GazaŠJordan Between Suq and Wadi
GazaŠJordan Between Suq and Wadi Charlotte Dhollander
Thesis submitted to obtain the degree of Master of Engineering: Architecture Promotor Lieven De Cauter Co-promotor Guido Geenen Local promotor Ismae’l Sheikh Hassan
Academic year 2013-2014
KU Leuven Faculty of Engineering Science
2013-2014
Master thesis’s file
Student: Charlotte Dhollander Title: Gaza©Jordan - Between Suq and Wadi Abstract: Gaza Camp’s urban fabric knows a lot of limitations regarding the built environment
and the usage of the public space. Since the shelters are subject to the topography, this often results in poor structures and dangerous situations. However, it is not obvious what is causing the limited usage of the public space, regarding the concept of the commons. In order to understand these practices and to be able to provide a well-motivated and justified proposal, research has been conducted in Gaza Camp, followed by a thorough analysis of the camp and its surroundings -in Book I. A more detailed analysis regarding the camp’s urban fabric is presented in this book. The concepts of the observed social relations are studied, as well as their translation in the public space. In order to upgrade a part of the urban fabric, several tools are proposed which can improve the built environment and/or (re)introduce the common space accompanied by allowing the Wadi to enter the camp. By combining these tools in the area between the Suq and the Wadi, a first step towards upgrading the tissue is introduced. However, these tools alone won’t succeed in achieving these goals. It is important to notice that cooperation of the camp’s residents is crucial, which can be achieved through a participatory approach, based around the social structures within the camp.
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GAZA CAMP’S URBAN FABRIC
I INTRODUCTION a. Intro b. Acknowledgements c. Abstract
p. 10
p. 18 II NEIGHBOURHOODS a. Who i. Men and elderly women ii. Young women and children b. Social interactions p. 44 III MICRO-COMMUNITIES a. Who b. Social interactions p. 52 IV PUBLIC VS. COMMON a. Public b. Common i. Common vs. Right of Return ii. Who iii. Why iv. How v. Special case
V STREETS AND ZONING a. Current situation i. Zones ii. Streets b. Proposal i. Zones ii. Streets
p. 66
VI CASE STUDY p. 136 a. Between Suq and Wadi b. Experimented tools i.Shelter transformations ii. Greening iii. Local projects iv. Neighbourhood projects c. Overview VII REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION I
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Intro At the establishment of Gaza Camp, the refugees were randomly placed in plots according to a predefined grid pattern, within the area rented by UNRWA. In these times of chaos, confusion, panic and flees, it was very important to stick together with the people you know and are closely related to. Out if this dominant and rigid grid, shifts occurred between the refugees in order to construct their tents and shelters with families, clans and other groups from the same villages to form clusters and quarters based on their traditional, rural hosh concepts [UNRWA, 2012]. This shift from a strictly organised to a slightly appropriated arrangement introduced new social structures in local areas, resulting in different building types and different social usages of the public space. In this part of the thesis, it is the intension to discuss the observed concepts that are directly related to the urban fabric of the camp, going from the physical appearance of the built environment to the local social structures and the appointed necessities. It is the ambition to understand these concepts, to discover their qualities and potential problems, and, if there is the need, to evolve these existing practices over the camp. These concepts will be combined in a case-study, to investigate its potential local impact in the built environment and the improved qualities of the public space and its usage. “Urban fabric captures the complex interplay between the physical and social structures of local areas, and the individual definitions of neighbourhood that give meaning to these environmental cues.� [Brunton-Smith, 2012]
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Acknowledgements Before launching the sequel of our work, we would like to thank those who have helped us throughout the process, whether by collaboration, guidance or mental support. The realization of this work is made possible, mainly thanks to them. Mahmoud Riyad Kromp, our translator, team-member and friend. Thank you for your daily help, your support and your patience during many long and tiring days of fieldwork. Moreover, we would like to thank you to participate in the workshop in Leuven. You represented the camp as nobody else could ever do. Lastly, we would like to thank you for your friendship, for introducing us into your culture and for giving us the feeling of being a little part of it. Lieven De Cauter, our promoter. Thank you for your valuable comments, highly appreciated insights and for sharing your comprehensive knowledge of the subject on many occasions. In additions we would like to thank you for involving the Palestinian postgraduates in our work and for extending the debate far beyond this thesis. Guido Geenen, our co-promoter. Our sincere appreciation goes out to you, for your incredible amount of time and effort spent in this dissertation, for your critical insights, your instructive guidance and your interesting design approaches. We would like to thank you for the special effort made to be present in Jordan and to explore the camp together with us. Ismae’l Sheikh Hassan, our local-promoter. Special thanks to you for setting up this thesis project and for introducing us to the camp and among the UNRWA-staff. Thank you for your illuminating, vigorous feedback on our concepts and texts. We wish you all the best with the completion of you PhD on Palestinian refugee camps. Bruno De Meulder. Your intelligent, quick insights and critical reflections have been very useful to us, thank you. Furthermore we are grateful for your efforts to organize the workshop and mostly for your strong leadership when it comes to coordinating such a large group. Nurhan Abu Jidi. We would like to thank you for organizing the design workshop in Leuven, for your support and your constant, motivating and inspiring enthusiasm.
The UNRWA-staff from the Jordan Headquarters and the Jordan Field Office: Muna Budeiri, Khattab Boshnak, Farah Shouli and Vijay Neekra. We would like to thank you for the fruitful collaboration and for your professional expertise, as well in Jordan, as in Belgium. Our local volunteers and friends: Manal, Marwa, Basheer, Mohammed, Younes, Marwa, Said, Hamzah, Mohammed, Marwan and Omar. Thank you for your hospitality, for all the time you put in showing us the camp and for your enthusiasm during our work. You have made every day in Gaza camp a great experience. The Gaza camp community. An exceptionally great attitude goes out to you, for opening your shelters, your families and your hearts to us. Thanks to you, we almost immediately felt at home in the camp and ten weeks seemed to fly by. Your stories and anecdotes have greatly contributed to our work and they will always stay with us. Keith Alexander, Lori Ann, Christopher Ibrahim and Nataly Arar. Thank you for your highly appreciated support, advice and case related stories. Moreover, your presence in Jordan made our stay unforgettable. The Palestinian MaHS/MaUSP-students: Assila Al Ahrnad, Razan Khalaf, Alessandra Gola and Abdalrahman Kittana, for your highly valuable insights, your support and your praiseworthy commitment to the cause. The-remaining-workshop participants: Viviana D’Auria, Yuri Gerrits, Sylwia Bogdan, Joris Moonen, Andreas Lancelot, Ranjani Balasubramanian, Claudia Lucia Rojas Bernal, Charlotte Demulder, Mario Auricchio, Christian Nolf and Samar Maqusi. The workshop has been a large and valuable step in the discourse of Camp Improvement, for which we are very grateful. The teams of Husn I, Talbiyeh and Husn II. We would like to thank you for sharing your work with us, which put us on a right track at the start and proved to be a continuous source of valuable information. Last but not least, we would like to thank our family and friends, for their continuous support, their much appreciated advice and their great interest in our work.
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Dina Dabash, architect in UNRWA in Jordan and working on Gaza camp specifically. Thank you for your help during our fieldwork and later on during the workshop. We would like to express our gratitude for all the efforts you did, the advice you gave and for your valuable reflections on our work.
