l imbo optimism impermanence displacement waiting
urbanism refugee camps by joanne lam
Rumour has it that some Palestinian refugees still wear their house keys around their necks, holding onto that hope that one day, they will walk into their house in Palestine again. Their conviction and their optimism have lasted for the past 60 years while generations grow up, get married and start families in the refugee camps. Nowhere else is the question of identity, migration and future planning more intertwined than for the Palestinians who have been living in limbo for decades in a neighbouring country. How does one fashion their environment to suit their needs when their future is not within their control?
carried over from the tent era, making it extremely difficult for cars to drive through. Almost 3000 families, averaging almost 9 persons per family, are packed into about 1700 units 2 . The numbers are overwhelming. Naturally, the major complaint is that housing conditions are considered too close and too noisy 3 . On the flip side, the very narrow streets and the high density makes the community very walkable and vibrant. Children play on the streets. Shops spill out onto the road. Inside the camp, the main commercial strip occupies a road that is slightly wider than others. Despite the lack of sidewalks and other urban design features, it feels safe to shop, to walk, to play and to inhabit the street. In a way, it makes for a good example of the walkable communities loudly championed by architects and planners these days. It also serves as a strong contrast to the rest of downtown Irbid where cars, pedestrians and market stalls all fight for a piece of the street, traffic lights be damned. Unfortunately, despite being a very pedestrian friendly community a mere five minutes walk from downtown Irbid, the tight conditions have garnered the camp a less than palatable reputation and is rarely visited by typical Irbidians. While Irbid Camp continues to hustle and bustle today, its future remains off topic. Even though the recently completed Irbid Master Plan looks at the population and employment growth in the next twenty years for the region and the municipality, it only documents the camp’s existing conditions. The master plan does not offer any future scenario for the land, the buildings, or
Refugee camps sprang up in Arab nations starting in 1948 at the wake of the first Arab-Israeli conflict. When the convoluted history started in 1948, UNRWA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, set up to solely manage Palestinian refugee camps, was not in existence yet. The 1948 war was triggered by Resolution 181, passed by the United Nations General Assembly, to create a Jewish state in what was largely Palestinian land. Mayhem ensued. Borders changed. ‘Palestinian refugee’ became an official term. In Jordan, one of the four earliest refugee camps administered by UNRWA, is located in Irbid, the main city in the northern part of the country. The Jordanian government provided the land and infrastructure and at the outset, Red Cross provided emergency relief. Like typical refugee camps that are meant to be temporary, the Palestinian refugees were originally housed in tents. It was not until the late 1950s when UNRWA replaced the tents with more durable structures 1 . Over the years, the population has grown but the camp area has remained the same, resulting in the extremely crowded conditions of today. Irbid Camp sits just north of downtown Irbid, geographically separated from it by a hill and a cemetery. From the air, only the density and the defined boundary betray the existence of the camp. On the ground, it is remarkably similar to the built form around it. The palette of concrete, punched windows, and three- to four- storey buildings render the camp almost seamless with the rest of the urban fabric. The small lots and narrow streets have been
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