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Planning the Ideal Refugee Camp? A Critical Interrogation of Recent Planning Innovations in Jordan and Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Ayham Dalal

    (Department of International Urbanism and Design, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)

  • Amer Darweesh

    (Department of International Urbanism and Design, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)

  • Philipp Misselwitz

    (Department of International Urbanism and Design, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)

  • Anna Steigemann

    (Department of International Urbanism and Design, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

With the increase of refugee movements since 2014 in Europe and the Near East, the debate of how to plan appropriate shelters and emergency accommodation has gained a new momentum. Established techno-managerial approaches have been criticised as inappropriate and the professional community of planners and architects was increasingly drawn into debates for alternative solutions. This article traces the “innovations” that promise better, more effective, and more humane emergency shelters using the examples of the “Tempohomes” in Berlin as well as the Jordanian refugee camps of Zaatari and Azraq. In both cases, planners were employed to address the ambivalent reality of protracted refugee camps and include “lessons” from failures of earlier solutions. While the article acknowledges the genuine attempt of planners to engage with the more complex needs and expectations of refugees, a careful look at the results of the planning for better camps reveals ambivalent outcomes. As camps acquire a new visual appearance, closer to housing, which mixes shelter design with social spaces and services as essential parts of the camp; these “innovations” bear the danger of paternalistic planning and aestheticisation, camouflaging control under what seems to be well-intended and sensitive planning. The article focuses on refugees’ agency expressed in critical camp studies to interrogate the planning results. While recent critical refugee studies have demanded recognition of refugees as urban actors which should be included in the co-production of the spatial reality of refugee accommodations, new planning approaches tend to result in a shrinking of spaces of self-determination and self-provisioning of refugees.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayham Dalal & Amer Darweesh & Philipp Misselwitz & Anna Steigemann, 2018. "Planning the Ideal Refugee Camp? A Critical Interrogation of Recent Planning Innovations in Jordan and Germany," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(4), pages 64-78.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v:3:y:2018:i:4:p:64-78
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Geraldine Chatelard, 2010. "Jordan: A Refugee Haven," Working Papers halshs-00514403, HAL.
    2. Romola Sanyal, 2014. "Urbanizing Refuge: Interrogating Spaces of Displacement," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 558-572, March.
    3. Sanyal, Romola, 2014. "Urbanizing refuge: interrogating spaces of displacement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 52160, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Geraldine Chatelard, 2010. "Jordan: A Refugee Haven," Post-Print halshs-00514403, HAL.
    5. Anna, Petrenko, 2016. "Мaркування готової продукції як складова частина інформаційного забезпечення маркетингової діяльності підприємств овочепродуктового підкомплексу," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 2(1), March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Charalampos Tsavdaroglou & Maria Kaika, 2022. "The refugees’ right to the centre of the city: City branding versus city commoning in Athens," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(6), pages 1130-1147, May.
    2. Frank Eckardt, 2018. "European Cities Planning for Asylum," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(4), pages 61-63.
    3. Roberta Bonì & Pietro Teatini & Claudia Zoccarato & Carolina Guardiola-Albert & Pablo Ezquerro & Guadalupe Bru & Roberto Tomás & Javier Valdes-Abellan & Conception Pla & María I. Navarro-Hernández & A, 2022. "Stakeholders’ Perspective on Groundwater Management in Four Water-Stressed Mediterranean Areas: Priorities and Challenges," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, May.
    4. Lucas Oesch, 2020. "An Improvised Dispositif: Invisible Urban Planning in the Refugee Camp," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 349-365, March.

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