I started writing letters

I started writing letters

In 2011 I got the opportunity to travel to a Palestinian Refugee Camp

I started writing letters Ciel Grommen

FOOTNOTES De ar students, De ar master students in architecture, De ar students working in another cultur a l c o n t e x t

8,9,18,19,23,24

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De ar UN workers, hosting interns from E u r o p e a n u n i v e r s i t i e s 5,8,9,16

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De ar UN architects

28,18,19,21

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23,24,25,14,5,6

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25,1,2,4,5,6,13, 14,15, 18, 20, 21

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What was our place as students and as o u t s i d e r s ? Wa s o u r f i e l d w o r k m e t h o d o l o g y g o o d ?

Was our urb a n a n a l y s i s a n d d e s i g n a n ap p r o p r i a t e w a y t o r e s p o n d t o t h i s p a r t i c u l a r s i t u a tion? What was the best format? Maybe w e w e r e t o o m u c h i n v o l v e d i n t h e c o m m u n i t y t h a t we wanted to be servant and realistic? M a y b e i t w a s o u r c h a r a c t e r t o b e p r a c t i c a l ? M a y b e the political opinions of our team were t o o d i ff e r e n t t o f o r m u l a t e o n e v i s i o n ? W h e n t h i n k i n g a bout the format, might it be better to al s o h a v e y o u r u l t i m a t e p u b l i c i n m i n d ?

- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - But maybe this is just a way to bit myse l f ? F o r y o u , t h i s u n d e r t a k i n g i s m a y b e l i t t l e m o r e than a useful association with the unive r s i t y a n d t h e n e t w o r k t h i s e x c h a n g e i s c r e a t i n g ?

Can you, after haven taken some distan c e , s h o w u s h o w w e , a s s t u d e n t s , f i n a l l y c o n t r i b u t e d mo st? And how can we still contribute m o r e ?

- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - However, I hope you can understand my c o n c e r n s r e g a r d i n g t h e c a m p a n d a l l o w m e t o a s k wh ether or not something useful will be d o n e f o r H u s n c a m p ? I s t h e p r o p o s e d d e s i g n p r a c -

Ho w about we meet and you hear it all fi r s t h a n d ?

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My doubt is not gone, but your letter of c o u r s e i n v i t e s t o t a k e a n e x p l i c i t ( w r i t t e n ? ) p o s i t i o n ?

Do you expect an answer in English? An d t o w h o m s h o u l d I t h u s p o s s i b l y f o c u s ?

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is part of the point that you wanted to m a k e : i s t h e r e r e a l l y a p r o b l e m t h a t h a s t o b e s o l v e d ?

What right did we have to reflect about t h e s e c a m p s a n d t o i m p o s e a d e s i g n ? B u t s t i l l : d i d we believe ourselves to be able to form u l a t e a g o o d d e s i g n ? I c o u l d u n d e r s t a n d t h a t w e cal? When do neo-colonial critics consid e r u s r i g h t f u l c l a i m a n t ? W h e n w o u l d y o u c o n s i d e r u s rightful clai mant? Who else has the righ t t o d e s i g n i n t h i s c o n t e x t a n d o n t h i s s c a l e ? D i d t h e UNRWA architects, that were Palestinia n s b u t n o t l i v i n g i n t h e c a m p , k n o w m o r e ? I t w o u l d

yo u can advise for us, architects that lov e t o t r a v e l a n d w a n t t o h a v e a m e a n i n g f u l c o n t r i b u tion within other cultural contexts?

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there the principle of temporariness? So o u t s i d e r s n o w w e r e i m p o s i n g P a l e s t i n i a n s t o u p h o l d

Should I leave it behind me?

ABSTRACT

more now that you gained a greater dis t a n c e f r o m i t , o r d o y o u t h i n k t h i s c r i t i q u e i s u n f a i r ?

Bruno De Meulder

Bruno De Meulde r

Lotte Martje

Lotte Martje Ciel

Lotte Martje Ciel

Anouk

An o u k

TIMELINE

Hassan

Ciel Anouk

Maram

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Belgium, Leuven, 6/2011

Jordan, Amman, 8 / 2 0 11

Bruno Guido Geenen

Ly n e Joud Safaa

Lotte Bara Martje Zakaria Ciel

Lotte Bara Martje Zakar i a Ciel Has a n

Lotte Martje Ciel

Lotte Martje Ciel Bara

Em a n Asal a Khal i d Umbar a Is a As a n

Zakaria Anouk

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Jordan, Husn, 10/2011

Be l g i u m , Leuven, 11 / 2 0 11

Belgium, Leuven, 3/2012

Lieven De Cauter

Bruno Guido Geenen

Bruno De Meuld e r Guido Geenen

Lotte Martje Ciel

Lotte Martje Ciel

Ciel Ba r a

Anouk

Anouk

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Belgium, Leuven, 6/2012

Be l g i u m , Leuven, 7/2012

TIMELINE

Lieven De Caute r

L i e ven

Guido An dreas Stefaan Jonas Sie n Lies

Tom Jasper

Tom Jasper

Ciel

Ciel

L o t te Ciel Ba ra

Bara Zakaria

Ba r a Za k a r i a

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Belgium, Leuven, 7/2013

Sw i t s e r l a n d , Geneva, 2014

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Geneva, January 2014

Dear students

Your master paper on Jerash camp will be in full progress at this moment. I already saw some documents passing in my mailbox that impressed me. I recognised a massive ambi tion that is comparable to ours at the time. Since the Palestinian case and the experi ence of living in a refugee camp is so captivating, I think this drive is almost natural.

At least, for me, it clearly was and still is: I am still very concerned about the refugee camps and your work there.

As I notice you developing beautiful insights, I want to make sure that your massive work will lead to something. The reason is because I personally, did not feel satisfied when my thesis was written. The evolutions of the Camp Improvement Program in Husn camp the last two years and the discussion we had during our jury moment in 2012 made me ques tion and re-question the meaning of this work. What was our place as students and as outsiders? Was our fieldwork methodology good? Was our urban analysis and design an appropriate way to respond to this particular situation?

I decided to confront these questions in open letters to the people that might be able to answer them. Hopefully they develop into thoughts that can help you to move on where I stopped. were asked to process such a big amount of information. We really had difficulties con structing a narrative out of this rich and different life experience. What was the best format?

understood this to be political, controversial and idealistic and I admired the projects of Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine. However we did not manage to speak in a clear to be servant and realistic? For instance, we thought about the traffic, the lack of shad -

to formulate one vision?

times and never fully understood what he meant with it. I deduced: one (physical) ges ture that answers to a wide range of aspects, expressible in a few sentences, visible in

paper for the outside world. A presentation, a possible contest, a portfolio... more often than you can imagine before, you will have to explain your project so frustratingly short.