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Abstract Gaza Camp’s urban fabric knows a lot of limitations regarding the built environment and the usage of the public space. Since the shelters are subject to the topography, this often results in poor structures and dangerous situations. However, it is not obvious what is causing the limited usage of the public space, regarding the concept of the commons. In order to understand these practices and to be able to provide a well-motivated and justified proposal, research has been conducted in Gaza Camp, followed by a thorough analysis of the camp and its surroundings -in Book I. A more detailed analysis regarding the camp’s tissue is presented in this book. The concepts of the observed social relations are studied, as well as their translation in the public space. In order to upgrade a part of the tissue, several tools are proposed which can improve the built environment and/or (re)introduce the common space accompanied by allowing the Wadi to enter the camp. By combining these tools in the area between the Suq and the Wadi, a first step towards upgrading the tissue is introduced. However, these tools alone won’t succeed in achieving these goals. It is important to notice that cooperation of the camp’s residents is crucial, which can be achieved through a participatory
NEIGHBOURHOODS II
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During focus groups, held during our research in the camp, many neighbourhoods within the official camp borders were recognised by the participants and were drawn on a map. They explained that at arrival, families could not choose to live in adjacent tents as they were assigned to their plots by UNRWA. However, by exchanging plots amongst each other, the refugees grouped with their families and friends from the original villages and constructed their tents and self-built shelters next to each other. Therefore, these neighbourhoods represent the social collective of the village of origin in Palestine. [Sheikh Hassan, unpublished and UNRWA, 2012] Moreover, this fragmented geo-social reconstitution generates a new landscape, enhancing the presence of the past in partial ways while suggesting new possibilities for the present and future. It opens spaces for new dynamic social processes, knowledge, and identities to emerge. In a sense, village areas are the physical and symbolic memory transmitting the space of Palestine to the present, giving the displaced a deep visceral and everyday connection to past time, place and social relationship. [Peteet, 2005] Within these demarcations, neighbourhoods based on family or origin can be recognised as well as landmark-related neighbourhoods. Furthermore, besides these precisely indicated areas, some areas were undefined, claiming to be “mixed areas�. During these meetings, it was immediately clear that certain neighbourhoods are more popular than others, because of their location regarding commercial activities, or because of the local residents that populate these neighbourhoods. Very often these local atmospheres were accompanied by respective adaptations of the public spaces.
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1
2
4 3
Neighbourhoods based on landmarks, determined by the focus group participants.
1 2 3 4
Al-Souq Al-Garaj Al-Nadi Al-Naqbara
(cfr. the Market) (cfr. the Bus Station) (cfr. the Youth Club) (cfr. the Cemetery)
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7
6 5
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10
11 13 16
12 15
14 17 18
24 25 19 20 21
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5 Al-Sawarkeh 6 Abu Sousein 7 Al-Hanajra 8 Abu Ayyash 9 Abu Shaba 10 Al-Dhini 11 Al-A’watreh
12 Al-Malaha 13 Al-Aweidah 14 Al-Aradat 15 Abu Husein 16 Al-Hindi 17 Al-Jaraween 18 Al-Jaraween
19 Al-A’marat 20 Rmeilat 21 Abu Shallouf 22 Al-Irr 23 Rmeilat 24 Al-Sawalha 25 Rmeilat
Neighbourhoods based on familynames or origin, determined by the focus group participants.
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WHO To understand the functioning of these neighbourhoods and the translation of social behaviour in space in general, it is important to be aware of the Arabic (and Muslim) culture regarding social groups, i.e. “who is using which space, how and why?” The Qur’an indicates that men and women are spiritual equals and it does not specify specific gender roles. However, in Islamic practice, gender roles manifest themselves, partially because men and women are sometimes allotted different rights and different cultural expectations. The viewpoints regarding gender roles vary with different interpretations of the Qur’an, different sects of the religion and different cultural and locational regions. Men and women are not perceived as identical, but as complementary1. Women are often expected to be caring wives and mothers staying within the family environment and men are expected to be protectors and financial supporters of the family². This gender division in social interactions and mobility is also observed in Gaza Camp. Two main groups can be distinguished; men and elderly women, and young women and children.
MEN AND ELDERLY WOMEN The first group of men and elderly women is the biggest and most dominant one. They are characterised by their respected status and reputation, following in their freedom to use the public space as they like. As women gain respect and confidence through age and by raising a family, they become more accepted in the street scene. Nevertheless, the male group will be the majority on large streets. The male part extends in ages from teenagers up to the elderly, in contrast to the female part of this group. It is noticed to be typical that already from a young age, a great distinction between boys and girls is made. From the moment that boys start to speak for themselves, they are given the freedom to make their move, in contrast to girls who have to stay within the protected zone whilst learning household chores or studying. This means that the male teenagers -until they reach a sensible age- start loitering in the streets mostly in group, carrying out mischief or bothering passers-by, instead of innocently playing. For women, the spending time in public is something that is “earned” by age, wisdom and experience, as the majority of the elderly women remain unnoticed, i.e. they stay inside the protected zone of the shelter, and therefore this outdoor activity is mostly done by “the brave”.
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THE BUILDING BLOCK
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Diary extract About one week after the focus group, we were walking through the streets of the camp, when an elderly woman, in a group of men, started to wave and shout. At first, I was startled, it was the first time I heard a woman speak out loud in public, “Is she in trouble? Is everything ok?�. Of course I looked around to see what was going on and then I recognized her; she was the one sitting next to me during the focus group when she wanted to explain some topics with hand gestures and improvised sounds, since she did not speak a word English. She was so enthusiastic to see me again that she ran straight at me and grabbed my arm, trying to guide me to her porch while screaming at the others in the street with a great smile on her face. After I joined her, she introduced me to the friends she was talking with before. It occurred to me that she was very respected by the others while she was talking with a loud and proud voice. Later on, our friend and translator Mahmoud explained the role of women in Islam; they are the most holy figure because they have the ability to give birth and raise a family, and therefore, an elderly woman who is at the same time a mother has a very high status. He told me that nevertheless, one still needs a lot of guts to speak up when accompanied by men, meaning that most women still would not dare to do this, even though it is in this case not taken with disgrace.
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YOUNG WOMEN AND CHILDREN The second group consists of young women and children. However, a distinction needs to be made between the two. Since the public image of young women is so important, yet so fragile, they are preferred to stay inside the shelter in order to be safe and to prevent the risk of affecting their dignity. However, there are certain occasions when they are required to leave, for example when they go to school or grocery shopping. Usually these trips need a defined practical purpose, although most women will also often leave their shelter to visit family. For children, on the other hand, occasionally leaving the shelter depends on age and gender. In general, you can see children playing all over the camp. Nevertheless, after significant investigation into this topic through interviews, it became clear that a lot of children have restrictions on where to play. For example, in most of the cases, they have to stay in their own street or within their own neighbourhood. It is very notable that the girls are always calmly playing with each other in small groups, close to their homes, while boys tend to gather in larger numbers actively running around, playing with dirt, donkeys, goats and anything they can find. Usually the mobility freedom of these boys is larger than for girls.
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Diary extract When I was doing research in the camp together with Marwa, a young woman who lives on the Jabal and studies to become a caretaker of disabled children, I was confronted with a great contradiction. Marwa is an open-minded woman, who is raised with western influences, meaning that she had much more freedom regarding mobility and activities, compared to what I had observed in the camp. She explained her background and the principles that are used to run their household with seven other sisters, while we knocked on someone’s front door to conduct an interview for the research. We had to knock several times before we could hear a woman’s voice between the noise of playing children on the other side of the door, asking in Arabic what we were here for. After a short conversation between the woman inside and Marwa, it became clear that her husband was not at home and that she was therefore not allowed to come outside, let alone talk to us. Marwa explained that it happens sometimes that a woman’s husband applies strict rules when it comes down to social interactions or public appearances of his wife, in order to protect her and their reputation.
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So how does this affect the formation and conservation of a neighbourhood? As mentioned in the introduction of this chapter, the neighbourhoods are constituted at the establishment of the camp, by executing shifts and movements in order to group together with the people they know from before or during the flee and/or displacement, mostly resulting in miniature reconstructions of their villages of origin. Second of all, the location of said neighbourhood is highly dependent on the traditions of these families and their origins. For example, Bedouin families will mostly locate themselves along the border of the camp, close to the Wadi or the Jabal, while merchants will position along the centre, Suq or the wider streets. This grouping, based on their own personal and local history, evokes nostalgia for the past resulting in strongly holding on to these bonds and continuous strong relationships. In this way, people know exactly where their neighbourhood starts and ends and who does and does not belong within. In public, it are mostly men who maintain these relationships, while behind the scenes women have a strong and efficient network of sisters or girlfriends. Therefore, due to the limited mobility of women, their definition of “neighbourhood” gets a new dimension with the “micro-community” as will be discussed in the next chapter.
