Sustainable and social quality of refugee housing architecture

Abstract

The article analyses the relationship between sustainable architecture, social integration of refugees and innovative urban development, unfolding the synergetic potential between these questions. The authors consider that a successful integration of migrants with different cultural background, education and income level can be best achieved through buildings and urban districts, designed according to international sustainable principles. Not less innovation, but more is the key to address global challenges for spatial development of cities of any scale. Today it is not the limitation of financial resources for refugee housing programs that poses a threat to social, balanced and economically successful development of housing environments in cities, but the lack of knowledge of sustainable planning principles and sustainable construction techniques. The authors conclude: Whereas in central Europe socio-cultural and environment-friendly strategies for cities are widely in place, eastern Europe, Russia and north Africa or the Middle East region has not yet implemented such strategies as short-and long-term planning instruments. The article presents the urban case study project for a sustainable urban extension of the city of Luxor (Egypt) by the architect M. Eichner, Professor at the German University in Cairo – GUC.