Abstract
As refugees lose their sense of spatial identity, they try to adapt by recreating their lost community through revival of rituals, religion, defense, lifestyle, prestige, and climate. Population displacement theory deals with settlements as form of socio-cultural action. The study the driving engines behind the shifted emerging patterns and their influence on the efficiency of the settlement at Al-Za'atari Syrian Refugee Camp, in North Jordan, Al-Mafraq. Face-to-face interviews with camp mobilizers explored the driving engines behind the shifted settlement patterns, and its influence on mobilizers' reachability. A cluster stratified random sample was used to collect quantitative data through a structured questionnaire. Outcomes indicated that refugees are gradually transforming the formal public spaces at the cluster level to private ones as an extension to the shelter domain. Such spatial shifts appear to be driven by a combination of physical, social, socio-spatial drivers, and past socio-spatial experience. These spatial shifts from the formal grid are influenced by refugees’ social values and territorial behavior, expressing zones of influence as means of defensive adaptation. Statistical analysis attested the influence of driving engines on settlement patterns and on the efficiency of the settlement. The driving engines behind the spatial shifts are safety concerns, cultural concerns, religious reasons, lifestyle, prestige, ethnicity and origin, improved infrastructure, improved access to services, and micro-climate. Such attributes influence the total efficiency of the settlement. Conclusively, planners should consider socio-cultural values that reflect defensibility, boundaries definition, and interdependence.
Highlights
With the escalation of the Syrian crisis in 2011 and the ongoing disputes that remain locked in a stalemate, expanding numbers of Syrians are seeking refuge in neighboring countries including Jordan
Only 20% of them are staying at the camp, as the majority moved to Jordanian urban-based communities, with some of them leaving legally but the majority illegally (Bonnin, 2012; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2014)
Jordan has a history of providing asylum to refugees
Summary
With the escalation of the Syrian crisis in 2011 and the ongoing disputes that remain locked in a stalemate, expanding numbers of Syrians are seeking refuge in neighboring countries including Jordan. Al-Za’atari Camp has emerged in Al-Mafraq as a quick response to the sudden influx of refugees to the Kingdom. The Arab World witnessed divergent population displacements under the rubric of Arab Spring. One of the multitude methodological applications to comprehensively analyze the conceptual framework of population displacement, is to grasp its multiple causes and multidimensional consequences. As a coping mechanism following the large and unpredictable in-flow of refugees, many refugee camps emerged in some Arab States. It is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that plays the leading role in registering refugees, and planning and managing their camps. Its staff try to support refugees in their times of hardship, allow them to regain what they have lost in some form, and help them overcome the hurdles they face (Barutciski, 2009; Shami, 1994, 1993; UNHCR, 2014)
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