So in a way you will have to filter your thoughts into one theme or one architectural ges ture. Your narrative than has to develop in relation to this theme. This in particular was tricky for our analytical minds. (We had been making hundreds of possible tables of con tents.) Today, this focus on a clearly structured story seems less important since it may reduce this diverse debate and living experience; it denied the variety of phenomena that influenced one another in a non-hierarchical or easily explicable way.

When thinking about the format, might it be better to also have your ultimate public in therefore spent a lot of time searching for practical implementations to prove that ou r

a certain increase in classes etc. After conducting interviews with all these organiza tions we felt responsible to insert all our gained knowledge in the thesis. This, however, proved to be ineffective. It occurred to me that the Palestinians as well would also only record that one clear and seductive gesture that our experienced promoter had been pro moting from the beginning.

camp residents to profit from our work, we were confronting our design proposals con sistently to Palestinian architects to avoid making cultural missteps. The discussions led to some very interesting insights. For instance, the stairs leading to the women centre were best situated close to a mosque so that there would be more social control and girls would feel more confident to move freely. Another example is the importance of a public space to be fenced in order to be used and appropriated by a great variety of people‌ final master thesis document. These differences in perception taught us most about the camp. They could have served as a good mediation for our peers, whose language we are ultimately speaking and whom we should have been envisioning to a greater extent as a public.

Also, when reconsidering most references on Palestinian refugee camps, these designs rather informed the outside world about certain aspects in the camps than effectively change an architectural reality in the camp. Xena Kalouti , who was a student of Jordan university at the time, wrote about the economic state and the possible vibrant black

and pointed on the importance of culture and sport in this respect. There are a lot of ex amples.

background. Very tactile, pure physical, architectural proposals already proved to be very useful as a starting point.

Palestinian case.

Kind regards, Ciel

Geneva, January 2014

It has been a while since we met in Husn Camp. It feels like time is racing, but at the other hand a lot happened in the meanwhile. This summer already the fourth group of architecture students travelled to a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. I understood that

the experiences in Husn camp still occupy my thoughts and influence what I do. I try to keep up to date and receive very fragmented bits of news about Husn. They made me like to address them to you.

When we came to Jordan in 2011 the Camp Improvement Program was in its first phase.

After Talbiyeh, Husn was only the second camp where this program was implemented. volunteers that was willing to discuss about the spatial problems and needs of the camps

When we arrived you were finishing your urban analysis in the field and started to organ developed, wondering in what way we would contribute and what you were actually ex pecting from us. You might have known it neither at the time. As we were never aske d to do something in particular, we decided to redo your urban analysis partially, producing the material digitally and adding illustrations and drawings in several dimensions. The longer we were residing in the camp, the more questions we asked ourselves, and the richer our research became. Our initial admiration disappeared; we thought that you were not aware of some crucial things that were alive in the camp. We, for instance, had an interesting talk with some former drug addicts about the main places to use and places to deal, and how to get rid of it according to them. We thought that this taboo subjec t certainly had to be faced, as it is one of the principal problems in the camp.

appreciation several times. This pleased us of course, because we were initially not expecting (only hoping) any effectiveness of our work. And as an important impetus, the

The feeling of usefulness unfortunately disappeared when I met the second group in not include any of our findings. It seemed difficult to obtain more accurate information on what was really being developed i n Husn, however I cannot refrain from questioning in which way our thesis was appreciated. Did you understand the points we wanted to make, did you read?

I catch mysel f searching for justifications of our work all the time. I can write down a have had a sense: our open attitude contrasting the fear towards or prejudgments on camp residents from most people living outside the camps, the advantage of being both encing the different rhythms, the fact of being a women and therefore being able to enter bit myself?

I am willing to accept that, for us as master students in architecture, it is just a great exercise to design in such a context and to be inspired by this experience. For you, this

undertaking is maybe little more than a useful association with the university and the network this exchange is creating?

explanation towards the Palestinians who were helping us with our research. It could change the format of our design proposals.

Can you, afte r you have taken some distance now, show us how we, as students, finally contributed most? And how can we still contribute more?

I look forward to hearing from you, Ciel

Geneva, January 2014

but in reality nothing really happened. The refugees are very disappointed, sceptical and their poor English well. However you forgot to answer me (this sudden reappearance of me might have been a bit strange, as some time has passed since I was actively en gaged in the camp).

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to hear that the university is investing in this research and that there is an intense col Husn camp and allow me to ask whether or not something useful will be done? And if not,

The Camp Improvement Program with all its collaborations and consultations promised to be very progressive, but I have the feeling that it has created a situation in which no

argumentation of his frustration on participative processes, I could unfortunately draw so many parallels with the participative CIP. In Husn camp, as yet, this seems to lead to a situation of indecision. In Talbiyeh camp, the first camp in which this program was started, some architectural projects were im plemented but no projects to be proud of. They are rather proof of the ineffectiveness of all these beautiful vision texts that had been written on participation by the originators with the camps residents. A new publ ic garden illustrates this well: it were only 4 square meters of a street fenced and only possible to enter with a key, without any green, with out any furniture, except some pavers on the ground. Another public playground ended up with a wall because it used to be visited by drug dealers at night. When we left Jor dan, this place was not even accessible anymore in daytime since it attracted too many children that made too much noise. The once colourful area had become a collective container for garbage that was thrown across the walls. You are both aware of these sad evolutions. It was off course a pioneer project and there are many lessons to be learnt

frustrated, but to assume at the same time that there is nothing that can be done about it since it was the result of the discussions with the community.

decision-making in order to produce frameworks for change; change that is critical and our case: not all residents can be satisfied; neither can be the involved experts. I realize that we, as students, without any mandate, were actual ly in the best position to propose such a crossbench practice. It was good to consult the them blindly and rather propose a more controversial design, that than could be moder ated by you.

gram? I am not sure. Conscious about the mandatory neutrality, I do not think you can act very controversially. I would rather envision the Camp Improvement Program as a supportive organization assisting plans alive under the residents. For instance, it would have been very interesting if you had offered, even imposed, your professionalism in the construction of the new sports hall of Al Karmel in Husn camp. This hall, the construction of which has started in 2012, occupies such an interesting location in the camp. A con scious professional design could have added a lot if they included interesting linkages the interests of other, not directly involved, groups of people in the camp, that are con sulted through the focus groups.

architects and powerful women. Your experiences, findings, and critiques on the organi zation that you were/are part of, and the program you were/are developing can be very interesting and instructive. gained a greater distance from it, or do you think this critique is unfair?

