Refugee camps are future cities
The growing number of refugees flooding into camps worldwide could drastically redraw urban areas, it has been claimed. Most camps are largely off-grid, with fires and solar panels the main source of heat and power. In America Republicans have blocked asylum to war-torn Syrians, but around the world hundreds of thousands are arriving in need of shelter.
The camps they are building will become the cities of tomorrow, it has been claimed. An expert in humanitarian made the statement as it’s revealed the average amount of time people spend in the camps is a staggering 17 YEARS.
Kilian Kleinschmidt worked with the United Nations High Commission for Refugee s (UNHCR) for 25 years.
The former head of the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Northern Jordan says: “In the Middle East, we were building camps: storage facilities for people. But the refugees were building a city.”
“I think we have reached the dead end almost where the humanitarian agencies cannot cope with the crisis,” he said.
“These are the cities of tomorrow,” he continued. “The average stay today in a camp is 17 years. That’s a generation. Let’s look at these places as cities.”
The 53-year-old’s comments come at the end of a year which will be remembered for its vast refugee numbers, and the seeming unwillingness of host countries to offer them help.
The Zaatari camp which Kilian oversaw has now swollen to provide accommodation for 160,000 Syrians.
As such, it’s identified as the Jordan’s fifth largest city, with 6,000 people a day arriving after fleeing war against Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in Syria.
The overcrowded 2.8 square mile camp costs £700,000 a day to run.
There are no trees or bushes to provide shade on sun-baked land which was previously snake and scorpion-infested scrubland.
But there are football pitches, field hospitals, schools and a children’s playground aimed at keeping some 60,000 youngsters busy.
Every day some 12 to 15 babies are born at Zaatari.
Now running his own aid consultancy, Switxboard, Kilian says that far from being resisted, migrants should be used to boost the economy.
He names Germany, with 600,000 job vacancies and a need for tens of thousands of new apartments, as a country where this could be put into practice.
ASYLUM POLICY
In the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris, anxiety is understandable, said Bill Canny, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Migration and Refugee Services. But governors and other politicians are not responding reasonably by calling for a “pause” or even the termination of efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States. Refugees being selected for U.S. resettlement, he said, “are certainly not a credible threat by any way, shape, or means.”
“The people who are fleeing ISIS are fleeing for the same reasons that anyone flees,” he said. “They’re being bombed. They’re not being allowed to …
![WELCOME to Martin Freney’s new home. [/caption]WELCOME to Martin Freney’s new home. It’s built from earth-filled tyres, bottles and straw barrels, uses solar power, rainwater and recycled sewage and just might be an indicator of the future of Australian housing.
The University of South Australia lecturer is adding the finishing touches to his fully sustainable home, one of the first of its kind in Australia.
The council-approved home runs off the grid of public utilities companies and uses no fossil fuels for power, instead harnessing solar energy and thermal ventilation principles to regulate inside temperature.
His Earthship, a 30-minute drive from Adelaide, has taken five years to build and aside from a few minor features has been constructed purely with the help of volunteers.
Mr Freney said he built the home to expose Australians to the Earthship concept, a house design invented in Germany.
“It’s a wonderful solution to many of our modern problems,” Mr Freney said. “Earthships are made only from natural or recycled materials and draw nothing from local water or power sources. They require no conventional heating but are comfortable in any weather. It could be minus 20 outside and you wouldn’t know.” Mr Freney’s home is designed for two people and includes all the features of a standard house, along with a hot tub and a walk-in wardrobe behind a dry mud wall infused with used bottles. Toilets are flushed with filtered sink, shower and bath water, which also irrigates food-producing plants in the home’s greenhouse.
Drinking water is collected off the roof, which channels rainwater into a cistern. Sewage water is sent to a septic tank for cleaning and later used to water the nearby landscape. Although electricity is derived from solar panels and stored in batteries, Mr Freney said little power was needed.
“The idea behind the tyre and earth walls is that they soak up heat during the day and radiate that heat at night. That’s how they stay so comfortable,” he said. Mr Freney’s home has inspired others to pursue similar projects across Australia.
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