Spatial patterns, gray spacing, and planning policy implications

Abstract

While everyone concurs that refugee settlement is globally urbanizing, few have explored the spatial patterns through which this urbanization happens. In this chapter, we seek to relocate the urban production of space at the center of analysis, using the built environment as an entry point to the study of forced population displacements and their implications for today's cities. We specifically look at the production and reorganization of urban quarters that have accommodated large flows of refugees in Lebanon's secondary cities. We ask: What are the forms that the urbanization of forced population displacement takes? How are these forms produced? Who are the actors involved? How do they influence ongoing urban transformations? What role do urban planning frameworks play in these processes? The chapter demonstrates that refugee displacement is profoundly reshaping the organization of cities in Lebanon where we found this urbanization to be heavily driven by individual, profit-driven initiatives instigated by impoverished local populations. Additionally, we found this urbanization to be determined by a range of territorial considerations that shape the locality's urban governance, and by deficient and outdated planning systems that turn a blind eye to the presence of refugees. As such, we argue that refugee migration is expanding spaces of exclusion, areas tagged as ‘gray spaces’ where relatively higher levels of informal management and sharp environmental deterioration have occurred. The chapter closes with a reflection on the imperative for decision-makers to engage city planners in their response to the management of forced population displacement, which has become an integral element of contemporary city making. The research builds on in-depth investigations of three secondary cities in Lebanon, Zahle, Saida, and Halba conducted as part of a larger research study, funded by the IDRC, in collaboration with the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies and the Syrian Center for Policy Research.