[9] It is believed that Fakhreddine, Lebanon's Renaissance prince, built or repaired a bridge of seven arches on the river that was a streamlet in summer but swelled into a raging torrent in winter.

[21] In 2005, storms caused flood damage in the suburbs of Bourj Hammoud and Karantina, and a bridge adjacent to the Port of Beirut collapsed due to water pressure.

[23] There is great interest among the Lebanese to rehabilitate the Beirut River and turn it into a sustainable, green public space, as well as an environmentally friendly transportation and water reserve system.

In 2009, Sandra Frem proposed in her dissertation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology "measures for restoring the river, creating public space and enhancing the quality and management of water".

[24] In 2010, Phillipe Skaff, head of Green Party of Lebanon, proposed a 10-year plan, envisioned by ERGA Architecture House of Elie and Randa Gebrayel,[25] to turn the Beirut River into a conservation area containing parks, nature reserves, bike-paths, sports facilities, cafes and verdant boulevards as well as a high-speed electric train.

Since 2013, theOtherDada,[29] a regenerative architecture and consultancy firm led by Adib Dada, has been conducting extensive research on the Beirut River and its neighboring areas.

The Beirut RiverLESS research project explored how this natural riparian ecosystem was transformed into a sewage infrastructure, a no man's land which inhibited the rich cultural practices around the site.

[33][34] The project falls under theOtherForest[35] initiative, a nature-based tool for ecological and social regeneration, and was planted using the Miyawaki Technique, a proven Japanese method used to create forests in different climates around the world.