Ciel

From: razan khalaf (razan.khalaf@gmail.com) Date: Sunday 2 February 2014 19:38:11 To: Ciel Grommen (cielgrommen@hotmail.com)

Dear Ciel

I feel terrible for not replying to your email in Feb (personal crap), trust me when I say cation you deserve.

Your email did draw a big - ironic - smile on my face because you touch on many - and settlements. How about we meet and you hear it all first hand? :)

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Geneva, January 2014

Dear Guido Geenen

Two years ha ve passed since you guided us in the work for our master paper on Husn work. Since I am in an Art School in Geneva, I found some time to sort out my thoughts and I would like to share some of my questions in this letter with you.

The main reason I write to you, is because of one very personal conclusion you shared during the jury moment in June 2012. We were already quite surprised by the overall re flections. Our design process had been very intense and deep. On a weekly base we had afternoon, in contrast with our practical approach, you were discussing the meta-level, questions which confronted us with the base principles of our thesis, questions we had been denying, forgetting, questions that had remained unanswered. Vividly I remember

-It was at that very last moment of my education, that I was for the first time that I was confronted with the question of the relevance of architecture by a professor of our fac ulty, by an architect in the field.of architecture in this case. Please visit the incredible Al-Finiq cultural center of De -

proved the sense of architecture: the building itself was not so remarkable; all the more inspiring were the great dynamics and the rich communal life in this camp.

In fact you were referring to the notion of temporality that is inherently associated with a refugee camp. The Palestinians in Jordan that still reside in the camps often choose con sciously for this exceptional life, as a sign to the world that they do not want to accept this life in exile for their future. The camp itself has to remain temporary, and therefore architecture is problematic. The act to start building and planning would mean that the refugees are building up a new life elsewhere outside Palestine.

From a certain point of view, I endorsed this question of relevance. I admit that in a way ber of 5 million Palestinians in refugee camps reminds the rest of the world of the injus tice caused on them more than 60 years ago.

architecture in this context is meaningless or even adversative. Intuitively and without timistic drive that characterizes the architectural approach? I suspect that you decided the same since you returned this yea r as a promoter for the students working on Jerash

Sincerely Ciel Grommen

From: Guido Geenen To:

Ciel Grommen

beste ciel, jammer dat je er niet bij kan zijn op de workshop, en bedankt voor je brief. mijn twijfel is niet weg, maar je brief nodigt natuurlijk uit om een explicieter (geschre ven?) standpunt in te nemen? dat vind ik best wel akelig... dus aub even bedenktijd... verwacht je een antwoord in het engels? en tot wie zou ik me daarmee eventueel rich ten? wordt vervolgd guido - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Free translation: Dear Ciel, too bad that you can not be there at the workshop, and thank you for your letter. my doubt is not gone, but your letter of course invites to take an explicit (written?) posi so please give me a moment of reflection ... do you expect an answer in English? and to whom should I thus possibly focus? to be continued guido - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Geneva, January 2014

Dear professor Cassiman

In 2012 you guided the thesis research of some fellow students in architecture that stud ied the informal retail trade in Tema, Ghana. We never met personally, but I remember them telling about your reaction on their design proposals. You did not agree that they -as architecture students- necessarily needed to make a design to improve the situation. ing a lot about this comment. It was at least as relevant for our master paper: an urban design for a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. Although this work is officially finished nowadays, I regret that I never entered into this important discussion that feels esse ntial to justify our work. Since I get the ch ance to continue participating in more projects that concern other cultural contexts, I thought about writing you, because you are already quite familiar with the work of architects.

be familiar wi th. An analysis is interesting but we, as architects, believe that an addi tional design can start up an interesting dialogue. Discussions about simple but super tactile physical arrangements can give so much more insights into a culture than can be reached by observing. For instance, I remember us confronting our design proposals to Palestinian architects. The comments they gave about subtle details as the position of a door, the height of a wall, the importance of a mosque‌ made us aware of how vulner able women feel when moving in the public space of the camp. Sometimes this way of ; instead of analysing a problem very deeply, designers analyse solutions and solve in this way a problem.

I think this articulation is part of the point that you wanted to make: is there really a problem that has to be solved? A powerful question, according to me, and it is difficult to answer to this kind of stoic acceptance. Even more because in our particular case, we were also aware of the rejection of architecture in order to maintain the notion of tem porariness. (For your interest: this notion is inherently associated with the Palestinian sign to the world that they do not want to accept this life in exile for their future. The act to start building and planning would mean that the refugees are building up a new life elsewhere than in Palestine.) From a certain point of view, I endorsed this question but I rational arguments, I dare to believe in action, in change and initiative, and I appreciate the optimistic drive that is part of the architectural approach. The Palestinians are also very ambiguous: on the one hand, they deny architecture and said that our project (or the were very disappointed when nothing was realized afterwards.

What right did we have to reflect about these camps and to impose a design? Of cou rse, that would on ly serve as a starting point for a future discussion between architects and

to Jordan and living in a family in the camp, not able to speak Arab, but open and with out prejudices. This cultural question had already puzzled us since the very beginning.

For a long time we felt too ignorant to even start designing. We wanted to be a credible conversational partner and believed that the cultural gap could be bridged by studying their way of living and their way of thinking step by step. To enhance our understanding of the culture, we lived in a family in our camp and consciously adapted to their habi ts during our fieldtrip. Very intensively we interviewed a very wide range of institutions, dif ferent social groups, shopkeepers... We showed consequently our design to Palestinians,

whose comments were taken very seriously and served as important preconditions to the further steps that we were taking. In the end, our local promoter even gave us the com -

would ever consider ourselves enough expert. When do neo-colonial critics consider us rightful claimant? When would you consider us rightful claimant?

To get out of this thought pattern, it helped to turn the question around: who else has the Palestinians but not living in the camp, know more? I was for instance quite surprise d about the cultural differences between the Palestinians that live in Amman and the Pales of the life in the camp. It would be interesting to find an architect in the camp itself, but is this person able to zoom out and include all kind of interests?

Our professors did not deny this cultural issue, but obviated it in a way. They argued that for us, as outsiders, it is easier and more appropriate to analyse the situation from a bird

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analysis. We had achieved some very specific knowledge of what was going on in Husn. and therefore chose to design on a smaller scale and with some very specific indications.

For instance, we could not deny that we knew that Al Karmel football club was planning to build a sports hall in the center of the camp. We really wanted to formulate a strategy to include this function into our design, even though our promoters were not interested in the implementation of our multifunctional structure of a landscape scale.

Sometimes nowadays, I consider us too modest and occupied by the idea to be an out 2, an a uthor that dares to call the postcolonial question as a false question, advises to find legitimacy in the demarche, to describe the tools an d

added interviews, not having included doubts and discussions, not having confessed our heroes... because this question of justification was our greatest research.

