FEBRIK
Play and the Urban Context Reem Charif, Mohamad Hafeda, joumana al Jabri
In 2003, Febrik’s team started working with children in Palestinian refugee camps in collaboration with local community institutions and UK based IF–[Untitled] architects.1 Through the use of a specific creative process the aim was to explore issues of refuge and identity with the children, in turn enhancing community participation and action within their immediate social and physical environment. The project began through a workshop in Burj El Barajne, a camp on the fringes of the densely populated city of Beirut, and continued through a series of workshops there and in 16
P L A Y R I G H T S • I P A W O R L D . O R G
other camps in Lebanon and later in Jordan. Through this process, Febrik developed a research methodology that revealed the formal and informal social practices of children and their families in the different refugee communities. While children in cities are accustomed to confined and defined play spaces, often labeled as ‘playgrounds,’ children in these camps use the entire expanse as their play space, establishing a hidden topography of play through their creative misuse of the architectural
