In today’s world, there are economic failures, political unrest, civil war, race riots and religious disputes that riddle the Earth, leaving many people in fear and danger of their home. Many have fled to seek asylum from this terror, but they have run into a closed boarders and political red-tape. This wall is important for many reasons (because it protects the economy of nations, the political sovereignty, etc.), but this wall has forced many people into a state of limbo because these people have nothing, so they have to rely on relief organizations. Organizations have developed “half-way houses”, formally known as refugee camps, allowing for these refugees to live in a community with other people in similar circumstances, and wait for an opportunity to gain access to Europe for safety and freedom. These camps are a necessity for the refugees, but they are a plagued with issues such as over-crowding, poor sanitation, disease, and malnutrition. These camps have many downfalls, and most of it is due to non-realistic planning by European politicians. The United Nations (UN) has been expending a lot of resources on these camps and there does not appear to be an end in sight for this refugee problem. The UN started to move towards sustainability on all fronts (not solely refugees), as mandated in their 2030 Agenda, so to be friendlier to the earth and easier on their own resources. This is where sustainable design through architecture is making a break through. Using sustainable design, can refugee camps become more sustainable, more humanitarian, and use fewer resources? The important difference that Syrians are considered refugees because of the war that has spread across their country, while the vast majority of Africans, are solely economic migrants and thus are treated on a very different level in the eyes of the EU and other stable nations. “By the end of 2016 nearly 400,000 Syrians had been killed, 13 million displaced and 5 million registered as refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have attempted to reach Northern Europe by sea and land; many have died in the attempt. New EU agreements mean that most asylum seekers will be returned to refugee camps in Turkey” (Ijeoma, 2016, 1). The numbers show that from 2011, with the anti-government protests in Daraa sparking war, to 2016, with the Fall of Aleppo to Regime Forces, there was an increase of 5,505,000 population dispersal originating from Syria. In other words, the amount of people fleeing from the country went from a fractional amount in the population to a third of the population. We see the comparison of aid being given to those of the Syrian crisis and those going through the African migration crisis, if we break the figures down into the mere asylums offered. To address the reason for such a consistent flow of African migrants heading to Europe, it would be crucial to evaluate past situations to understand the current situations faced by African Migrants. Many Syrians are attempting to gain access into Europe through the Turkish border, but Turkey has closed their border because of a deal worked out with Turkey and the EU. Turkey agreed to close their borders to all refugees if European states would grant Turkish people access to Europe without a passport. This is important because this has forced more refugee camps to pop up because of the over flow of refugees.
Refugee camps are becoming more and more important due to the increasing conflict seen in the Middle East, the closing of borders to most asylums and to the lack of support and aid for these displaced peoples. Many European politicians believe that the refugee crisis is a short-term problem that will resolve itself in the near future. The UNHCR and NGOS are working together on the issue of the humanitarian rights of refugees and how these camps are a problem because politicians think the crisis to be a short-term fix, but the UNHCR and the NGOS see this as a long-term issue. “Refugee camps are practical during emergencies for delivering lifesaving aid, but many refugees displaced are often living through protracted situations. This brings about a new set of challenges. New challenges include: delivering electricity to camps in the desert, ensuring that children have access to education and helping prepare refugees for life after the camp with job and skills training.” (unhcr.org). “These camps face their own significant problems. In the last 10 years, the number of displaced people in the world tripled. Over 60 million people are now displaced, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Refugee camps are constantly subjected to insufficient funding and support from the international community, overcrowding, scarcity of food, shortage of clean water and poor sanitation.” (Rawles 1). Camps from personal analysis show make-shift tents, set in very compact grid systems with dirt and sand floors and streets, and sometimes a wire metal fence set as a perimeter wall. These camps resemble a system that is thrown together very quickly, and then expected to sustain themselves. Also, it is worth understanding the psychological state the refugees are placed in. “…prolonged stay of many of the refugees makes it more difficult to maintain psychological well-being. The placement of refugee camps away from society and the increasing length of stay by their residents make it hard for the people to remain engaged. Without employment and integration, refugees cannot practice their skill sets or feel connected to the local community” (Rawles 1). “Responding to these challenges and the needs of refugees redefines what a refugee camp is and how best to respond to refugee crises.” (unhcr.org).
Refugee camps are being looked at as the next step for the UN and sustainable development because of the 2015 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) set forth by the 2030 Agenda for the UNHCR. Paragraph 23 of the SDGs explains that, “Those whose needs are reflected in the Agenda include all children, youth, persons with disabilities (of whom more than 80% live in poverty), people living with HIV/AIDS, older persons, indigenous peoples, refugees and internally displaced persons and migrants. We resolve to take further effective measures and actions, in conformity with international law, to remove obstacles and constraints, strengthen support and meet the special needs of people living in areas affected by complex humanitarian emergencies and in areas affected by terrorism” (unhcr.org). These SDGs can help improve the living situation of many “stateless persons” by giving them access to newer forms of living, giving them an opportunity to continue their skills and still help them to develop new skills (refworld.org 2). One of the goals listed in the UNHCR’s informational handout was: “Planning for financial and operational sustainability without compromising accessibility” is achievable and should be thought about through design. (refworld.org 3).
