Spatial Design and Management of Refugee Camps: Al Za’atri and Its Transformation from a Temporary Shelter to a Permanent “Slum”

ThisTemporary Shelter, refugee camp as chapter focuses on the resettlement process of refugeesRefugee who have been forced to flee from their home countries in camps that are often set up in neighboring host countries, and gradual transformationTransformation of these camps into permanent planned and managed settlements. In the first part, a brief critical history of the global refugee crisis is provided, including the role played by the global NorthGlobal North countries in both contributing to this human tragedy, and funding the settlement of displaced populations via the United Nation’s humanitarian agencies such as the UNHCRUNHCR. Using the Al Za’atriAl Za’atri camp in JordanJordan that provides shelter for Syrian refugeesSyrian refugees as a case study, the chapter’s second part focuses on the camp’s design and spatial planning, and its evolution and transformation from a temporary camp into a permanent planned and managed settlement. Of note, is the camp’s security features and enforced regulations resembling those implemented in total institutions as described by sociologist Ervin Goffman, and a refugeeRefugee population that is often preyed upon by for-profit enterprises and corporationsCorporations for monetary gains. The chapter’s final prognosis of this global experiment’s outcome in managing the global refugeeRefugee crisis is not very promising: The affected populations are sadly victimized twice, once by being violently uprooted from their homelands due to regional conflicts, perpetrated by the global NorthGlobal North nations; and again, by being excluded from planning and management of their lives once resettled in refugee campsRefugee Camps as quasi-total institutionsQuasi-total institutions, refugee camps as, with living conditions similar to slumsSlum, and often in perpetuity.