IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Refugee camps around the world emerge as aid landscapes that are meant to be temporary or transitional emergency settlements, where residents are frequently reduced to ‘bare life’, isolated from the rest of society, and treated as humanitarian subjects and aid recipients. However, in most cases refugee camps evolve into protracted settlements. Palestinian camps in Jordan are 70 years old, and Syrian camps have already passed a full decade. In these spaces, refugees are challenged to recreate their life socially and spatially, change aid spaces into lived spaces, and actively reform their identity. Aid organizations provide many of the services (clean water, air, shelter) that livability is measured by. In most cases, refugee camps are not permitted to develop into “formal” cities or self-govern much for political reasons, including policies of host countries, international agreements and disagreements, and domestic considerations (Davis et al., 2017). Despite these constraints, the Zaatari camp holds 80,000 people after a peak of 120,000 one year after establishment, rivaling may urban centers. Jansen (2016) argues that camps should not be addressed as temporary human warehouses, but spaces where people can build their social networks and engage in economic life. Based on refugees’ narratives and experiences, this study reconsiders both the visible and the invisible complex realities of protracted camps. Building on stories of three households, it explores the self-adaptation patterns of Zaatari camp’s refugee households to reconstruct their spatial and social lives in the camp, determining how to improve the livability of a multi-generational—yet purportedly “temporary”—settlement. Davis, R., Benton, G., Todman, W., & Murphy, E. (2017). Hosting Guests, Creating Citizens: Models of Refugee Administration in Jordan and Egypt. Jansen, B. J. (2016). The Protracted Refugee Camp and the Consolidation of a ‘Humanitarian Urbanism’.