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SOCIAL INTERACTIONS Together with the concept of different social groups, the usage of the public area within neighbourhoods knows several specific forms, depending on who it is used by. These concepts are directly translated in the mobility of both social groups, as can be seen in their usage of the public space. MEN AND ELDERLY WOMEN The firstly mentioned group of men and elderly women spend their free time in the neighbourhood streets typically to meet up, to chat or to have coffee. Men often hang around in front of their shelter or their friends’ shelter, sitting on the steps in front of it. This is the typical meeting place in rural areas, meaning that these steps are a way of socially claiming the street and it is therefore unusual to sit on a stranger’s step. Very often the wife serves tea when her husband meets up with others in front of her front door. Closer to the centre or commercial streets, men will meet up in bigger groups, often bringing chairs and sometimes an improvised table, drinking tea or coffee, or they meet in a coffee shop or barber shop. These areas serve as social connectors between different neighbourhoods. The elderly women are usually not randomly hanging around, either they meet up with others from the neighbourhood or they spend time in front of their shelter, watching the passer-by, drying laundry, drying herbs or having tea with other elderly women. Whenever an acquaintance passes by, she will have a small chat or invite him/her for tea. When they actually want to meet up outdoor, they will search a quiet and calm spot where it is socially accepted to do so.
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Diary extract Every day, when arriving and leaving the camp by bus, a group of men are sitting together around the bus station, drinking coffee and keeping an eye on the events in the centre. They are never disturbing or loud, they just enjoy each other’s company and the local atmosphere. At the same time, some younger men are standing together next to a coffee stand, discussing apparent important matters with a high focus, which is only occasionally interrupted when something interesting happens. During rush hours, we see the rising fuss in the crowded centre, often resulting in quarrels between drivers. That is when the men get up and interfere to try to help and to calm down the tempers.
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Diary extract When walking around in the camp’s residential area, we saw a group of men hanging around their porch, chatting with friends and drinking coffee. Because we obviously look like strangers –blond hair and sun-burned- their curiosity was sparked and they approached us. They asked Mahmoud what we were doing here and why, and all the details! After explaining them, they wanted to help us and called other friends who showed up at the same moment. Immediately, the whole street was in a state of amusing and enthusiastic uproar. They showed us around and answered all our questions, but when reaching a “neighbourhood-boundary” they called their friends of that area to help us further, while still accompanying us. It was clear that even though the neighbourhood is an actual item, the relationships are not limited to these areas alone. Their friendships cover the whole camp, on the one hand because men can easily make new social relations, and on the other hand because of marriages between different neighbourhoods.
Diary extract 37
Last week I interviewed a woman for our research. She was very nice and open about her experiences and her opinions. She had two children who were both grown up and were living in the same bystreet. Today, when I passed by that side street, she was waving at me. She put some chairs outside and sat there with other elderly women and her daughter, drinking fresh tea. I was struck, since this was the first time for me to see women spending free time outside. She invited me to join them even though we could not understand each other. Together with Basheer, I sat down for a couple of minutes to enjoy the delicious tea. He explained me that it was ok for these women to do this here because this side street was known to be safe, since the “Abu” of this neighbourhood lived here and because of the small width and length of the street, so there was no threat for these ladies’s dignity.
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SHEIKH Besides the public space, an actual “official” meeting place is observed in some neighbourhoods; called a Sheikh. It consists of one single room attached to a shelter, tendered by the shelter-owners whom also keep the keys. It is usually visible from outside, since the door is mostly made out of fence material or because of the large uncovered windows. A great effort is made to make the interior enjoyable, with colourful walls, decorated pillows to sit on, an open fire with a coffee maker, etc. This space is meant for men only, no women are allowed, not even the elderly. Neither teenagers join the meetings, as mostly married men spend their time here. A Sheikh is often built by the Abu of the neighbourhood and is meant for the people of this neighbourhood. Nevertheless, if someone from another neighbourhood wants to join, they are always welcome to do so. Also, when someone is receiving guests but is unable to provide them a proper place to sleep, the Sheikh is placed at their disposal as an “emergency-guestroom”. The Sheikh is mostly used for daily meetings in the morning until noon and in the evening, to discuss the current events in the camp and the neighbourhood. In addition, about politics, stories, philosophising about life or simply enjoying coffee is also common. The younger men, on the other hand, do not have an “official” meeting place like this, but more and more they are using the barber shop in the Palestinian Street to meet up in the evenings, and have tea.
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YOUNG WOMEN AND CHILDREN The latter group of younger women and children knows a completely different usage of the public space, than the male group. When women leave their home, they walk straight towards their final destination on the side of the road close to the walls, preferably using the side streets instead of the main streets or wider residential streets. This is to prevent any provocation or potential danger, in order to protect their dignity. This means that they will never meet up in the streets, nor will they openly interact with others in the public space. There is not any space provided for them to have intentional social interactions. That is why functional spaces, like hospitals, markets, etc., are often “secretly� used for this purpose. It is a generally known fact, but it is rather an unspoken event, since the first reason to go to that place is to conduct a certain chore like grocery shopping or a health check-up. Moreover, it is observed that women go to the clinic or market more often than strictly necessary in order to have these social interactions. When women plan to meet up, this usually takes place in someone’s shelter, even though it brings along certain difficulties regarding their privacy. This means that this has to be carefully planned, in order not to be interrupted by the husband who is living there, as he might accidentally see these women without their veil. Furthermore, since the limited shelter size, these meetings can become quiet unpractical, especially when the group consists of larger numbers. The children, when accompanied by their mother, will follow the same paths. But when they are playing around freely, they will stay within the zone that they were told by their parents. Depending on their age, the children are allowed to play in front of their shelter, in their street or in their neighbourhood.
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Main streets
Neighbourhood streets
Side streets
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Thus, on the level of the public space, a distinction in streets can be made regarding who is using them socially. The main streets constitute the main meeting points and places of public discussions for men of all ages, while the neighbourhood streets are used for informal meetings between men and elderly women. The side streets are used by women in general for regulated and socially controlled meetings, or simply to go from one point to another. And finally, the children play in any street as long as it is within the area that their parents agreed upon.
MICRO-COMMUNITIES III
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The micro-community was shortly mentioned before when discussing the neighbourhood, as a smaller scale of social relations based on a specific group of people. This concept was observed during research in the camp after realising that the limited mobility of women could not result in isolation, but that there had to be ways for them to informally interact with others. By realising the size of a neighbourhood and observing the social usage of space and mobility of women, it seemed impossible that women, like men, know all the people in their neighbourhood personally. After conducting specified interviews on this matter, the micro-neighbourhoods of a small area in the camp could be mapped. Following a large scale research investigation by UNRWA, we were able to map nearly all of the micro-communities of the camp.
On the left: Fieldwork in Gaza Camp with Marwa as translator. Interview about mobility of women and location of their relatives.
On the right: Microcommunities mapped after detailed fieldwork in the “mixed area� of the camp, around Palestinian street.
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PROBLEMS AND OBSERVATIONS
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WHO The relationship between women is the driving force for this concept. Since it is difficult for them to maintain relationships over a large distance, their close by relationships are the most dominant. Besides this, their neighbours are usually directly related by their husbands, meaning that it is already socially accepted for these women to meet up or to gather for certain activities. This results in groups of women mostly consisting out of mothers, grandmothers and daughters (-in law) who spend time together. Nevertheless, it happens frequently that a nonrelated neighbouring woman joins as well, due to being friends given the short distances between their homes or by having befriended husbands. Usually the youngest children will join their mothers during such meetings, as well as possible handicapped relatives.
Diary extract Today I conducted interviews together with Basheer in order to find out how the shelter developed through time. Nearly everybody opened their doors for us besides one shelter of which the lady seemed doubtful whether or not to let us in. But when Basheer explained us what we were here for, we could enter anyway. We saw that she was not alone, but that she was having tea with another woman while sewing and repairing some clothes. The lady told Basheer that she was her friend from across the street and that her sister and her children living next door and another friend would also join, so we could not stay too long. I asked her if they often did these kinds of gatherings, because this was the first time for me to witness this, and after the rather negative opinions I heard about the women’s centre I got very curious about the way women meet up. She told Basheer that they did this once in a while, but not too often because it might infringe the privacy of her friends when her husband would by accident come home a bit earlier. But since they had no other place to go, this was the best they could do so they made it work.
