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The Normalization of Purgatories

Exploring Urban Inequalities in The Shatila Refugee Camp.

Row of cloth tents

2 October 2019

Grant


Grant: Grand Challenges Doctoral Students' Small Grants
Year awarded: 2019-20
Amount awarded: £2,500

Academics 


  • James Shraiky, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering, Engineering
  • Ledia Andrawes, Institute for Global Prosperity, Bartlett

Refugees who reside in the Shatila Camp face overcrowding, poor infrastructure, and inadequate living conditions that lead to poor physical and mental health issues. The model has been long-term "temporary" refugee camps, where the designs and policies are ineffective and outdated, with no significant improvements over the last three decades. Camp systems are designed for the emergency phase, yet many end up becoming impromptu cities and inadequately provide functional long-term living condition or opportunities. 

The project partners with the local municipality, several global NGOs and policymakers to facilitate a series of photography and policy dialogue workshops in Lebanon. Refugees were invited to the workshop to discuss their experience, capturing images and environmental details that represent spatial vulnerabilities that deem the camp as urbanely unequal. This included inadequate water supplies, food provision, transportation networks, infrastructure and how the built environment deepens vulnerabilities at the camp. The refugees resented to local policy reseachers and map out a route for policy changes around camps environments. 

An infrastructural and design toolkit was produced that aims to improve the environments of camps. 

Outputs and Impact


  • Infrastructural and design toolkit

Image credit: Photo by Julie Ricard on Unsplash