Sustainable Design Principles for Refugee Camps

This report’s main focus is on the phenomenon of refugee camps as one of the most visible and spatially explicit results of refuge and migration movements at the global scale. Given the steadily growing numbers of people on the move and staying in temporary homes and settlements, refugee camps must be considered as a form of highly dynamic and partially ad hoc urbanisation processes. International organizations such as UNHCR, Red Cross, AWH and others are playing a key role in providing strategic, organizational and practical support for the establishment and management of refugee camps. Their experience, dedication, tacit knowledge, technical guidance and cooperation-lines with national governments are of utmost importance for the future of refugees as well as for the situation of host countries and regions where camps and settlement are being set up. While the emphasis is on establishing temporary solutions and to discourage permanent settlements, fact is that many refugee camps last several years or even decades and are – despite international efforts – steadily growing in terms of size and population figures with severe impacts on regional sustainability