FROM RELIEF TO DEVELOPMENT ?

Sandra D ’Urzo, architect , ShelterProject Review, 4 november 2004

“The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the state of emergency in which we live is not the exception but the rule.

We must attain to a concept of history that is keeping with this insight”

Walter Benjamin

frontiers of Survival…

…or frontiers of inequity ?

«  North and South no longer define an international order but rather have moved closer one another. The proximity of extremely unequal populations creates a situation of permanent social danger »

Tony Negri / Hardt in “Empire”

Tijuana border between Mexico/USA

Abu Dis/ separation wall between West Bank/ Israel

MAP OF WORLD CONFLICTS AND RISKS/ 2001

TIME

“ It is the effort to change the times which inscribes us

more deeply in them”

JP Sartre

How can we link relief action...

« For justice and for love, please rebuid, thank you »graffiti on a house damaged by the 2001 earthquake,

San Salvador

..to long-lasting development?

“Prefiero morir de una sola vez si tiene que venir otro Mitch que morir poco a poco de hambre en una bonita casa, allá abajo en el

valle”

“ I’d rather die at once if another hurrican Mitch came over than die slowly of hunger in a nicely built house, there, down in the

valley”

Inhabitant of a “colonia” rebuilt after hurrical Mitch in Salvador

Persisting dilemmas of disater hit contexts: land ownership, work opportunities, cultural identity, structural poverty...

«I won ’t live in these prefabs. I can ’t stay away from my family, I prefer sleeping in a tent nearby the place where my children were buried and

rebuild my house »

Bam, an inhabitant of the old city, february 2004

PROJECTS

Afghanistan : 2003-2004 / Recostruction of the cinema Ariana in Kaboul

- post-war reconstruction- skills improvement- pilot project / architectural quality- educational development

« Added value » on the project

1. Skills development: on-the-spot training workshops for masons, technicians, handicrafts.

2. Use of local building materials and techniques, avoiding the Introduction on the local marketplace of inappropriate materials that asphyxiate local economy

3. Start parallel dynamics such as pedagogical workshops with children4. Build up and strengthen partnerships with architectural faculties,

promoting exchange on this pilot project5. Promote dissemination activities (research and networking, training

manuals)6. Improve the quality of the re-built environment with replicable techniques.

small-scale enterprises)

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Launching educational activities

Urban exhibition during the construction phase

Questions:> How can we enable mechanisms that facilitate an efficient articulation between relief and development?> How do we avoid the trap of « having to do quickly » without losing control over essential issues?> Can we pretend to set up participatory approaches in a traumatised society?> Can we spend on relief budgets without cutting on development?

« The current increases in relief budgets - in the UN as a whole already nearly 50% of the funds- are bound to continue, which further diminishes resources that could have been made possible for development. This vicious circle has to end »( T. Schilderman, ITDG)

________________________________ Westbank - ”Opening spaces” workshop, October 2004

- Long-lasting crisis- Refugees vs citizens- Enclosure/ borderlines- Territory and occupation- urban potential /transformations

«  The matrix of control over Palestinian territory is being completed during this second Intifada by the disastrous Israeli policy »from « A civilian occupation », various authors, Union of Israeli architects  

EXI(S)TENCEOPENING SPACE(S)

CASE STUDY 1 : EL A’YN CAMP IN NABLUSCASE STUDY 2 : Al AMARI CAMP IN RAMALLAH

STUDENTS:- MAUD CHEVET- MARIANNE FAYOLLE - ISABELLE NEBOUT - SEBASTIEN ROYWITH THE PARTICIPATION OF THE STUDENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTUREAND URBAN PLANNING, AN-NAJAH UNIVERSITY, NABLUS and BIR-ZEIT IN RAMALLAH

Overall Coordination: SYLVAINE BULLE (sociologist)Coordination architectural survey: arch. SANDRA D ’URZO

POTENTIALITIES OF THE SITE

Landscape preservationUrban regeneration Urban continuum

NORTH-SOUTH CROSS CUT

Compact built front

VIEW OF THE SOUTH FRONT

LEGEND

MAP OF RISKS

Environmental deterioration

Poor housingLack of green spaces

Poor access

MAP OF POTENTIALS

QUALITY BUILDINGS

ROOFSCAPES

OPENING SPACES

CONNECTING SPACES

NATURAL GROWTH

AL BIEREH

RAMALLAH

Al Amari

AL ’ AMARI CAMP: > Al Amari is located in between Ramallah and Al Biereh municipalities (tot population estimated: 200.000)> registered refugee population : 8658 (1830 families) > estimated population: 14.000> surface of 90 dunums ( 90 ha)

