Urban Integration of Post-Refugee Camps: The Case of Dbayeh Palestinian Camp

Abstract

Displacement has become a worldwide issue with over 68 million people displaced including 25.4 million refugees that reside mostly in urban areas (UNHCR, 2020). Camps established in response to an emergency situation, often last longer than the crisis itself and end up as permanent settlements. In the Middle-East, since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, 7 million Palestinian refugees across the world managed to create coping mechanisms and new practices to adapt in hosting urban environments, during seventy years of exile. Today, Lebanon is home to 174,422 Palestinian refugees (Census, 2017) residing in twelve camps that suffer from overcrowding, poverty, poor infrastructure, and lack of social interaction. This thesis focuses on Dbayeh camp, located north of Beirut, which is an interesting case study since it has been existing for a long time and became a permanent part of the urban landscape. The study will investigate the urban evolution of the camp, a congested built environment that lacks services, infrastructure and healthy public realm. It will also analyze the improvised socio-spatial tactics that refugees use to improve their living conditions, in order to inform a site-specific Placemaking strategy. The thesis aims to explore the role of urban design in addressing the integration of the camp with its surroundings and the enhancement of living conditions in camps particularly through shared open spaces, by building on these tactics. The research relies on qualitative and quantitative methods such as data visualization, field observation, interviews and extensive mapping for data generation, since there is not enough data on this camp. The strategy will aim to upgrade the physical environment and reintegrate the social structure, while retaining the multilayered identity which includes the ‘campness’ of the camp. By translating the concept of Placemaking inside refugee camps, the thesis aims to prove that strategic urban design interventions can improve livability and create a sense of belonging. The research aims to create a discourse around the post-camp urban condition, recommending that aid agencies intervene in existing refugee camps that are becoming permanent, using urban design tools.