Dear professor, I am aware that I am a very young thinker and that I am acquainted with only one per cent of this great and on-going debate, but is there something you can advise for us, architects that love to travel and want to have a meaningful contribution within other cultural contexts?

Sincerely Ciel Grommen

1

The Palestinian refugee camps have an exceptional status in Jordan. Two institutional bodies are present here: the UNRWA and DPA. UNRWA is part of the United Nations, so an outside sovereign power. The DPA, department of Palestinian Affairs, is part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nor the ministry of internal affairs, neither the municipalities have access to the camp’s maps. UNRWA’s camp improvement program, occupied with the camp’s urban planning, cannot make claims about the bordering lands. As a consequence there is a difference of the tissue of the camp and its surroundings: there is a discontinuity in the street pattern and parceling, facilities like sewage etc. are separated, on master plans and municipality maps the camp is presented as a white spot.

2

Patrick Maurus is a French expert in Korean studies and professor at INALCO (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales). I read about his point of view in Maurus P., 2010. ‘La Corée dans ses fables’. Actes Sud.

Geneva, June 2014

Dear reader

After me writing these letters, I was able to be on Skype and Facebook contact with

anger that gave me the energy to write these letters, faded away. and I liked the Facebook page as many other Facebook pages of Husn camp, which are together with the first pictures of modest white walls, did temper my interest quite fast, some more crazy colours and post new pictures every two days. The Facebook page is so amusing, a beautiful archive of groups of camp residents that seem to have a lot of more people, a group of undiscovered volunteering forces. I am amused by seeing wom ing groups wi th her self-confident smile. It is actually also the first time that I see pic tures of these girls on Facebook (before they would post fictional pictures found on the Internet). Sometimes I even see women wearing a t-shirt and unveiled‌ I notice English PowerPoint presentations with grammar rules. Zakaria confirms that he is teaching Eng lish now, together with a German volunteer. He adds that they are also visiting the uni versities to invite volunteers to help with the project.

It seems that the camp has

title of our thesis. We had been focusing on Husn camp as an island: a dense island of concrete in the middle of agricultural fields, an island of Palestinians in between Jorda nians, an island with exceptional institutional bodies in the Jordanian nation. We were touched how this isolation made Husn an easy victim for stigmatization. The inhabitants were often discriminated and hardly entered into contact with others. The unemployment role and we noticed a strong separation between girls and boys.

Discrimination might have the ability to create a strong community, but unfortunately this

why Palestini ans are still living in camps in Jordan. The poverty unluckily seemed to transform the se principles into a complaint about the living circumstances and the wish to live somewhere else. Especially with younger generations, the reality of finding a job and starting a real life somewhere else seems for a lot of them to overshadow their par -

picture of poverty, drugs and violence. It perfectly responds to our problem statement, however we would never have been able to come with this idea. I immediately thought about the principle of temporariness that always had been one of the main preconditions to our proposals. We were told that people agreed not to decorate their facades as a sign confirms this ambiguity but tells also that that the discussions were taking a very ridicu lous turn. It was the DPA that came with abjections against the project because of th is istry of Foreign Affairs, in other words, the Jordanian government controlling the camps.

They, not the Palestinian refugees, did not want a camp to look happy. When I ask Zaka -

This might be the voice of the new generation of Palestinian refugees, which is too often absent in debates on the Palestinian case. It was their idea, their initiative, their hands that did it, their will to change their situation and future‌ nothing seems to me better to create a sense of community, pride and belonging. Visually these colours also work very well; the pictures tell another story about the camp than the rumours about drugs and violence.

Do we earn credits here? Can this be seen as an outcome of our project, of the CIP sellschaft fĂźr Internationale Zusammenarbeit) has nothing to do with the CIP and the CIP is not really involved in the execution nor definition of the project. Yet is it coincidence proud when s eeing the volunteers using our panorama pictures of the camp in the Power Point presentations. It reminded me again of the power of the image. A certain focus and a different view, simply our practice of attention on the camp might have made them see the camp differently. Our design, will never be implemented but it was probably a good guidance in the development of this perspective.

A design as a research object might even be particularly interesting because one has to search for potential qualities of a place. In a simple analysis on the contrary, one tends to show rather the problems of the camp. In the beginning we searched for what we had been reading on refugee camps. The existing narratives are mostly pathetic (logically, since they serve as a political argument for the injustice inflicted on the Palestinian peo ple.) We, for instance, had been reading about the hallucinating density of the Palestin ian camps an d searched for these places to photograph. The density problem exists in Husn, but there were also other neighbourhoods, open and with a view on the agricultural that go wrong: the deadly atmosphere of open spaces, the unused streets, the garbage, the dangerous traffic situations... Thanks to the fact that we had to design something, we picked up the beautiful aspects of the camps, as tools for an urban transformation. One focus was, for instance, the small amount of street activity that was there, in contrast to the generally deserted streets; how could we foster this activity? What made people appropriate this place? The clustering of some shelters so that inner courtyards would originate, charmed us. There was sometimes the interesting use of the rooftops. And so on.

The view the camp citizens picked up was the impressive embedment of the camp on the hillside, exposed to the highway. We tried to work with this perspective by proposing urban armatu re from a bigger scale. The Palestinians changed this view remarkably by painting the facades of the shelters.

design was actually out of the question. It would always have been communicated, but once you start examining the needs of a camp and involve residents in discussing and -

about colours and all complications that arise before this project could really start. She still tried to combine the project with a neighbourhood upgrading, the way we proposed

enter in these endless discussions and complications.

How do the camp residents react to the Colour up project? Zakaria tells that the most common question is why they do not invest in infrastructure. I am surprised about this criticism because when we were in the camp, the people criticised the infrastructure pro ture.

Zakaria told me explaining these peo ple that this particular fund was only available for a cultural project, that this proposal had been chosen by the GIZ and that they have to take advantage of the money that is available. When I ask him what he would have pre -

needs as food and lodging. These basic needs had always been the main focus of as cultural enrichment and identity. We defined this need for culture, but many organisa tions did before. The Palestinians asked to paint the walls, but they asked so much more.

At the end, it almost looks like the GIZ imposed a cultural project.

Are we creati ng needs here?

A conclusion is impossible. I am too far away from them to really know. I have to return to understand, participate and engage, as I have been doing before.

