Redefining Refugee Camps as Livable Cities (Case Study: Saveh Refugee Camp)

Diba Rashidi,Seyed Behshid Hosseini

doi:10.12691/ajcea-6-1-1

Abstract

Every year, a large number of the Earth inhabitants have to leave their homeland due to violence and discrimination so that there are now over 60 million displaced people worldwide. Almost 20 million of them are refugees. In this circumstance, refugee camps, considered a common settling way, not only have a great effect on the current lives of refugees, but also influence their future lives because of the long-term presence of refugees in such an environment. The purpose of this study is to review the refugee camps from economic, social, physical, managerial, and environmental perspectives. In the next step, the rational basis of refugee camps as a city is explained by examining city, its features, and its dimensions and comparison with refugee camps. Afterward, diverse criteria are developed to improve the quality of life in various social, environmental and physical dimensions using the livability approach. These criteria are the basis of redesigning Saveh Camp, Iran as a livable city. Finally, a livable city-based design is proposed for the case study.

Highlights

The continuation of conflicts, persecution, organized violence and human rights violations have led to the people's displacement in different parts of the world during the first half of 2015
An important point is that refugees' selfsufficiency, camp's participatory management, and physical design need to be in line with the increase in sense of attachment and the use of refugee workforce for construction
Other findings are the necessity of private space for every family, the possibility of food production by families including plants, attention to environmental issues for reducing the tension among refugees, and attention to all social groups especially vulnerable ones

Summary

Introduction

The continuation of conflicts, persecution, organized violence and human rights violations have led to the people's displacement in different parts of the world during the first half of 2015. 59.5 million people had become homeless by the end of 2014 as a result of war and violence, of which 19.5 million were called refugees according to the international definitions. According to the UN statistics, at least 5 million people were added to the homeless over the first half of 2015 [1]. There are more than 65 million displaced people around the world that can exceed the population of a country. Most of refugees living in Iran are from Afghanistan (950,000) followed by Iraqis (32,000). This population is mostly living in rural and urban areas. Until 2014, repatriation efforts had been made; the trend has stopped due to the regional crisis [2]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion