The Sustainability and Efficiency of Refugee Camp Design

Refugee camps worldwide are temporary places planned and designed with immediate and well-managed actions to achieve shelter for refugees that meet their basic human needs.Successful refugee camps` architecture should be sustainable in providing the shelters with energy and electricity and efficiently meeting the shelters` stability and quality.In this area of research, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the design factors that may promote the sustainability and efficiency of refugee camps.This research aims to define the design factors that promote design sustainability and efficiency and to estimate the extent of applying those factors in the Azaatari refugee camp in Al Mafraq City, Jordan.This qualitative research collected the data regarding factors that may promote design sustainability and efficiency from archival records and literature review and analyzed through content analysis.Data regarding Azaatari refugee camp design were collected through maps, images, and plans by site visits, observations, and non-governmental organizations` reports and were analyzed through spatial and descriptive analysis.This research found that the design factors that may promote the sustainability of refugee camps are urban design principles and sustainability techniques, and the design factors that may facilitate the efficiency of refugee camps are humanitarian considerations and the construction system.Any shortage or weakness in the sustainability or efficiency of the camp design may cause chaos, social problems, diseases, and crimes, threatening community stability and safety.Additionally, this research found that the extent of applying the sustainability and efficiency factors in the Azaatari camp design is very low.This research recommends adding more services to the Azaatari camp to be more walkable, redesigning the interior spaces of the units to be more efficient, and reconsidering the integration between indoor and outdoor spaces.This research calls for further research that integrates sustainability and efficiency factors for post-disaster shelters to improve life quality.