Or should I leave it behind me? I do not feel like writing letters anymore. It is better to just focus on the context, here and now: me at this wonderful art school here, in Geneva, where everything looks hidden, these ateliers, where the walls are still white‌

Thank you for coming so far Ciel

Footnotes

FOOTNOTES

1-SATELLITE PICTURE OF HUSN IN THE GREATER IRBID

2-HUSN CAMP SEEN FROM THE HIGHWAY

FOOTNOTES

3-AEREAL PICTURES OF HUSN

1978

1992

FOOTNOTES

4-SATELLITE PICTURE OF HUSN

2 009

HISTORICAL PICTURE OF SHELTER

FOOTNOTES

RECENT PICTURE OF SHELTER

HISTORICAL PICTURE OF A MAIN ROAD

FOOTNOTES

RECENT PICTURE OF A MAIN ROAD

FOOTNOTES

7-MORPHOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF HUSN VILLAGE AND HUSN CAMP

Typological Section Husn Village

3 3 000 inhabitans 9 ,5 km ² 3 473,68 inh / km ²

Dependency Rate* 4,1 Monthly income 269,03 JOD U n e m p l o y m e n t r a t e 11 , 7 6 %

P u b l i c St r e e t number of dependents (aged 0-14 and 6 5 + ) t o Private Garden

Typological Section Husn Cam p

>22 000 inhabitans 0,77 km² Dependency Rate* 5,2 Monthly income 182,7 JOD Unemployment rate 22,67%

FOOTNOTES

28 571 inh / km ²

Typological Section

8-UNRWA

FOOTNOTES

U N RWA h e a l t h c e n t r e

11-TALBIYEH CAMP: OUTCOME OF THE CIP

FOOTNOTES

Orig inal situation

CIP intervention

Cu rrent situation

12-ENTRANCE TO THE CAMP FROM THE HIGHWAY

13-STIGMATIZATION Dia ry Fragment

1 9/10/2011

o ne of our colleagues at UNRWA, we had t o r e t u r n t o H u s n c a m p t o f i n -

reconciled between the student and the t a x i d r i v e r a n d t h e y s t a r t e d c h a t t i n g little we revealed that we were going to H u s n r e f u g e e c a m p , a s u b j e c t t h a t i s

When we eventually arrived, we did not a s k t h e t a x i d r i v e r t o e n t e r t h e c a m p ,

We laughed out loud, because we under s t o o d h e w a s a f r i e n d o f B a r a , o u r we answered like before whit our most en t h u s i a s t i c a n d f r i e n d l y s i g n l a n -

FOOTNOTES

boy revealed that he never went inside H u s n c a m p , b u t t h a t t h i s b a d r u m o u r s

14-PALESTINIAN ARCHITECTS ABOUT THE PALESTINIAN CAMPS To : Martje, Ciel, Lotte

I h ave vague memories of going to refugee cam p s a s p a r t o f c a m p a i g n s h e l p -

c l u sion after my first independent working exp e r i e n c e i n c a m p s ; P a l e s t i n i a n r e f ugee camps have a unique culture one can n o t f i n d a n y w h e r e e l s e i n t h e w o r ld - you cannot find people living temporar i l y f o r m o r e t h a n 6 0 y e a r s i n a t h e ir habits, cultural heritage and aspirations, y e t h o w a l i e n a t e d t h e y w o u l d

e a t ing there :p

new camp ( which merged with its surroundings, it is almost a neighborhood

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Maram

I hear always one of the two famous expressions about the camps by most ppl – Either: -

FOOTNOTES

15-ANTI-PALESTINIAN GRAFITTI ON A WALL IN THE CAMP

FOOTNOTES

PICTURE OF TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL STREET

SHELTER INTERIOR

FOOTNOTES

16-FOCUS GROUP ABOUT DRUGS D i a ry fragment

H u sn, 11 /2011 We , as Christians coming from a country famo u s f o r b e e r, e x p e r i m e n t s w i t h e r a lly a taboo topic, but since the rumours we r e s o n u m e r o u s , w e c o n s u l t e d a b out this topic, but he said it had to be taken s e r i o u s a n d t o b e d i s c u s s e d

t h e regular tea and sweets, we witnessed a t r a d i t i o n a l d a n c e d u r i n g o u r w a i t r e g ular bodyguards and translators: Bara and Z a k a r i a s w e r e s i l e n t l y s i t t i n g i n

W h at on earth made these three blond girls w a n t t o t a l k w i t h t h e m , w h o w e r e l a b elled as the scum of the camp? A friendly s m i l e f r o m b o t h s i d e s h e l p e d u s r e m ove these initial hesitations, and it ended u p i n a w a r m a n d o p e n c o n v e r -

T h ere it went from bad to worse; anger-outbur s t s , u s e o f m o r e b a d d r u g s a n d N o wadays, they were all clean, but they still c l a i m e d t o k n o w w h e r e t h e s t u ff d e r statement for how we felt, as we were sure t h a t w e h a d a l r e a d y v i s i t e d

b e that women are unaware of the secret busi n e s s e s t h a t a r e t r a d e d i n s i d e

N e xt to these hard stories, the men told us th e b e a u t i f u l w a y t h e y w e r e -

17-VISIT AT THE POLICE STATION Dia ry fragment

Hu sn, 12/10/2011

nouncemen t of our visit was received w i t h a s t o n i s h m e n t , b u t n e v e r t h e l e s s w e

He translated literally what the police o ff i c e r t o l d u s , b u t a t t h e s a m e t i m e , he added his own interpretation of the p e r f o r m a n c e s o f t h e i r d u t i e s , w h i c h co mmon task for the police, is interveni n g w h e n t h e r e i s a f i g h t ( a t a w e d appear if there is any fight, and even if t h e y w o u l d i n t e r v e n e , t h e y w o u l d tions, the Muchtar ( the patriarch of the f a m i l y c l a n s ) m u s t n e g o t i a t e b e t w e e n

But on the contrary, from what we have l e a r n e d f r o m o u r f o c u s g r o u p , t h e camp is the place par excellence for dru g t r a ff i c k i n g a n d u s a g e A l s o t h e y d o the police in the camp always have to w a i t f o r a c a r t o c o m e f r o m H u s n o r

FOOTNOTES

A request must be submitted to the DPA , w h i c h t h e p o l i c e s h o u l d r e t r a c e

18-DESIGN: A FORMAL STORY OF ARMATURES

FOOTNOTES

DESIGNING THE RUIN

19-PRESENTATION: FRUSTRATINGLY SHORT NOTICE OF OUR WORK E x t ract of a Powerpoint Presentation to introd u c e m y s e l f a n d m y w o r k i n a s e m i n a r a t t h e

Palestine

1948

1967

Husn Camp Island: Extending the Identity of a Palestinian Presence

Jordan

MASTERPAPER : 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMPS IN JORDAN 2. URBAN ANALYSIS OF HUSN CAMP 3. URBAN DESIGN HUSN CAMP 4. URBAN ANALYSIS OF TALBIYEH CAMP 5. URBAN DESIGN FOR TALBIYEH CAMP

‘The Palestinian camp is the only place where your identity as a Palestinian is not contested within the state in which you exist. In the state of exile, identity is memory - that is constantly and tragically eroded by the effects of time.’