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SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
Since the public street is a challenging place for women to meet, they have to be inventive. In most cases women gather in someone’s shelter, even though it might cause practical issues because of the limited shelter size or potential encounters with cohabiting men. They are able to organise themselves and their family in order to make some of these meetings happen, but it is often not sufficient or practical to do it in someone’s home. Therefore it is often necessary to either cancel it or to search another location. In some occasions, it is possible to do these gatherings outdoors, when a shelter is close by a privatised side street and if it is accepted by the surrounding neighbours. Of course, the kinds of activities done outdoor will differ greatly with the ones indoor. Therefore, there is a high demand for an appropriated space for these kinds of meetings, as well on neighbourhood scale as on camp scale.
The activities done during these meetings depend a lot on age and timing. In general, the main intention for women to get together is to catch up. But given their restricted mobility, this is often translated into another activity such as cooking, sewing, drying herbs, hanging up laundry, helping out an elderly, etc., which is then used as a “purpose” to meet up, even though they usually perform these chores together anyway. On the larger scale of the camp, other activities such as going grocery shopping at the market, going to the clinic, visiting the women’s centre, etc. are typical female activities, which then cover up meetings between women who live further away from each other, or which serves as a meeting place for new people.
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PROBLEMS AND OBSERVATIONS
PUBLIC vs. COMMON IV
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An example of what was observed as “public”.
Even though the need for a qualitative outdoor space connected to the shelter is so high, it was nearly nowhere observed that people step outside their plotlines to use this space. This results in outdoor areas that nobody cares about and which is therefore not maintained and dirty. Only on a few locations within the camp’s urban fabric where another atmosphere could be noticed. We could see that this space was no longer just public but that people had taken responsibility for it with the intension to make it a pleasant environment. In this chapter we will try to understand the notion of the common and the difference with the public, as was observed during the fieldwork.
An example of what was observed as “common�.
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The notion of the common arose when noticing that most streets in the residential areas were left as dead, lifeless and untouched spaces where only people would pass by or where children occasionally play in the dirt.
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PUBLIC
Public space in the Arab culture is perceived as “owned by a higher power”, so “not ours”. In the camp’s case, this higher power would be UNRWA or Jordan in general, they own the streets while the refugees only own their shelter. When outdoors, you find yourself in a space which is not owned by “one of us” but which is controlled. ”You are a number in the city. You do not feel that the public spaces are yours to a certain extent, it is controlled.” - Sandy Hilal This combined with their vision on the future to return to Palestine results in not taking responsibility for this space, since it is not worth the efforts and because of the believe that it will never be theirs anyway. “‘Why would we take care of a space that does not belong to us?!’” - Sandy Hilal
The public space is at the same time used by everybody and by nobody. Everybody uses the streets for transportation, to access the shelters, it constitutes the playground of all children, and it serves as a casual meeting place for passers-by. But at the same time nobody takes responsibility for this space, its care, maintenance or oversight of facilities. This has resulted in a vicious circle. Since the land is not theirs, nobody takes initiative to maintain it. Since it is not maintained, no activities will accure and since nobody uses this space for a specific purpose, nobody will take responsibility to facilitate it. “Space is a product of and a precondition for social processes; ‘space is at once a result and cause, product and producer’ (Lefebre 1991)” [Zawawi, 2012] This situation was observed all over the camp’s residential tissue. The main problems caused by these unmaintained areas are sewage clogging and random trash dumps, resulting in heavy stench, uncleanliness and disease.
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COMMON “Lefebre (1991) emphasizes that space is part of a constant process of social production. Of course, it is first conceived and made by those who have the power to do so. But then people integrate that environment into their behaviour and make it an active part of structuring social practices.” [Zawawi, 2012] This is exactly what happened on the few observed common spaces in the camp. Even though these people realised that this space was established by an institution, they acknowledged that they were the ones using it, with a wish of having a qualitative outdoor space. Therefore they took responsibility and appropriated it according to the activities that were held here. “The commons cannot be abandoned, but they need to be activated and taken care of, otherwise they cease to exist.” [Petti, 2013] A common space can be understood as a place of mutual trust, shared responsibility, respect, sustainability, equality and participation. “The whole idea of the commons is that they should be available for everyone but without any ownership label.” [Petti, 2013] On the scale of the camp, the notion of common can be understood much broader, as the commons are everything used by the community for free. Therefore, the camp can be seen as an island of commoning. When zooming in on a neighbourhood scale, it can be seen that the commons need to be reactivated, therefore strategic planning is important to be able to activate spaces that are present but ignored.
COMMON vs. RIGHT OF RETURN “My grandfather believed in his identity and that he belonged to his original village, but he also refused the fact that one needs to live in poverty and in bad condition in order to retain his identity or political standpoint.” [Petti, 2013] The notion of return takes different patterns and dimensions than being limited to single private property. Instead of returning to the past, the Right of Return can be translated into practicing the return in the present by a return to the common. Moreover, the practice of common has been elevated to the idea of and return to commons. Therefore we have to focus on the discussions that have already been held. We should not provide an architectural program that stands on itself, but it should be in relation to the situation. “ This means that everybody is the architect when designing for the commons. We do not always have to design a building to have an impact, but we have to intervene into narratives and reorient the way that people are thinking about things that are already happening. Therefore we have to think about how we can help in having the collectives or commons taking place (again)?” [3]
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HOW
The observed commons on neighbourhood scale were always established by the residents neighbouring this open space. They are mostly relatives, but befriended neighbours are not exceptional.
The establishment and the durability of a common are two different, yet crucial and sensitive aspects of a common space.
This means that these common spaces are a product of the local micro-communities, who took responsibility to “upgrade” their collective space for common purposes. In these areas it is socially accepted to mix the previously mentioned different social groups. This means that men as well as women and children of the same micro-community can interact in this space and make use of the common because of the protected, socially controlled and privatised atmosphere. WHY Besides the social aspect of a common space, there are many more reasons for camp residents to long for an appropriated and protected space like this. First of all, the density of the camp and the shelter is so high, that there is a great lack of qualitative outdoor space. Not only accessing fresh air is an important advantage of a common space, but also simply having a safe outdoor area connected to the shelter, since the shelter is usually too dense to provide this within the plot borders. Secondly, there is a need for space where certain activities can take place. Because the idea of a common space is closely related to the concept of social control, drying laundry or meeting a friend outdoors can occur without any problems or fear of infringing someone’s dignity. And lastly, as mentioned before there is a high demand for meeting places for all social groups, which is something which occurs frequently in these commons.
In order for a common to arise, a small group of people must take initiative to upgrade and appropriate this space, which mostly follows from the wish to have a qualitative outdoor space. The observed commons were all driven by the neighbouring women, who wished to have a place to sit together outside, where they could dry their laundry out of eyesight or where they could simply have tea together. When this initiative is taken, their awareness about this space rises together with their sense of responsibility of maintaining this area in order to provide a pleasant place to stay. This is often translated in cleaning the floor daily, planting trees or flowers, providing some outdoor furniture and decorating the shelter’s facade. Besides personalising this space in its appearance, clear boundaries of this area are marked to inform the passer-by. This happens either by blocking the street with a car, or by simply hanging a curtain where the common ends. This means that in theory this space is still accessible by everybody, but in practice we saw that the passer-by notices this privatised atmosphere, respected it, and searched another way to reach his destination. In this way, a personalised and appropriated space is accomplished, resulting in the occurrence of common activities with neighbours, family and friends.
On the left: example of a common space observed in the camp.
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WHO
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Example of a common space observed in the camp.
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SPECIAL CASE: The rotated shelter Two special cases of a common space were observed in the camp. These arose due to specific circumstances which resulted in the “accidental” establishment of a common space. The first case is located in Part B of the camp, next to a garbage collection point (which will be removed soon). Two shelters housing two different, unrelated families were rotated, facing their front door towards the alley, to block of the stench and vermin caused by the garbage dump. The second case is located in Part A of the camp, in the middle of the camp’s residential tissue. A whole row of shelters of one building block decided to rotate their shelter towards the alley because of some disputes with the neighbours on the other side of the street.
