Worldwide, the number of asylum seekers has doubled in the past decade alone, nearly exceeding 80 million as of 2021. In the last four years this number increased by 20 million people. The convention of international humanitarian response strains under the reality that camps, and the aid apparatus, is insufficient to house and provide a meaningful existence for displaced people within the paradigm of enclosure.
Decades on, refugee camps like Stranded Pakistani Geneva Camp---one of the densest settlements in Bangladesh---in central Dhaka have evolved into claustrophobic concrete slums. In the western hemisphere, the response of forced migration by host nations takes a separate form of policy, policing and deportation. Though the recent transition to the Biden administration offers hope of a rejuvenated US Refugee Assistance and resettlement program, the estranged US-Mexican border policy of the past four years has left 60,000 asylum seekers stranded.
Decades on, refugee camps like Stranded Pakistani Geneva Camp---one of the densest settlements in Bangladesh---in central Dhaka have evolved into claustrophobic concrete slums. In the western hemisphere, the response of forced migration by host nations takes a separate form of policy, policing and deportation. Though the recent transition to the Biden administration offers hope of a rejuvenated US Refugee Assistance and resettlement program, the estranged US-Mexican border policy of the past four years has left 60,000 asylum seekers stranded.
Beyond Encampment is a series of conversations reflecting on efforts of design professionals who work to change the paradigm of enclosure, and who practice models of urban integration and refugee resettlement through design activism. Rather than replicate the failures of large-scale encampment and the reactionary method of policing migration, we must proactively reconceive forms of settlement at the terminus of forced migration, and redesign the spatial plan and frameworks of refuge.
Local & Collaborative Response:
Rohingya Refugee Camp Bangladesh
Fuad Hassan Mallick, Dean, BRAC University School of Architecture
Rizvi Hassan, Architect IOM, UN.
Saad Ben Mustafa, Architect OXFAM.
Fatmi Khwaja, Architect IOM, UN.
Hasibul Kabir & Suhailey Farzana, Co.Creation.Architects
Rizvi Hassan, Architect IOM, UN.
Saad Ben Mustafa, Architect OXFAM.
Fatmi Khwaja, Architect IOM, UN.
Hasibul Kabir & Suhailey Farzana, Co.Creation.Architects
The Case for Humanitarian Architecture
Brett Moore, UNHCR
Chief of Shelter and Settlements
Don Weinreich & Eliza Montgomery, Rethinking Refugee Communities, Ennead Lab
Nathalie Beauvais & Shirine Boulos Anderson, Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children
Don Weinreich & Eliza Montgomery, Rethinking Refugee Communities, Ennead Lab
Nathalie Beauvais & Shirine Boulos Anderson, Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children
Post-Trump Immigration Policy, from Central America to the US
Mike Smith Masis, Entre nos Atelier
Teddy Cruz & Fonna Forman, Studio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman
Pablo Landa, Colectivo Nuevo Norte
Teddy Cruz & Fonna Forman, Studio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman
Pablo Landa, Colectivo Nuevo Norte