‘The Palestinian urban geography is remapped... by the tombstones that substitute the cities and villages of Palestine’.

Cisjordania (West Bank)

Design

FOOTNOTES

current state of southern border

20-INTERESTING CONFIGURATIONS IN THE RESIDENTIAL GRID I n t he problem analysis of our thesis, we state d t h a t n o h i e r a r c h y i s i m p l e -

T h ere are different ways to create this intimat e g e s t u r e , a s o n e c a n c l o s e o f t h e street, or manipulate the grid-structure by t h e i m p l a n t a t i o n o f l a t e r s h e l -

i r r e gularities can be enabled because of the u n c l e a r r u l e s a n d c o n t r o l i n t h e

A.5 INTERESTING

In the problem analysis is s implemented in the residentia rough reading of the plan, we to the grid. The deviations im

There are different ways to c as one can close of the s grid-structure by the implanta

Especially the most recent blo on the grid. These irregulariti of the unclear rules and contr

West of the Western part of the loop, there are recently additions.

Remarkably, these shelters have a different orientation than the other part streets that more intime spaces got created.

96

0

50

100

150

200

250 m

We took this pictures on the southern border, where the shelters are the most recent and the grid has the most exceptions. In this case, the street was not closed off, but the shelters were placed in a way that an inner area was obtained.

We visited on this block, who had cut of the street in order to receive a domestic open space. Several households are living together around this courtyard, in a composition that one could compare with the one of the cul-de-sac in the historic Arab city. A closed door was used, in order to close the inner space from the street

FOOTNOTES

21-A POTENTIAL STREET LIFE

OPPOSED TO THE GENERAL IMAGE:

22-DESIGN: RESIDENTIAL SCALE: TWO STREET SYSTEMS

Illustration: Impression of a street in between neighbourhoods

Illustration: Impression of a neighboorhood street

23-CONSULT WITH LYNE

Pr i v a t e s t r e e t s c o u l d b e c r e a t e d w i t h v e g e t a tion, like cactuses, which used to present

31/3/2012

by the delineation with cactuses, people could recover earlier Palestinian division of ground)

On hierarchy in the residential grid An Arabic urban tissue is caracterised b y a

On new shelter typologies;/ rental shelters See the example of the informal settlem e n t h ierarchy in 5 degrees: 1 st - Main streets : lot of traffic, commer c i a l 2nd - Streets between neighbourhoods, y o u

If we would like to create a typology with a shop, it should maybe not be established inside the fabric of a neighbourhood? Maybe it is better located at the side of the spine (or maybe even the 2nd level), with a private loon on the other hand is best located on the

3 rd - More personal streets, inside a ne i g h Women feel comfortable here, because t h e r e

A rental shelter for a family of a widow or divorced women (if her children are little) is better located in the middle of a neighbour-

women in the middle of a neighbourhood i n Pa l e s t i n e t h a t i s p r o t e c t e d b y h e r n e i g h -

5 th - Private space, spaces like the cour t A rental shelter for a young couple should Public life happens mostly on the street s do not work in the same way as in west e r n

Women reside from the third level untill would go to an open space is when they a r e accompanied with their husband or fami l y (fa mily gathering such as weddings, pic n i c s ) In our camp, the 1st, 2nd and maybe ev e n 3rd are existing, we only need to make t h e m + In troduce the 5th (and 4th) level

Ho w to practically introduce this hierarch y ?

The whole women-thing is about to be s e e n a space is too big, a woman can easily b e Sta irs and lighting could be used for int r o out of a street, men will use this street l e s s

FOOTNOTES

duty of the neighbourhood to protect her 4th - Private street, in order to reach a house, you will never take this street, o n l y i f

24-CONSULT WITH JOUD A simple bench in front of the door where women can control the residential streets, i s o n e o f t h e m o s t s i m p l e b u t e ff e c t i v e o p e n

4/4/2012 A b out the residential grid, in which we want t o create open spaces for women

Creating a public garden next to a rental -

p u blic streets, like the spine and the loop, t u r e he wants to assure that, if the camp is e x p anding, there would be a connection with

A s this urban sprawl is not so stringent yet, Yo ud would rather focus on the more private F i r st of all, we need to give a

HIERARCHY

On women as a focus

in a neighbourhood can enhance their living

to

Wo m e n d o n o t u s e the main streets but pre -

On introducing parking space at the edge of a neighbourhood

J o u d would limit the entrance to a neigh -

W i l l t h i s b e s a f e e n o u g h ? Ag a i n h e r e t h e h i erarchy in the grid is important: the gradient

M a ybe we also should use stairs to mark the

Maybe, the parking needs to be located more inside the neighbourhood? But then Parking the car in front of the door is not only for safety reasons, also for preventing

A b out the introduction of a safe, lighted p a t hway, th rough the grid

Maybe we can create a kind of garage with a key for each owner?

We need to focus more on the mosques: p a t tern: on Friday, food is sold near the S o the use of the open space in the residen t i a l grid is depending on its location in the

General remark on public space The fact that we are willing to design open

We designed this pathway as a staircase b u t Joud thinks that this typology would

t h e A r a b w o r l d i s t o t a l l y d i ff e r e n t f r o m t h a t

n o t bad but it would not be the pathway we In Jordan, a plot will not be considered pri-

O n the proposed new shelter typologies with g a r dens for women

is a place where you can go for a picnic for This idea is a Islamic land-conCompare it with water: it can only be owned

I f a neighbourhoo d is safe/tight, women w o uld use an open space without it being A n outdoor kitchen for women is a good i d e a, but be conscious about the fact that t r a ditionally this place is a public place for

On the women platform

platform may not be the same as a public

Youd feels a bit difficult to put the wome n o n top, because there will come a moment t h a t these women need to take the stairs an d

For example at the sports field, men wil l be hanging around: they will try to creat e

need to soften the blurring space in front of

pathway, in some way, we will only mov e t h e

We m a d e s o m e g o o d i n t e r v e n t i o n s ; i t c o u l d

A solution can be that the stairs descen d into a closed square, which is supervise d

work as one campus, even if the sport field

square, the girls end up on a road that i s a normal and accepted place for boys a n d

Maybe the women-campus should have m o r e e n t r a n c e s , b e c a u s e o f i t s d i ff e r e n t

( We n e e d t o k n o w w h a t t h e h e i g h t o f t h e building at the other side of the street is, in order to be sure that will not be able to