Diary extract “We did not really know the people who were living next to us, we are not related and we just moved in here. But when we decided to close the front door along the neighbourhood street and creating a new one in the alley, they decided to do the same since they encountered the same problems regarding stench as we did. From that moment we used the same small space of the alley for entering our shelter which resulted in more meetings with them in this space. Since nobody but us used this, we maintained it and made sure it was separated from the rest of the alley by building a wall. We never actually sit there because it is too narrow, but our children often played there and we sometimes go outside to talk with our neighbours in this little new ‘room’ we created. Now we have become good friends.” - Resident of a rotated shelter in Part B
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“Due to some quarrels with the neighbours on the other side of the street we were forced to turn around. They just kept on bullying us by throwing water inside our shelters, which gave us no other choice. It was a lot of work to do this, the door needed to be removed and an opening needed to be made for the new door and then the whole alley needed to be cleaned because it was a real mess. But now it is really practical, not only did we get rid of the bullies, it also increased our privacy since nobody but our neighbours use this alley and nobody can look inside because of the opposite wall. Right now, all women clean this alley regularly, in this way it has become a place to meet up and to have a chat with your neighbours. We do not spend too much time here because of the limited space, but it definitely increased our sense of safety and privacy and it strengthened our relationship with our direct neighbours even more.� - Resident of a rotated shelter in Part A
STREETS AND ZONING V
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Two examples of maps on which residents pointed out their most visited facilities and the respective routes they use to go there.
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In order to propose interventions in the built environment and the public space, it is necessary to analyse the current organisation of the public space, combined with the social routes that were mapped by the camp’s residents.
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CURRENT SITUATION
ZONES Officially, no strict zones are marked in the camp, although that through the course of time, the camp has developed around specific facilities in different ways than in “rural� areas. Firstly, there are several commercial zones in the camp which seem to be functioning independently from one another. The Suq area (1) is currently the most vibrant place we could observe in the camp. It started as a market of one block long and two blocks wide, which has evolved towards a bigger Suq area reaching the UNRWA compounds and The Public Street. This zone is dominated by commercial activities on the ground floor, resulting in a verticalisation of this area [cfr. book I, Tissue]. The Public Street (2) houses a different kind of commercial activities than the Suq, [cfr. Book I, Main Road] but is also characterised by its strict borders regarding commercial activities, and by its verticalisation [cfr. Book I, Tissue].
The Palestinian Street (3) is the last and smallest example of a commercial zone, discovered in the camp. The second type of zone was observed in areas where topography challenges the residential expansions. This is mostly because the Wadi (4) tries to penetrate the urban fabric, resulting in difficulties regarding building the shelter [See book I, Tissue]. In these areas the greenery of the Wadi is more prominently present in the tissue than in the commercial zone. This is not only because of the fertile soil, but also because the residents here built their shelter later than the original grid, meaning that they had more freedom in determining their plot shape, resulting in more open green spaces within the shelter walls. The third zone is the residual space in between the first two zones (5), namely the flat/planned residential zone, which is located between the Suq and the Wadi. The other marks on the map are public facilities and institutions which did not cause any specific fabric transformations.
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1 Suq area
2 Public street
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3 Palestinian Street
4 Wadi area 5 Residual Area
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STREETS Since the camp was organized according to a grid at its establishment, there are in theory 3 kinds of streets to be recognized, which transformed in their own way. The primary streets are the connecting axes of the camp with its surroundings. They lead towards the city of Jerash and the neighbouring villages and are the widest of the camp. The most important one is called The Public Street and is located in the centre of the camp, in the East-West direction. It is the only main street connecting the camp with the city of Jerash, which results in heavy traffic congestions and which induces serious accessibility problems, when an incident along this street accurs. The other one is called The School Street and is located along the UNRWA compounds in North-East direction. The secondary streets are the main connecting veins within the camp’s urban fabric. In theory, these are all the East-West streets, but in practice we see more differentiations due to the
densification of the camp, which results in more articulated wide streets and narrower neighbourhood streets. One example of such an articulated street is locally known as The Palestinian Street (because it has a popular Palestinian restaurant), it is located in Part B on the second street parallel with the Public Street, which houses a lot of specialised shops. Other secondary streets which do not necessarily have a specific name or function, may have remained wide anyway, especially in flat areas, while the ones in steeper parts or more residential areas have become more narrow due to saturation of the urban fabric and expansions of the shelter. The tertiary streets are, in theory, the ones perpendicular to the secondary streets, namely the side streets. They are again narrower than the secondary streets and are also more saturated in residential areas. To make a more detailed distinction within these three street types, the map divides the streets according to their accessibility.
One-way street Two-way street Main Sreet
- 3 STREETS IN DIFFERENT COLOURS - ZONES
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MAP OF THE WHOLE CAMP
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A main street: School Street
A two-way street
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A one-way street
A pedestrian only street
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PROPOSAL ZONES To make a strategic zoning scheme, it is assumed very important to build on the existing situation and the current practices in the camp. Therefore, rather than introducing new guidelines, we want to loosen the existing ones, which are uniform for the whole camp, by emphasising the different atmospheres in the different areas in order to enhance the diversity and wayfinding in the camp. Hence we will not redefine or relocate the observed zones, but encourage the local activities by introducing new opportunities for these areas. The first zone, the commercial zone around the Suq, should be allowed to densify commercially, in order to create a vibrant, chaotic Arabic Suq, all over the currently (not optimally) used area. This means that it can expand to the fullest towards The School Street and the Palestinian Street, and that the shops can expand outside their plotlines towards the street to stall their goods [See first column of sketches]. Furthermore, we propose that it is allowed to build higher than two stories, in order to enhance and emphasise the “core”-character of this area and to open up the ground floor for commercial activities.
The commercial zone around The Public Street shows a completely different character than the Suq area, since it is dominated by rather “heavy” commercial activities like mechanical works and crafts. Since it is around an important connecting axis, it should be prevented that this street becomes blocked by its activities by allowing verticalisation in this area as well. The second zone, the residential zone, is assumed the built environment outside the commercial zone, which experiences different influences of the topography like the Wadi or hilltops. Here, we propose that the social usage of the public space should be given more freedom and opportunities, by allowing appropriations of the public streets and other local initiatives and by allowing the greenery of the Wadi to enter the camp to a larger extent. This should encourage the (re)activation of common spaces on neighbourhood level and the smaller scale of the micro-communities [cfr. second and third column of sketches]. Nevertheless, certain guidelines regarding accessibility should be taken into account, which will be explained further.
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Two examples of how the commercial area could evolve.
Four examples of how the residential area could evolve.
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Commercial zone Wadi zone
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STREETS Because it was observed that the expansion of the shelter and the commoning of the public space is artificially blocked by certain rules and laws in order to provide proper accessibility in the camp’s urban fabric, and because of the organical establishment of the different zones, it was strongly sensed that the street system should be revised as well, in order to complement the zoning system. Therefore, the existing usage of the streets is precisely observed leading towards a distilled and purified map of currently frequently used streets, either for transportation or trips on foot. It is our opinion that only in these streets, the strict rules should continue to exist, although adapted and refined to suit the street’s purpose. In other streets more freedom should be provided regarding densification or common usage of the public street. The streets are subdivided into pedestrianstreets and car-streets, in which each usage should be enhanced. A first focus point among the pedestrian-streets is called “The commercial route”, which has the Suq (1) as its core. It consists of the main streets that are used by the residents of the camp to reach the Suq from their home. This route circles around the Suq along The Boys Street (2) in the North, going all the way to The Palestinian Street (3) in the South, thereby connection important neighbourhood streets like The Boys Street, The Market Street (4) and the Palestinian Street. By expanding this circle towards the mosque in the North, we provide proper accessibility towards the girl’s school (5), the expansions and the Wadi (6).
