From Camp Dwellers to Urban Refugees ? Urbanization and Marginalization of Refugee Camps in Lebanon

Most of the studies on refugees establish a clear difference between refugees in camps and urban refugees living in cities. The Palestinian case, due to its exceptional duration and the context of rapid urbanization of their host countries, invites us to re-examine this dichotomy. Most of the refugee camps in Lebanon (as well as in most of the Middle Eastern cities) are now part of the main Lebanese urban areas. On the one hand they appear to be marginalized and segregated areas due to the special - and often changing - regulation and mode of controls as well as the legal status of their Palestinian residents. On the other hand, refugee camps are strongly connected to their urban environment through the daily mobility of Palestinian refugees, the growing presence of other groups of refugees and migrants (such as Syrian or Asian workers and Iraqi or Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees), and the development of commercial activities that blur the boundaries of the refugee camps, making it a part of the city. This article is based on fieldwork research in Beirut and Tyre (Lebanon)