GENERAL VIEWS

> extremely compact urban fabric > densily populated areas inside the camp > continuous growth and regeneration of its central core and its boundaries

Photo panoramique

Limit of the camp New buildings Urban fabric

>

GENERAL VIEWS

EVOLUTION OF THE BORDERLINE

UNRWA LIMIT

EVOLUTION OF THE BORDERLINE

MAIN WALLSGREEN SPACESEMPTY SPACES

EVOLUTION OF THE BORDERLINE

AL BIEREH CITIZENSREFUGEES LIVING OUSIDE THE LIMITS

REFUGEES LIVING INSIDE THE LIMITS

MIXED USES / APPROPRIATION OF SPACE

EXPLORING THE BORDERLINE

UNRWA LIMIT

> CROSS -CUTS ON THE BORDERLINE > TYPICAL CASES STUDIES

> SPECIFIC ANALYSISOF TYPOLOGIES, SPACES AND USES >SOCIALS SURVEYS

DYNAMICS OF URBAN CHANGE Fractures

>Persistence of physical boundandies (fences, walls),fragmented separations between inside and outside; new constructions become recognizeable landmarks and reinforce the limit by suffocating its growth.

> Existence of voids and no man ’s land in continuity with the borderline can enhance peripheral growth and linear space appropriation

A : inside

B: boundary

C: outside

Camp

Wall

No man ’s land

DYNAMICS OF URBAN CHANGE Junctions

> borderline no longer defines the inside/outside of the camp:space appropriation starts from « inhabiting » the frontier,introducing new functions and uses on the limit for both refugees and non refugees.

> new gardens, social gathering spaces and planted areas are organizing on and around the border.

> upgraded housing units inside the camp are visually integrated within the urban built frame and identical shapes/typologies are recognizeable inside/outide of the camp.

quality buildings outide

quality buildings inside

New uses for intersticial spaces

Space appropriation on the border

DYNAMICS OF URBAN CHANGE Shift of border

> Strategies of land occupation define new social /neighbourhood spaces,allowing individual or collective uses.  « boundary invasions » trace new limits outide the camp and mixed functions.

A BNew appropriation space, multiple uses from A > B

BA New appropriation space, multiple uses from B >A

> Land aquisition from outside the camp together with previous land owneship create new dynamics of penetration of the space or enclaves inside it.

DYNAMICS OF URBAN CHANGE Mutation

> given the demographic growth inside the camp in the past decades new infrastructures (schools,clinics..)have been built around the perimeter.

> main urban connections and insfractructures have been built all around the camp and define its border without enclosing it.

DYNAMICS OF URBAN CHANGE POTENTIALS FOR TRANSFORMATION > Porosity/permeability of the border have lead to the progressive disappearing of the original boundary > interaction of functions and uses> Fast-developing social changes, irreversible landscape/urban transformations have brought to a recomposition of the whole fabric of the camp,both inside and outside its perimeter.> Complexity and interactions between in/out raise the high urban potential of the camp defining new directions of growth and mutual belonging to the city.

DYNAMICS OF POPULATION

CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDY A /vertical and horizontal junctionsAl biereh

Strong social/spatial interactions

camp

CASE STUDY A / JUNCTIONS

Individual housecamp camp

Al biereh

Refugees living inside the camp

Refugees living outside the camp

Void space in between the refugees

Semi-public space and transformed access to the camp

camp

Al biereh

Al biereh

camp

CASE STUDY D / enclaves

Refugees inside the camp

Refugees outside the camp

Al Biereh citizens

> dialectical borderline: permeability / impermeability change according to the use of the « encalve » space. Dual identity of its inhabitants (citizens/hosts of refugees)

WHAT CAN WE DO?- Enhance Participation / appropriation- Experimentation of architectural/urban solutions- Risk prevention and habitat improvement - Link emergency to development programs- Promote a contextual/appropriate architecture- Strenghthen lasting partnerships- Negotiate land ownership problem- Diminish dependence and assistance by reinforcing local skills and competences- North/South and South/South technological transfer and pedagogic exchange programs

“In fondo non siamo ciechi di spirito, caro padre, ma solo esseri umani in un mondo in piena trasformazione. Che dovremmo fare?”

“After all, we are not blind in our souls, father, but only human beings in a world in deep transformation. What should we do?”

Burt Lancaster in “Il Gattopardo”, film by Visconti, 1963

I would like to thank Antonella Vitale and Tom Corsellis , the team of ShelterProject.