The Boys Street is chosen as an important pedestrian street since it has a strong connecting character between the different neighbourhoods, as well as between the camp and the boy’s school (7). The Market Street is called this way because it is the main route to reach the Suq when living close to the border. Streets (8), (9) and (10) are the main pedestrian routes to access the girl’s school. Notice that (10) is both car- as pedestrian-street since this provides proper social interactions between teachers and their students when they are heading to school. Lastly, street (11) consists out of many potential open spaces where water can easily be collected because of the topography. Regarding the car-streets, all the public facilities should stay accessible, as well as an overall accessibility for the camp should be provided in case of emergency. This means the car-streets were determined based on current usage and general accessibility of the shelter, with the general idea that it is not always possible to provide car access to every shelter, due to the high density, and that therefore the building block itself should be considered the basic unit. We opted not to create a direct loop in the urban fabric as a replacement for The Public Street, because we believe that both The Public Street and the tissue itself should remain separate bodies with a potential to both emphasise their own atmosphere. However, in order to improve general accessibility of the camp’s urban fabric, we created a loop with The Public Streets which originates about 1,5km outside the camp and which enters the camp directly in its residential area (12). On the one hand, this should increase accessibility in cases of emergency during rush hours and accessibility for people living in the
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residential zone, or going to the girl’s school (5). Alternatively it will not constitute a replacement for The Public Street, since it runs through the residential area within the expansions and the camp, resulting in no heavy traffic but only residential traffic. A second intervention is proposed along The School Street (13) where there is currently a dangerous mix of schools, heavy traffic and poor infrastructure. We would propose to (partially) close this street for cars in order to provide a safe environment both for pupils as well as Suq visitors (which is assumed to expand even more densely towards The School Street). This means that The School Street should still serve as an access point for loading goods around the Suq, but only on regulated moments throughout the day and in limited areas. Most of the area will remain pedestrian only, primarily for safety reasons and also to provide space for the Suq and connecting it with the garden inside the UNRWA compounds. These are some proposals for the coloured streets on the map only, as we think that in the more residential areas the people should have freedom with their public space and should therefore evolve according to their own initiatives. This map was initiated before the workshop, augmented during the workshop and further refined afterwards, with the following map representing the final proposal. On top an example of a mental map drawn by a woman in the camp to help us determine pedestrian routes. On the bottom UNRWA’s Camp Improvement Manual of which we used the guidelines to create the map.
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Car street: connecting Car street: Tissue Pedestrian street
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CASE STUDY Between Suq and Wadi IV
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We will focus on the zone marked on the map, as here both defined zones come together tangibly over a small area. This causes an interesting interaction between two atmospheres; the vibrant and chaotic Suq across the greenery from the Wadi together with the small scale residential coziness.
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To test the concepts that are described above, a region is chosen as a case study, in order to explore the ways in which these concepts can transform, as well as to test their potential impact on the environment.
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BETWEEN SUQ AND WADI
In the marked area we observed two strong atmospheres, yet separated and not fully flourishing. On the West we start with the UNRWA schools followed by the Suq, while on the East the topography of the Wadi is silently trying to enter the camp’s urban fabric. Both zones are sensed as strongly present, but rather inhibited in their visualisation and representation in the built environment, resulting in a similar usage. Therefore it is the ambition to investigate both areas and to discover how they can bloom to their maximum extent, by providing and testing certain tools based on what is found during the fieldwork.
Section through The Boys Street, current situation
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UNRWA schools
Suq area
THE SUQ The Suq already shows prominent commercial expansions towards The School Street, but due to the busy road, the shops remain along the sideway and do not take over the whole street scene as of yet. However, by gradually closing this street for car traffic and loosening up certain regulations regarding the built environment, it is assumed that this road will quickly be dominated by commercial activities much alike the whole Suq area and will expand towards the borders of the proposed zone. Together with allowing to build higher, a whole new shelter typology will arise caused by verticalisation. As this area is and will be perceived even more as the commercial centre of the camp, it can be assumed that the people residing here will be able to provide themselves better quality shelters. This might lead towards the question whether or not the term shelter -which denotes the politics around The Right of Return but also stresses its poor quality- could evolve towards a more developed image.
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THE RESIDENTIAL AREA In general, the residential area is a rather calm environment characterised by single story shelters in poor structural conditions, with closed facades and only slight expansions towards the street. Besides this, no striking adaptations of the public space has been made by the residents. It is captured between the vibrant Suq and topography of the Wadi, which introduces certain spaces of transition between these different atmospheres. Therefore we will look at the shelter, the public space and its usage, and the transition between both the shelter and the public space. Regarding the shelter, a thorough analysis has been conducted which is described in Book I going from the development towards the current estate with its challenges. Regarding the public space, a detailed analysis is described in the first chapters of this book leading towards the proposals further on.
THE WADI The Wadi on the East of the camp serves for multiple purposes. Firstly it offers one of the green lungs for the camp, providing fresh air and greenery as a decompression zone for the dense camp, which can be seen as a huge concrete layer in contrast to the fordable Wadi. On this location, the Wadi also forms the main connection between the camp’s urban fabric and the boy’s school on the North-East of the camp in times of drought, when the Wadi is passable. Thirdly, it is occupied by numerous olive groves, mostly owned by Jordanians, which offer many job opportunities for camp residents during harvest time. Since one branch of this Wadi splits off towards the camp’s tissue, this introduces slight greening of these areas, yet still very limited. It is also necessary to note that the Wadi is highly polluted as a result of bad drainage and random trash dumps in the camp, which are naturally collected in the valley.
Residential area
Wadi
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Neighbourhoods Micro-communities
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EXPERIMENTED TOOLS
In order to test the discussed concepts regarding the urban fabric, a number of tools are developed with the eye on improving specific circumstances and/or (re)activating common practices. Therefore, we focussed on what was observed in the camp during the numerous interviews with locals and on visual observations as well inside as outside the shelter, in order to provide realistic proposals. Nevertheless, it is important to realise that this topic concerns the small scale with the social aspect as a very important factor. Therefore, we want to emphasise that these proposals are only experiments of how a certain strategy could be developed, whereas in an actual occasion the development of such proposals should happen with strong cooperation of the community, whether localor camp-community, i.e. these kind of projects should grow bottom-up with a participatory approach [cfr. presentation Dina Dabash]. In order to work on the scale of the shelter, the public space and their transitions, the following tools vary in scale and range going from shelter initiatives to facility initiatives and greening.
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SHELTER TRANSFORMATIONS A first proposal concerns the shelters both in the residential tissue and in the commercial zone, yet differently developed. For the residential tissue regarding the shelter, we were confronted with very poor structural situations. Usually the shelter is raised about 50cm above ground level to provide a flat base to construct the shelter on and to keep out the dirt and water flows coming from the streets. On top of this base the walls are built from primitive bricks, locally found rocks or locally produced sand bricks. On top of this structure the roof, consisting out of corrugated sheets, is laid and reinforced with weights like tires or bricks. Often a water tank is placed on top of these walls, on a small concrete slab or a wooden beam, causing very dangerous situations regarding stability. Besides the structural weaknesses, the shelter often fails to provide sufficient hygienic facilities like a kitchen and a bathroom. It was only in the less common ‘good cases’ where we found an actual kitchen or bathroom, but still even in the majority of these examples the kitchen and bathroom were still combined in one room.
Furthermore, the shelter is not connected to a sewerage system, the waste water is drained outside the shelter and runs in the open sewage downwards. At the time of writing, a covered sewerage system is being installed, but the shelters are not connected. These issues demand an intervention which handles both the structural aspects as well as the functional aspects. Therefore we would like to combine a solution for previously mentioned problems with the topic of (re)activating the common space. The public street is in general observed as a dead place with no interactions or appropriations even though there is a high demand for such qualitative outdoor spaces. Therefore it is the belief that this is the ultimate opportunity to introduce a safe outdoor environment, directly connected to the shelter and in transition with the street, where residents can spend time outdoors within a protected atmosphere. Not only are we convinced that this is a first step to (re)introduce the outdoor space to residents (and vice versa), it will also provide a smoother transition in the privacy gradient as discussed in Book I, Tissue.
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2 Roof plan
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5 Floor plan
1 Traditional shelter
Flexible steel structure
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Residential shelter - Functional core The proposal for the residential shelter is a functional core, which can be plugged in on a shelter in need, since it is based on the general organisation of the traditional shelter and therefore only introduces a minor change in plan. The functional core contains all wet facilities and connects them to the sewerage system. It is built with a steel structure (1) with proper foundations and therefore more than stable enough to carry water tanks (2) on the roof. The roof will incline towards the alley on the back, draining the rainwater towards the collection system which transports it towards a vacant shelter in the building block. The steel structure provides the freedom to vary or adapt when there are specific needs or when there is the financial possibility to extend these rooms. Some examples are shown. Moreover, this core provides the opportunity to reorganise the act of entering the shelter. In Book I the problematics regarding privacy are explained together with the issue of facing doors and windows. It was observed as a problem for the camp residents to have facing windows or doors because of the possibility to look inside the shelter, since the whole inner courtyard can be seen when opening the front door in its current composition. Therefore windows are either placed cross-wise or blocked with wood or curtains -which cause ventilation issues, while walls are built in front of front doors. In order to smoothen the transition between public and private even more, it is opted to rotate the frontdoor 90 degrees, thereby relocating the act of entering over the patio and limiting the view when opening the door to a blank indoor wall about one meter behind the front door.
