhood and in government.  Among the issues addressed are congestion, noise pollution, poor walkability, the near absence of greenery, an aging population, and growing disparities between rich and poor residents.

ABOUT CYNTHIA MYNTTI
Cynthia Myntti is Professor of Public Health Practice and Project Leader, Neighborhood Initiative, American University of Beirut.  She received her PhD in social anthropology from the London School of Economics; a Masters of Architecture from Yale University; and a Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins.  She has been associated with the American University of Beirut since 1972, first as a graduate student and later a faculty member.  Cynthia also spent nearly a decade in Cairo and is author of the photographic book ‘Paris along the Nile: Architecture in Cairo from the Belle Epoque” published by AUC Press

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ABOUT AIN SHAMS NEIGHBOURHOOD INITIATIVE.

Any attempt to understand our local problems – their reasons, indicators and potential solutions – cannot afford to ignore institutions of higher education as principle stakeholders that are able to contribute effectively to the problem-solving framework. The contribution of universities ideally builds on a capacity for conducting research linked to a universal knowledge base and an ability to tap into an unrivalled pool of human resources taken from its students and staff.

In this initiative, academics from Ain Shams University come together to carry out research on the neighbourhood of al-‘Abbasiyya - where the two Ain Shams campuses are located. This research is built on field research and is meant to produce results that can be applied in interventions for the betterment of the neighbourhood. It is also meant to bring together academics from different fields (humanities – social studies – sciences) and different levels (post-graduate and undergraduate) and stakeholders from different backgrounds (academia – government – residents – civil society – CSR) in a process that orients the university towards a holistic realistic approach to research and builds within it an ethos of social responsibility.

The objective of this initiative is therefore threefold:

 to produce interdisciplinary academic research that is linked to societal needs and concerns and grounded in real-life observations;
to implement the results and recommendations of this research in urban interventions of benefit to society and that ultimately enrich the research process;
 to use this process to strengthen multi-lateral ties: between the university and the surrounding neighbourhood; between post-graduate and undergraduate programs; between the different disciplines; between academia, civil society and the government.