On the other way: the intended women-

FOOTNOTES

a natural pl ace for women and men to m e e t

25-CONSCIOUSLY (NOT) ADAPTING TO THEIR HABITS Fro m: Ciel Su bject: news from Jordan Da te: 28/09/2012

De ar family

The camp is very traditional, as I have b e e n w r i t i n g a l r e a d y, b u t m o r e a n d more I start to get angry about the exag g e r a t e d s h e l t e r i n g t h a t w o m e n h a v e in public, no telephone in public, not lea v i n g t h e h o u s e a f t e r s u n s e t w i t h o u t companion, a T-shirt starts to be a prob l e m f o r o u r m o t h e r i n t h e c a m p ‌ I am always known to be combative in thi s r e s p e c t , b u t I w o u l d n e v e r h a v e

a nother way is a possible way, who is go i n g t o d o i t t h e n ?

n ormally could have laughed with it, but n o t o n t h i s s t r e e t , e s p e c i a l l y b e -

Cheers, Cie l

FOOTNOTES

beginning on, I wanted to be modest an d t o a d a p t t o t h e i r h a b i t s , b u t a f t e r

26-AL FENEIQ IN DEHEISHE CAMP IN WEST BANK AS A PROOF OF THE SENSE OF ARCHITECTURE IN THIS CONTEXT?

N A JI ODEH, DIRECTOR OF AL FENEIQ CENT ER

w e have created, it represents a collective cu l t u r a l p r o c e s s a b l e t o i n n o v a t e , b u t we succeeded also to create another cent e r i n A r o a b c a m p … a F e n e i q c o u ld be created also in Deir Aban, my village o f o r i g i n …

I k now that finally a Feneiq in my village woul d b e e v e n s t r o n g e r t h a n t h e F e neiq in Deheishe camp… I will leave Deheis h e C a m p t o t h e c i t y o f Be t h t h e summer nights… Bethlehem will remain th e p l a c e w h e r e I w i l l g a t h e r m y

t h a t will not only prepare the environment for t h e r e t u r n , b u t t h a t w i l l i n f l u -

“I insisted t hat I definitely wanted to see A l F e n e i q ( t h e P h o e n i x ) , a c u l t u r a l

Sandi explained that the Palestinian aut h o r i t y w a n t e d t o m a k e a p r i s o n h e r e on the top of the camp, but the resident s h a d r e s i s t e d i t a n d h a d f i n a l l y

Then she insisted we gather to make a t o u r w i t h t h e d i r e c t o r o f A l F e n e i q ,

Besides a big hall for all sort of events o n t h e g r o u n d f l o o r, i t h a d s e v e r a l

It had a fitness room with real parquet f l o o r ( j u s t l a i d a s w e c a m e , t h e y w e r e still polishing it), a theatre hall, a ballet r o o m , c l a s s r o o m s f o r a f t e r s c h o o l

really looked like a closed garden, an a r t i f i c i a l E d e n , a c l a u s t r u m f o r q u i e t it was something special: a real paradis e g a r d e n i n t h e a n t h r o p o l o g i c a l

Th e roof was one big terrace giving a pa n o r a m i c v i s t a o n t h e w h o l e o f Be t h co uld explain to visitors the whole situa t i o n , o r g i v e r e c e p t i o n s a n d g a t h e r tio ns: why all this, what was at stake for h i m i n t h i s p r o j e c t ?

of us were in prison for several years, I w a s i n p r i s o n , b u t w e h a v e t o g i v e

centre and by their power – and I think a l s o h i s p o w e r – t o c r e a t e t h i s o u t o f

FOOTNOTES

building there was a closed garden, for a l i t t l e m o n e y y o u c o u l d e n t e r i t ( o n e

27-WAITING FOR A PALESTINIAN FEEDBACK

D a t e:

Friday 29 June 2012 12:19:47

S u bject: (No Subject) D e ar all, I h ope your defense and presentations yester d a y w e n t w e l l - h o w d i d i t g o ?

n a t ion of the camp s o m ething that also unfortunatley led to killing t h r e e y o u t h w h o w e r e s h o t b y t h e a r m y A v ideo link A n other Video Link S o me please forg ive the absence of my comm e n t s - n o t h i n g o u t o f d i s i n t e r e s t , b u t b e c a u s e

best

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

D a t e: To :

Thursday 5 July 2012 21:52:15 ismael

H i Ismael, We were wondering if it would be possible to g e t s o m e c o m m e n t s f r o m y o u o n t h e t h e s e , b e c ause we are very curious what your opinion i s t o o u r w o r k : )

L o t s of greets, Te a m Jordan 2011-2012 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

D a t e: Monday 17 September 2012 S u bject: Th esis Comments

t h e new group of Belgian students in Husn cam p a n d I a m c u r i o u s a b o u t t h e i r r e s e a r c h a n d

sive, I admit that we made some mistak e s a n d I w o u l d a p p r o a c h t h i n g s d i ff e r e n t l y n o w, b u t still I hope that our design contains sub t l e n u a n c e s , p a r t i c u l a r f o r H u s n , t h a t c a n b e s e e n a s

Wish you all the best Cie l - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Da te:

Thursday 20 September 2012

I promise to do that soon, im in belgium actually, and will not be a b l e t o l o o k a t t h e m i n l e b a n o n t i l l i m b a c k t h e r e o n

but, anothe r way - is if you or the guys w a n t t o h a v e a c h a t i n f o r m a l l y a b o u t y o u r t h e s e s and sooner,

but overall, i think you guys did a great j o b , a n d i h o p e t h a t t h i s y e a r, t h e g r o u p p u t t h e

Be st

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Fro m: Marthe Theuns Da te: Th u, 25 Oct 2012

Hi Isma el,

Ma rtje - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOOTNOTES

Dear Ciel,

F r o m: D a t e:

Ciel Grommen Saturday 22 December 2012

We feel still concerned about the Palestinian p e o p l e a n d a r e t h i n k i n g a l o t a b o u t t h e c a m p s

A l l th e best, h a ppy christmas and happy new year (if you c e l e b r a t e t h i s ) Ciel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fro m: Lieven De Cauter Da te: Th ursday 28 February 2013 14: 3 7 : 2 6 To : Ciel Grommen ; Lotte Dietvorst Su bject: FW:Problems Cie l,

L ----- Orig inal Message ----On Th u, Jan 31, 2013 at 4:55 PM, Lieve n D e C a u t e r w r o t e :

But something came up during the m e a l i h a d w i t h t h e s t u d e n t s , c i e l g r o m m e n f r o m l a s t year was there too and said two importa n t t h i n g s

- That the people of the camp, with s o m e o f w h o m s h e s t i l l i s i n c o n t a c t , t h a t a l l t h e s e painting project was canceled too and t h e c a m p i m p r o v e m e n t p r o g r a m f i n i s h e d w i t h o u t m u c h

to assure a) continuity b) that somethin g h a p p e n s o n t h e g r o u n d , r e a l l y, e v e n i f w e h a v e t o

we should really discuss how to avoid to b e p a r t o f t h i s , f o r s e n d i n g s t u d e n t s t h e r e i s n i c e for them, but what does it bring the cam p i n h a b i t a n t s , r e a l l y ?