“The problem is not opening the door, it’s what’s what you can see behind it.” - Mahmoud Kromp This proposal is designed for two neighbouring shelters, even though it is possible to provide it for only one shelter, as can be seen in an example on the next page. Nevertheless, we want to encourage the usage of the patio by two shelters, assuming that this will (re)introduce social interactions even more because of the casual meetings between two neighbours or because of existing (or growing) micro-communities. Example 3 shows the possibility to share a kitchen, for example for a local microcommunity. This is observed during one of the interviews where mother and daughter in neighbouring shelters shared the same kitchen and thereby had a space to spend time together as well as a qualitative kitchen. Example 4 would be the standard proposal. Example 5 shows how both kitchen and bathroom can expand using the same structure. This core does not only take care of the functional and structural needs of the shelter, it also connects the shelter with the street by introducing a transitional space in front of the shelter, providing a smoother change in the privacy gradient between public street and private shelter. This space can be used privately for several activities as well as commonly for meetings or gatherings and can be appropriated on the owner’s own initiative.
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Residential shelter - (re)activating the common and community shelters This map and the collage on the next page, intend to show how these patios can create interactions with neighbours or passers-by and how they are a way of claiming and privatising the public space, especially when imagining that the patios will be further appropriated for example with greenery, curtains, etc.
Note on water collection:
The collected rainwater can be transported by the alleys (1) towards the vacant shelter in the building block (2) where most of the space can be consumed for water storage and optional filtering. Nevertheless, we would suggest to reserve some space for neighbouring activities as well, for example a Sheikh could arise or a common kitchen for specified activities can be organised here, as well as an open space which can accommodate occasional meetings.
One person needs about 10l of water per day (cooking and drinking excluded)5. With an average of 10 people per shelter and 12 shelters in one block, this means that a building block needs 36.000l/month on average.
In the region of Jerash is it possible to collect 53l/m² per month on average4, during 8 months of the year. With 960m² as the average area of one building block, this gives 50.880l/block/ month on average.
This means that if all the rainwater of one block could be collected, the people would be highly independent of other water providing facilities.
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Diary extract Today we visited Talbieh, another Palestinian refugee camp about 35km south of Amman. When walking through the streets we were startled, the atmosphere was so relaxed and calm, people of all social groups were hanging around in public in such an easy-going way. We could not believe our eyes considering what we were used to see in Gaza Camp. Women of all ages were sitting on their porch underneath the shed, planting and watering flowers and drinking tea while watching the children play in the streets. These children were not surprised to see visitors like us so they just kept on playing. Nobody seemed to bother them or condemn them at all. We were wondering what it was exactly that made the difference with Gaza Camp. At first, we saw that the outdoor space was more inviting for these interactions than in “our camp� but after talking about this with Dina, we realized that it was not like this from the beginning. They also experienced certain tensions when it came down to socially opening up, but after a qualitative planning and an intensive collaboration with the people themselves, they were able to design the public space according to the wishes of the inhabitants, resulting in an improved social usage of these spaces.
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Collage with possible outcome of the common space in between two shelters with functional cores, inspired by what we observed in Talbieh camp
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Level 1, 2, ...
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Roof plan
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Suq shelter This is an example of how the Suq shelter could evolve with the commercial densification of the Suq area. Moreover, it is important to note that there are many more variations, stating that we only propose looser regulations regarding verticalising the shelter and commercialising the ground floor and its public space in the Suq area. The facade on the ground floor (1) can be opened up to the fullest to make space for shops, which can exhibit its goods on the accompanying steps in front of it. The rooms on the back can either be used as storage or as extra bedrooms for the upper flats. The stair case leads towards the flats (2) on top of the shop, which can be repeated a number of times, depending on the situation. Optionally the roof can be used as a common roof terrace, which collects the rainwater and drains it towards the alley where it is transported towards a proper storage place.
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GREENING It is already evident in the previously presented map that the Wadi makes various attempts to enter the urban fabric, however these are inhibited by the built environment. As the camp can be seen as a concrete carpet over this area, vegetation has no chance to grow naturally. Furthermore, due to restrictions regarding adaptations of the public space and a limited financial autonomy, greening of the public space as an initiative of locals is almost non-existing. Moreover, the topography of the Wadi is reflected in the quality of the shelters built in this area. They are usually organic in plotshape, with more open spaces within their plotlines and are often structurally poor, due to challenging slope gradients. The greater liberty in the development of these shelters has allowed for some gardens to emerge in this neighbourhood. They are mostly planted with olive trees, jasmine trees or lime trees and are used as qualitative outdoor spaces for the family and micro-community.
To (re)introduce the Wadi to the camp, two initiatives are proposed. The first one concerns opening up the camp towards the Wadi and is located on the border of the camp, where The Boys Street ends in the Wadi. This is the point where boys enter the camp when school is over. After crossing the Wadi and climbing over the overgrowth on the border of the camp, they can use a small alley leading towards The Boys Street. Since they spent the whole day in school, they need to let of steam, which usually translates into carrying out mischief in this street, hence the name “Boys Street”. In order to open up the camp towards the Wadi and providing a green decompresion zone directly linked to the camp’s tissue, we propose to allow the Wadi to penetrate the camp’s borders at this location. After conducting interviews on this topic, we were lucky to find the dweller of the plot in between The Boys Street and the Wadi, who provided interesting insights regarding allowing the Wadi to enter the camp.
Diary extract Today Basheer and I conducted interviews on the border between The Boys Street and the Wadi in Part A. We were there when boys entered the camp through the Wadi after leaving school, witnessing their exuberance and playfulness when climbing over the overgrowth. Basheer told me that these boys have reached the typical “mischief-age” resulting in bothering the local residents while walking home. Furthermore, we noticed that the view over the Wadi was reduced to a glimpse of some olive trees, due to the overgrowth of the apparent non-maintained garden in front of it. When visiting the shelter on this plot, the dweller told us that he is not able anymore to maintain his garden because of his age and that he has no family to do that for him. Therefore, he was considering to sell this part of his plot.
On the right: focus on current transition between Boys Street and Wadi. The end plot is shown as well as the route towards the school.
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View over the garden with a glimpse of the Wadi at the end of The Boys Street.
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As shown on the map on the right, we propose to open up the Wadi and let it enter the camp by using a part of the abandoned garden. By (re)introducing greenery in this area (which will become completely accessible for passers-by), a decompression zone will emerge for both the boys, coming from school, the surrounding neighbourhoods and potential Bedouins. This camp-park can become a connector for the existing neighbourhoods, as well as a re-activator for the nondetermined neighbourhoods in this area. The green funnel will attract greenery back into the camp’s urban fabric, which leads to the second proposal regarding “Greenery�.
View from the other side of the Wadi, over the Wadi and a part of the camp.
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The second proposal for greening includes a general greening of the camp’s residential fabric, starting from the Wadi, by strategically placing trees and other greenery in the public space. In order to do so, we focussed on potential open spaces, which were observed during the research and analysed in Book I. Since the sewerage system is currently being installed, resulting in an untreated paving, we propose to provide adapted paving on strategic locations, based on the principle of grass pavers, which allows natural greening of the public space and slow infiltration of rainwater, reducing urban run-off.
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LOCAL PROJECTS Two proposals with local impact are designed, completely based on the social relationships which are observed in the camp on the smallest scale of the micro-communities and their limited interactions with and in the public space.
The community garden The first proposal is an introduction towards the community garden. This case concerns an existing micro-community along The Boys Street, of which one of the members owns a large enclosed garden. This garden is primarily used for growing olive trees, but also for hosting casual meetings between friends and family within this micro-community. Therefore this garden counts as an accommodated and appropriated space for social interactions on this scale, hence a common space. However, this does occur in the private atmosphere of a shelter. This example creates an interesting opportunity to test the principles of a community garden, since it can be linked to a group who will take responsibility for the on goings of this space. In order to do so, we propose to open up the garden to a limited extent towards the street by shifting the existing wall with 2-3 meters, thereby creating a common garden for the surrounding micro-communities. Also here, we suggest the use grass pavers to allow the greenery from the Wadi to flourish in all its variations. It is our belief that this place has the potential to develop towards a common space, which can be linked to the surrounding micro-communities and used as a local decompression area.
