Urban heritage is one of the most important aspects that identify a city’s history and evolution. Rebuilding cities after war is a concept that takes into consideration several aspects of maintaining a visual memory of urban heritage. A proper understanding of heritage aspects and elements should be considered in new extensions and the redesigning of old parts of cities, especially after wars. Beirut in Lebanon is one of the Middle Eastern cities that have been rehabilitated and rebuilt successfully after suffering from several wars. This research discusses and analyses conservation approaches that have been used in old parts of Beirut city and the evolution of the approaches to rebuilding buildings, from tradition to innovation, that have been applied in the downtown Beirut district. This research aims to analyse downtown Beirut as a benchmark for the reconstruction of countries destroyed after war. Furthermore, the approaches that have been used in reconstructing the new buildings of downtown Beirut heritage are categorized in order to establish the link between the elevations of traditional buildings and newly constructed buildings, while maintaining the concept of a visual memory of urban heritage
