Tempelhof airport, built by the Nazis in the 1930s, is a protected monument in the centre of the German capital, Berlin. Its history, size and context have established it as a controversial and high-profile space for refugees. And for the…
Activists and supporters in the Greek capital, Athens, have occupied vacant city buildings in solidarity with the thousands of refugees trapped in the country by border closures. They have transformed buildings into squats to house refugees, in resistance to the…
Being a child living in a protracted refugee situation in an encampment in Eastern Africa means that geopolitics and international standards influence the way you sleep, the meals you eat, and the daily activities at your nursery school. Often long-term…
Shelters must be habitable, and provide physical safety and adequate space, as well as protection against the elements. They are also homes where people seek well-being and safety, especially so in displacement. In essence, shelter offers protection. However, it is…
Some refugee camps have been described as ‘accidental cities’,[1] spaces born out of chaos and planned, if at all, as temporary spaces. However, as protracted refugee situations become more widespread, finding ways to incorporate ecological elements into the shelter model…
Various approaches to refugee integration with local host communities have been suggested in the past, largely within the realms of refugee-friendly policies and the creation of opportunities for refugees to engage in income-generating activities. While recent strategies by institutions such…
One day in 2001 I dropped in on a former neighbour in Albania in her tiny two-roomed house. Their family photo album included pictures of the Kosovar[1] family they had taken in following their expulsion from Kosova at the end…
Between May 2015 and December 2016, more than 200,000 Burundi refugees fled into Tanzania. Nyarugusu camp already existed, home to more than 60,000 Congolese refugees for almost 20 years, and it was therefore to here that the first Burundian refugees…
Over recent decades, the word innovation has proliferated across multiple industries and is widely drawn upon to tackle many kinds of problems. In the case of shelter and settlement planning for displaced populations, the pursuit of innovation by the humanitarian…
Media coverage of forced migration tends to repeat the old, tired imagery of tents and camps, ignoring how often displaced people end up living in a much wider range of shelters. Many forced migrants live in ordinary rented apartment blocks…