The Problem

The Problem with Refugee Camps - (Architecture, Design, Planning)

1- Architects and designers focus too much on building technology rather than social systems.
             -The IKEA refugee shelter for example is designed greatly but very costly to manufacture,                      import and construct.
            - Every day designers construct new refugee shelter technologies. This is considered a waste                 of time and money due to its impractical solution of being imported. Whereas the dominant                 cultural, political, legal systems demand low-standard and cheap but scaleable solutions.

2- Camps are supposed to be temporary so as to encourage the return toward home (repatriation) and at the same time a way to safely help a population in need.
            -  An examples is the MSF, whom create camps so as to rapidly deliver much needed medical                attention to many people at one time. As a result governments encouraged camps to be                        completely isolated form the rest of the population (due to xenophobia) as well as to                            facilitate the responsibility of protection and to encourage repatriation.
         

3- The idea and images of refugees and camps as third world slums presupposes the actions taken by stakeholders. Consequently, the same system is reproduced over and over again.

4- A massive communication gap exists between dominating entities and camp populations. Most aid workers are afraid of the populations they are intent to serve. Most aid agencies and UN operations maintain highly restrictive rules that negate interaction between staff and refugees.
            - UNHABITAT regularly plans camps using satellite images and locally contracted social                      research, but never actually make a site visit to talk to locals or see the terrain first hand.                     This can have extreme repercussions.

5- Camps are isolated and cannot participate as viable economies. This is to further encourage repatriation. It is also a xenophobic exercise to separate refugee populations from national populations. But consequently, any camp-based economic development initiative will have a low ceiling of growth or will fail because there is no viable supply chain for production or transit conduit to export of commodities.