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Current situation Proposal
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Current situation
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Proposal
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Amplifying the common The second proposal on local scale is inspired by an existing common along The Boys Street. It concerns a micro-community over this street of which the women have taken initiative to appropriate one of the side streets towards a privatised space, where they can spend time in in a socially accepted way. In this regard they have erected a curtain to separate their half of the side street from the other half and they have rotated their shelters with the front doors towards this alley. By building walls next to their door, this side street obtains a private atmosphere, almost like a private terrace for the adjoining shelters. It is generally observed that there is a high demand for appropriated spaces for female activities, as well on neighbourhood scale as on
camp community scale. Besides The Women’s Centre, no specified location is provided where women can conduct chores together or have gatherings. Since meeting in the public street is a challenged activity, which is usually not socially accepted, these women have no other choice but to invite their friends over in their own shelter, resulting in considerable problems, as is discussed in previous chapters. Therefore, this existing common along The Boys Street is perceived as a great opportunity to introduce a female oriented outdoor space, linked to an activity. This space can be organised within the “borders” of this existing microcommunity, which would generally be accepted as a safe location due to proper social control in order to protect the women’s dignity.
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Current situation, showing the micro-community
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To let a protected atmosphere emerge, it is suggested to provide extra greening and specified facilities in the widening of the street, within the micro-community’s borders. Moreover, it is the idea to introduce a vegetable garden where women can gather to perform this activity together while being in a protected atmosphere. The trees and greenery should be placed strategically in order to provide a space out of eyesight of passers-by. This space will have a connecting character on micro-community scale and possibly also on neighbourhood scale.
Proposal
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NEIGHBOURHOOD PROJECTS Community house In front of the Mosque a small square is located which was marked as a potential qualitative open space. It has defined borders, which adds a specific character to this place. The mosque only serves locally on Fridays and is therefore not one of the more important ones of the camp. This location is therefore considered ideal to propose a community house. We opted to provide a base of about 60 cm high, with which we prevent car traffic to pass by. Alternatively, it marks an intervention which leads towards a perceptible different atmosphere by highlighting the new boundaries of this square. Of course, this base will introduce typical steps towards the street. We opted for smooth grey concrete, which will be in contrast with the rough surrounding built environment. Water collected from the roofs of this building block can be collected in sub-surface water
tanks underneath this base. Facilities should be provided to pump up the water, so that it can be used by the community, either to bring it back to the shelter, or to use it for activities in the community house. On top of the base the community house will be built. It consists of in-situ concrete walls with a partially open roof, cantilevering sufficiently in order to prevent neighbours from looking inside from above. By doing so, we create the opportunity to keep the walls closed, providing a space inside which can be used by all social groups. Around this building seating will emerge in the bends of the created environment, leading towards different spaces. In addition, an optional screen can be hung over the open area between the community house and the Mosque as sun shading.
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Proposal, section and plan
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The market The market is located on the West of Part A of the camp, one block away from The School Street. It is one building block long and two building blocks wide and it constitutes the centre of the Suq area, since fresh food is sold here on a daily basis. At these moments in the day, this area is the most vibrant and crowded of the camp. Vendors buy their goods at larger markets or from local farmers all, over the area and transport it to Gaza Camp. Where it is then subsequently sold at prices cheaper than those on other markets, for example the Jerash City market. Therefore, this market is not only vitally important for the camp’s residents, but also for people from surrounding villages and even from Jerash City, since they visit the camp for their everyday shopping.
Currently the market’s infrastructure is in a very poor state. It mainly consists of wooden barracks in which goods can be stored during the day, while in the morning they are opened towards the street, exhibiting their goods. These barracks are severely outdated, causing structural problems, especially when adding sunshades over the alleys in between. Furthermore, the paving is badly polluted due to leftovers that are generally dumped on the street and therefore needs a special treatment. Originally a garbage collection point was available on the corner, but due to the heavy stench causing unpleasant circumstances for the neighbouring shelters, this one was removed. Not only structurally speaking, but also regarding hygiene, a serious upgrade is necessary for this area of the camp.
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The market - Proposal The proposal for the market tries to bring together the economic, ecological, cultural, and social aspects of sustainability. In order to do so, we tried to maintain the vibrant and chaotic atmosphere, combined with a contemporary building technology. Several integrated strategies are used to achieve optimal conditions for the urban market. Firstly, we opted to provide a covered market. Therefore, the multiple inclined roofs are sandwiched constructions providing shade for the underlying activities and preventing overheating of this area. The different compartments of the roof, which are supported by the accompanying columns, are designed as huge rain water collectors. The whole roof collects rainwater almost equal to the entire site area and guides it down via the columns into underground water storage tanks. The collected water is used to replenish the integrated water basins in the market pavement and also for daily cleaning of the market stalls. Water vaporisation from the water basins pre-cools the air flow, before it flows under the roof, and works in collaboration with the sandwiched panels to control the temperature during hot days. Hot polluted air exhausts through the gaps in between the overlaying roof compartments.
Fixed market stalls are provided on the street side, in order to maintain the dense and chaotic atmosphere along these pedestrian routes. The stalls cover in total about 800 m² and can be subdivided freely into multiple stalls. In comparison to the current situation, this proposal provides up to double the amount of fixed market stalls, and still provides qualitative open spaces for pop-up market stalls or for other activities like social gatherings or festivities. When transferring from the fixed market stalls, you leave behind the chaos and find yourself in an open space with a light and green point of attraction in the centre. This large open space in the centre of the Suq is characterised by the opening in the roof under which a water basin and taps are provided. This symbolises the heart of the Suq, where one can sit down and watch the hustle that is happening around. The other open spaces are located under the corners of the roof, where the market touches the existing streets. By widening an intersection, a square with a specific character emerges. In order to provide proper accessibility for delivering goods whilst not intervening with the residential tissue, the market should stay accessible by car at regulated times of the day.
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Market,proposal The roof ’s compartments are 8m wide and the openings in between are 1,5m high. The lowest point of the roof is 4m above ground level. One market stall is 3,5m deep and its width can be a multiplicity of 4, up until 24m.
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Market,proposal Roof plan
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Accessibility for the market by car.
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Rainwater collectors
Natural ventilation
Market, rainwater collection and ventilation proposal
Market,section
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137 View inside the market
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OVERVIEW
Neighbourhoods Micro-communities
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By using these tools around The Boys Street, we are able to provide an initiative to upgrade a part of the urban fabric of the camp, the quality of the built environment and also the experience and usage of the available public space. Alternatively, these initiatives should reintroduce the Wadi in the camp. These first steps are required to be followed up by enthusiastic neighbours, who are motivated to establish qualitative outdoor space for all social groups, in order for the proposals to evolve towards common spaces which are maintained and further appropriated by the users. All proposals influence different levels of the social structures in the camp, resulting in a great variety of impact zones and leading towards more diversity in the environment. With the establishment of common spaces, it is assumed that awareness of the public space will rise, together with the sense of responsibility, which should primarily result in the emergence of new common spaces by residents’ own initiatives and influenced by the entering Wadi and alternatively in an augmented maintenance and wayfinding of and in the public space.
REFERENCES VII
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Image credits
Cover p. 8 p. 12 p. 14 p. 16 p. 18 p. 21 p. 33 p.46 p. 66 p. 70 p. 93 p. 126
Herny Morgan Herny Morgan Herny Morgan Herny Morgan Herny Morgan Herny Morgan Nataly Arar Herny Morgan Nataly Arar Dina Dabash Mahmoud Riyad Kromp Dina Dabash Mahmoud Riyad Kromp
All other pictures are taken by the students of this thesis.
Notes
Suq
A suq is an open-air marketplace or commercial quarter in Middle Eastern and North African cities. A Suq was originally an open-air marketplace. Historically, suqs were held outside cities at locations where incoming caravans would stop and merchants would display their goods for sale. Suqs toop place whenever a caravan or caravans had arrived. This could be infrequent, and suqs might extend beyond being markets to buy and sell goods, into major festivals involving many cultural and social activities. Any suq might have a social function, in terms of being a place to meet, in addition to its commercial function. Later, due to the importance of the marketplace and the growth of cities, the locations of suqs shifted to urban centres.
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suq and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi
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Charlotte Dhollander