“Historically, the concept of sustainable development (SD) emerged in the context to environmental concerns as witnessed by the first appearance of the term in the World Charter for Nature (UN 1982)” (Hak, Janouskova, Moldan 1). Protecting the resources left on Earth is crucial for the future of human existence, and sustainability has grown exponentially in terms of usage with help from environmental activists. Architecture has been attempting to create less of a footprint and become a more eco-friendly and less waste full through the re-usage of rain water for utilities, solar panels for power, green roof tops to act as a filter for the air and the water collection, wind turbines for power, and others. Precedent Studies of sustainable architecture include: Sustainability Treehouse (by Glen Jean, Mithun with BNIM), Arizona State University Student Health Services: (Lake|Flato Architects + Orcutt|Winslow), U.S. and Port of Entry: (by Snow Kreilich Architects, Inc.), and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Headquarters (by EHDD). When discussing sustainability, architects look at a broader understanding of the term, and then they start to develop a sense on how to treat certain situations with different solutions of sustainability. Sustainability, in an architectural meaning, has a range of meanings. It can be (1) an object that supports/sustains itself, (2) to a small room people can inhabit that sustains itself, (3) to a building with little environmental footprint, all the way to (4) an urban (city) scale understanding of sustaining itself. All of these scales can overlap but as you jump to the next scale, a more complicated system has to be developed for that jump, therefore less mobile. Examples of this could be: 1 a solar powered traffic light, 2 may be a solar powered room with “rammed earth” to keep the room cool during the day and release the stored heat from the days sun to heat the room at night, 3 would be a building that has a reuse of rain water, solar power, green roof, geothermal heating and cooling, etc., and 4 would be a far broader understanding, so it would be having farms growing food for the city people, a circulation pattern that keeps is more focused on routes around the city instead of routes out of the city, electric group transportation powered by wind farms set up within city limits, the list goes on.
The future of refugee camps becoming more permanent installations set at city scale on international zones. These cities would be 100 percent sustainable, meaning they would apply to the whole range of sustainability, including keeping the people sustainable on their own. “UNHCR Engineer and Physical Planning & Shelter Officer Anicet Adjahossou found that one solution to strengthen community building within refugee camps was to work with anthropologists and refugees to redesign the standard refugee camp grid format into a new housing layout.” (Rawles 1). Setting a circulation of the city would be important to start. Making the cities more of a communitive spot, rather than the formal/temporary piece they are now. Then each family would get their own pod to live in, and people in groups of less than 3 sleep in larger span dormitories. The buildings would be made out of rammed earth, which is a technique that uses primarily sand, and then a little bit of water and cement. The layers of rammed earth create an insulated barrier to the environment. The special quality of this rammed earth is that it absorbs the heat from the sun during the day, and then distributes it at night. The pods would be recessed into the ground a bit as to reduce the amount structure held above ground, making it more stable against the wind, and it also will us the ground as an insulating piece for the pods. See figure 1 for the preliminary form. The form is designed to be structurally stable, and compact. The pod would be open air (or without traditional doors or full height walls) to allow for easy ventilation of the pod. The pod would also have at least two openings to allow for breezes to move through pod and help keep it cool during the day. The pods would taper down in height, so the front would be a little taller and more open to encourage interactive and communication among the occupants, but it would become smaller in the back of the pod. This taper affect would be most useful for protecting the city like scales do a lizard, shielding the inner part of the community from the exterior harsh environments. Refer to Page 10 “Urban Design” to get an idea of the “city” layout.
Sustainable design covers more than just structural planning, but it is also an important plan for a sustainable community and environment, as a whole. Planning for a more permanent city structure would reduce the amount of resources needed to keep up the residents of the city. This in turn would mean that after the initial cost of building these cities, all the UN would have to do would be to offer man power to police the area, but also to run the clinics, schools, and other specialty jobs around the city until they could be replaced by their own occupants, making the city totally sustainable, even the jobs within the city. In correlation to this plan, occupants of these cities would be filed into a system for asylum countries. These camps would be protected by the United Nations and refugees would live in the “city” for a registered 5-10-year plan. Food, water, sanitation would all be taken into account for the urban design, as well as stronger, more permanent shelters. Tents would not have to distributed, and this would create less of a waste low impact resources. These cities would act as Meccas for refugees to travel to as a safe haven and a place to stay while in wait for asylum. Each city would have a Central Office [it would act as a funneling source, a place where refugees would go to register for asylum, and paperwork/ red-tape would be processed from these cities and the flow of refugees can be better controlled] and educational facilities, as well as clinics, farms, and other necessities for humanitarian and sustainable direction. The first few years would require people who can train refugees to be able to take care of the sustainable system on their own, such as the farming, or the maintenance work, etc. Creating irrigation systems for the farms and having enough land to be able to work a three-field system of farming like was used in the Medieval Ages so to keep the soil fresh and fruitful. See “Urban Design” on Page 10 as reference.
