THE ROLE OF THE ARCHITECT IN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

The students will be introduced to the international humanitarian community’s response mechanisms in crisis and development contexts, focusing on the role of the architect and urban planner in this system. The course will examine how our professions can influence a shift in emergency response in becoming integration initiatives. Despite the temporary nature of emergency accommodation, such facilities tend to become permanent settlements – of which the Bourj Al Shamali camp in Lebanon is only one of many examples.

The course aims to stimulate critical thinking around ‘temporality’ and existing response mechanisms, and how to identify potential intersections of architecture and humanitarian response.

URBAN DISPLACEMENT

More than half of the world’s population is urban, of which one third lives in informal settlements. Furthermore 80% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently live outside camp settings. The term ‘urban displacement’ refers to the specific challenges related to urban contexts where IDPs, refugees, and migrants often mix with the urban poor in the existing host community.  

The issue of displaced populations in urban contexts is the most pressing challenge in the context of global displacement. This includes displaced populations hosted by local families, living in subsidized or rented housing, dispersed in the urban fabric (often mixed with economic migrants and the local poor) or gathered in informal spontaneous settlements, often referred to as camps. The course will explore the need for including the host community from the onset of the planning process, and not only addressing the immediate needs of the new arrivals.