(Ple ase do take it as an honest repor t o f f e e d b a c k a n d n o t i n a n y s o r t o f w a y a s a n a t tack) Lieven _ _____________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Lieven De Cauter, Koninginnelaan 2 3 2 1 0 2 0 B r u s s e l + 3 2 2 4 2 8 4 7 4 1 / + 3 2 4 7 7 6 1 7 4 20

To : Lieven De Cauter Cc: Bru no De Meulder Se nt: Th ursday, January 31, 2013 6:14 P M Su bject: Re: problems Dear Bruno and Lieven,

FOOTNOTES

somehow, did you not send something t o b r u n b o a n d g u i d o ( o r e v e n m e ) ? ? ? ? T h e y a r e v e r y

I t s good to assess what impacts does the stud e n t r e s e a r c h h a v e o n t h e c a m p / p r o j e c t s a n d t o

f o r t unately a lot of projects never do get imple m e n t e d , a n d s o m e p e o p l e i n t h e c a m p w i l l b e

f a u lts - in the end of the day there is no proje c t l e a d e r, a n d a l t h o u g h o u r c o n t r i b u t i o n h e l p e d g u i de the local team, its no replacement to ha v i n g s t r o n g a n d c o n s i s t e n t l e a d e r s h i p o n t h e

s t u dents, and flying back and forth to Jordan i f i d i d n o t t h i n k i t w i l l a m o u n t t o s o m e t h i n g -

y e s , i did promise the students 3 months ago t o s e n d t h e m a n e l a b o r a t e f e e d b a c k o n t h e i r

A s to what to do with the Rashidieh group - i l e a v e i t u p t o y o u g u y s o v e r t h e r e a n d t h e s t u -

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Fro m: ismael Da te: Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:02:21 +0200 Su bject: Re: Thesis comments

Dear all,

I never found my original notes, so had t o w a i t u n t i l i c o u l d f i n d a d a y t o r e a d y o u r t h e s i s

General comments for both groups, and o n S e c t i o n 1 your thesis is very nice to read, and it i s c l e a r t h a t t h e r e i s a l o t o f h e a r t a n d d e d i c a t i o n i n conducting your field work and making r e a l r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h t h e p e o p l e y o u w o r k e d w i t h

Your first Book 1 ( a brief introduction) - i s c o n c i s e , t o t h e p o i n t a n d s e r v e s t h e g o a l t h a t i t

If i was to say something critical - it wo u l d b e t h e a b s e n c e o f a d e e p e r r e a d i n g o n t h e C a m p is th e engine of the entire project, and w h a t e v e r r e s e a r c h , d e s i g n a n d k n o w l e d g e i s p r o re ading of how it can (and cannot functi o n ) , c o u l d h a v e f u r t h e r s t r e n g t h e n e d y o u r u n d e r -

A next level for these kind of researche s , i s t o r e a l l y s t r a t e g i s e t h e d i ff e r e n t a g e n t s t h a t a re best to implement/adopt different pr o j e c t s - a n d t o i n c o r p o r a t e i t i n y o u r d e s i g n s t r a t e -

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Your comparing of traditional islamic fab r i c s w i t h t h e g r i d i s i m p o r t a n t , a n d i t s g r e a t t o s e e

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As fie ldworkers and interns - i have alrea d y t o l d y o u t h a t y o u h a d l e f t a n e x c e l l e n t i m p r e s -

c a l ly, i think there is some good design around t h e b u s s t a t i o n n o d e / i n t e r s e c t i o n - a n d a l s o

s p a tially, all your interventions in the border a r e i n t e r e s t i n g a n d s e n s i t i v e , a n d b a s e d o n s o u nd analysis of the problem of homogenous s p a c e s , t h e n e e d f o r q u a l i t y, a n d c r e a t i n g t h e y would have been more powerful, and hav e e v o l v e d m o r e - i f t h e y w e r e t i e d t o s t r a t e g i e s o f production - such as urban agriculture or fi n d i n g c e r t a i n f u n c t i o n s t h a t i s a b s e n t i n t h e b i g ger region that could start a new role of Hu s n a s a p l a c e t h a t c a n a t t r a c t o u t s i d e r s i n t o

t h e first part, really has a very nice systemati c s t r u c t u r e a n d s y s t e m t o i t , a n d t h e w a y y o u t e l l th e story is very engaging

I t h ink whenever you have greening strategies i n a p l a c e l i k e t a l b i e h , y o u h a v e t o s h o w s o mething about water collection strategies, a n d t o i n c o r p o r a t e t h e p r o p o s e d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e

g i v en that you had done so much work on the u r b a n f a b r i c a n d h o u s i n g t y p o l o g y, i t s a p i t y t e r i al to do that :) but i understand how you w e r e p u s h e d t o t h e l a r g e r s c a l e s i n r e l a t i o n t o

g i v en the fact that you had not researched tha t l a r g e r s c a l e w h e n y o u w e r e i n j o r d a n a n d

t h e intervention you are suggesting really doe s p o i n t t o t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s t h a t c a n c o m e w i t h

u n f ortunately, there is also a limitation to wha t a r c h i t e c t u r e a s a d i s c i p l i n e a n d U N RWA a s

a n d the future in relation to Palestine ; which f o r m e r e a l l y r e f l e c t s h o w w e l l y o u u n d e r s t o o d

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if some of you decide to do a phd and a r e i n t h e f i n a l 2 m o n t h s o f y o u r d e a d l i n e - m a y b e y o u will understand :)

and maybe there is another intersection w i t h p a l e s t i n i a n c a m p s a n d p a l e s t i n e i n t h e f u t u r e

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FOOTNOTES

28-WORKSHOP PROGRAM IN LEUVEN ON GAZA CAMP

I s t arte d writing letters

w r i tten by Marthe Theuns, Lotte Dietvorst or C i e l

I t was not possible to find all the copyright ho l d e r o f -

M a ny thanks to J e f Boven, A l e xandra Va nreusel, D e nise Bertchi, p a pa T h ank you B a r a Wa sh, Z a karia Khalil, G u i do Geenen, L i e ven De Cauter U r i el Orlow, Q u i nn Latimer, C h arlotte Laubard, A n gie Keefer

The Palestinians answered by