There are already some camps making a move toward this idea. “To combat malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies, some refugee camps have implemented community gardens. At the Meheba refugee camp in Zambia, for example, refugees can grow their own food and add fruits and vegetables to their diets. Calls for improvements in both the latrine and sufficient waste disposal systems have also been made, as these will not only improve sanitation but also prevent disease. The Kilis Refugee Camp in Turkey resembles more of a permanent shelter. There are no tents, but sturdy containers instead. The camp has amenities that many others lack; electricity, maintenance, a clinic and grocery stores. Within the grounds, there are also schools and counselors.” (Rawles 1). These camps are starting to take on that Urban Sustainability that was discussed earlier in the paper, and that is one step toward a more sustainable life, which offers benefits to all parties involved. “In 2012, Adjahoosu worked with UNHCR at the Dollo Ado refugee camp in Ethiopia to organize the homes into sets of U-shaped enclosures. The innovative arrangement prompts more family interaction and allows for larger communal areas. Also included were locations for schools, water distribution points, markets and health centers. In addition to improving the living conditions in refugee camps, more aid must be given to prevent and end conflicts, so that we do not continue to see an increase in people forced to flee their homes in search of safety.” (Rawles 1).
In the far-off future, there may even be the potential for these refugee “cities” to be planned and made of just skyscrapers, with detachable living quarters (like small pods). These pods could travel with the refugee once they are moved either into an asylum country or a different location. This pod would be a self-sustaining house in and of itself, for the refugee to live in, and it would just have to plug into the skyscraper similar to how a plug is put into an electrical outlet. The perk of researching this way to develop the camp is because it can create an easy put together and break down framework for these pods to go in, so it would actually keep a more movable atmosphere. These pods could also help refugees assimilate into any new society a little more seamlessly because the pod could travel with them when they are moved into an asylum country, so the refugee would not have to look for a place to stay, or worry about needing money as soon as possible to afford a way of living because their home would already be able to sustain them.
The future of refugee camps is important and worth the investigation. The refugee crisis shows little hint that it is near over, and even once the conflict displacing these peoples is over, then begins the long arduous process and/or question of the relocation of these refugees. These camps can prove to be valuable in that stage of the process as well, and these camps can be the essential pivot points for this global issue. The camps that are in use now are not able to handle the stresses that the environment and the refugees put on them. Using design to move toward a more urbanized aspect with these camps can lead to a revolution in living sustainably. Right now, sustainable architecture is pretty expensive and is only ever used on well-funded projects, but there is the possibility that with a project scale this size, sustainability may be able to be cheaper and far more incredible.
References:
Chatty, Dawn. Conservation and Mobile Indigenous Peoples: Displacement, Forced Settlement and Sustainable Development. Berghahn Books, 2008.Hak, Tomas, et al. “Sustainable Development Goals: A Need for Relevant Indicators.”Ecological Indicators, Elsevier, 21 Aug. 2015, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X15004240.Ijeoma, Ekene. “The Refugee Project.” The Refugee Project, 2016, www.therefugeeproject.org/#/2016.Kates, Robert W., et al. “Editorial- What Is Sustainable Development? Goals, Indicators, Values, and Practice.” Www.cepn-Paris.13.Fr, Environmentmagazine.org, www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/CONSOLO_Kates-et-al.pdf+.Meyer, Sara-Duana. “Creating a More Sustainable Refugee Camp.” Pacific Standard, 2 Apr. 2018, psmag.com/environment/creating-a-more-sustainble-refugee-camp. Rawles, Erica. “Refugee Camps: Temporary Solutions to Long-Term Problems.” The Borgen Project, Aug. 2016, borgenproject.org/refugee-camps-temporary-solutions/.UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development: Toward the Digital Age, February 2017, http://www.refworld.org/docid/59db4aaa4.html.UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The Sustainable Development Goals and Addressing Statelessness, March 2017, http://www.refworld.org/docid/58b6e3364.html.United Nations. “What Is a Refugee Camp? Definition and Statistics | USA for UNHCR.” Definition and Statistics | USA for UNHCR, United Nations, www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/camps/.United Nations. “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” UNHCR, United Nations, www.unhcr.org/en-us/2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development.html.“What Is Sustainable Architecture?” SH Architecture, SH Architecture, 28 Mar. 2016, sh-architecture.com/2016/sustainability/what-is-sustainable-architecture.Winston, Nessa. “Sustainable Housing in the Urban Context: International Sustainable Development Indicator Sets and Housing.” SpringerLink, Springer Netherlands, 4 Aug. 2007, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-007-9165-8.
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