Home>Petra Samaha
Petra Samaha
Associate Research Fellow
Center for International Studies (CERI)
Research Interest(s): Property, land, public domains, governance
Discipline(s): Geography
Subdiscipline(s): Urban Geography, Political Theory
Research Group(s): State, political regimes, mobilisations; Migrations, diasporas, borders, cities and territories; Environmental risks and planetary limits; Science, technology and power
Geographical Area(s): Middle East
Country(ies): Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan
Language(s): Arabic, English, Spanish, French
Biography
Petra holds a PhD in Urban Studies from Sciences Po, Paris (2026). Her dissertation analyzes the institutional history of Lebanon’s property regime and the role of land, notably public domains, in reinforcing political elites’ power. Before that, she practiced as an architect, urban planner, and researcher in Lebanon from 2012 till 2020. Her research focuses on public space, housing, land and property, mobility, climate change, and migration, particularly in the Arab region. She has published in the Journal of Transport Geography, Planning Perspectives, and Revue Mondes Arabes, as well as in non-academic outlets including Jadaliyya, As-Safir, the Legal Agenda, and with UNDP, UN-Habitat/GLTN, and the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs.
Thesis topic
On the Meaning of the “Public” in a Propertied Landscape: Space matters and State representations. The case of Lebanon, supervised by Eric Verdeil
publications
- 2025. When land became property in Lebanon. The transformation of land codes since 1858 and its implications on public domains and planning. Planning Perspectives.
- 2024. [Review of the book Sunni City. Tripoli from Islamist Utopia to the Lebanese Revolution, By T. Gade], Mondes arabes, 5(1), 203–209.
- 2023-2024. - سلسلة من 6 أجزاء بحثًا عن العام في لبنان بين الأرض وملكيّتها. [Searching for the public in Lebanon, between land and its ownership – An article series of 6 parts]. Legal Agenda, Beirut. (Arabic).
- 2022. With Khechen, M. Land Governance, natural resources and climate change in the Arab Region: tenure security issues and challenges. Final study report, LCPS & Global Land Tool Network/UN-Habitat.
- 2022. Land as a Cash Machine. The case of Lebanon. Research Project on Land Governance in the Arab Region, Global Land Tool Network/UN-Habitat.
- 2021. The seemingly (un)planned urbanization in Chouf: who is the planner? Peace Building News Supplement, Issue 27. UNDP.
- 2020. With Mohtar, A. Decoding an urban myth: An inquiry into the Van line 4 system in Beirut, Lebanon. Journal of Transport Geography, 85, 102743.
- 2017. Life in a Street: How Informal Mechanisms Govern Scarce Public Spaces in Nabaa, Beirut. Jadaliyya, Cities Page.