An Assessment of the Informal Settlements of Palestinian Refugee Camps in Amman Urban Pattern

Abstract

Palestinian refugee camps were established as a "temporary solution" following the 1948 and 1967 wars displacing more than 700,000 Palestinians, a status that has been ongoing for seventy years and three generations. These conditions led to a transformation of temporary camps into an urban sprawl of informal settlements embedded within the city context. The housing conditions of these camps face physical, environmental, social, and health-related challenges. The study analyzes the camp-built environment based on multidimensional indicators and explores the possible rehabilitation strategies. The paper adopts a case-study method to assess the physical conditions of these settlements through an analysis of two of the oldest and biggest camps located in the centre of Amman; Jabal Al-Hussein camp and Al-Wehdat (Amman new camp). The study establishes an assessment model to evaluate the current situation and explores urban strategies that can be implemented to upgrade these settlements.