An Improvised Dispositif: Invisible Urban Planning in the Refugee Camp

in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (2020), 44(2), 349-365

How does a refugee camp urbanize? Up to now, camps have been considered as either urban assemblages made by dwellers’ improvised tactics or spaces governed by disjointed urban planning policies. I ... [more ▼]

How does a refugee camp urbanize? Up to now, camps have been considered as either urban assemblages made by dwellers’ improvised tactics or spaces governed by disjointed urban planning policies. I demonstrate that there is another side to the urbanism of the refugee camp. A form of coherent institutional urban planning exists as well. It takes the shape of an improvised dispositif (apparatus). One of its main effects is to render the very process of urban planning invisible. I investigate this type of urbanism on the basis of fieldwork conducted in the Al‐Hussein Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. I argue that this improvised dispositif of urban planning—of which state and non‐state institutions are part—is the result of a balancing act that ensures the temporary character of the camp, while allowing the implementation of a form of urban development that leads toward a material homogenization between the camp and the surrounding urban space. It does this by rendering its own processes invisible and being officially referred to as ‘improvement’. By emphasizing the key features of heterogeneity, invention and provisionality, I explain that the notion of a dispositif, coined by Foucault (1980), allows us to examine how institutions improvise away from more conventional urban planning. My analysis also complements Jeffrey's examination (2013) of institutional improvisation in the production of space, by showing that improvisation can be a form of strategic elaboration. [less ▲]

Borders and the mobility of migrants in the EU and Turkey

E-print/Working paper (2019)

This comparative report investigates the ways in which the mobility of applicants for international protection, beneficiaries of international protection and irregular migrants intersect with the borders ... [more ▼]

This comparative report investigates the ways in which the mobility of applicants for international protection, beneficiaries of international protection and irregular migrants intersect with the borders encountered during their trajectories before, during and after their arrival in six EU countries (Greece, Hungary, Germany, Luxembourg, France and Spain) and Turkey. After defining the concept of borders, this study contextualises the securitisation of EU external and internal borders, and it provides some background information on the CEAS and the Dublin Regulation, which are central to this research. Moreover, it engages with the legislative framework in place in the field of asylum in the seven countries on which this report draws. Based on qualitative interviews with a total of 96 asylum seekers, refugees and irregular migrants, as well as 94 state and non-state actors and ethnographic observation, the empirical part of the study explored the following aspects: experiences and conceptualisations of borders; mobility patterns and trajectories; the interplay between the Schengen zone and the Dublin system; the shortcomings of CEAS; as well as policies and experiences in the fields of housing and employment. The main finding of this comparative report is that while territorial borders cannot always impede human mobility, they are recreated within countries as administrative borders, which can encourage secondary movements. [less ▲]

Borders and the mobility of migrants in France

E-print/Working paper (2019)

This country report investigates the ways in which the border as a site of control interferes with asylum seekers’ and refugees’ mobility trajectories before, upon and after arrival in France. The ... [more ▼]

This country report investigates the ways in which the border as a site of control interferes with asylum seekers’ and refugees’ mobility trajectories before, upon and after arrival in France. The interplay between borders and mobility plays a key role in the Common European Asylum System, the Schengen area and the Dublin regulation, which all have been affected by the 2015 so-called migration crisis. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with thirteen migrants and ten institutional actors in the city of Metz, the overarching finding indicates that migrants’ movements evolve from geographical trajectories in order to reach a country of destination, to administrative trajectories, in order to become regularised in the host country. Furthermore, while physical borders have interfered with some informants’ migratory journeys, they have done so only by changing their trajectories, and, at times, the initial country of destination. Thus, they did not deter the migrants from reaching a safe country of destination. Once in Metz, the migrants become subject to administrative borders performed by state agents, such as the Préfecture and the French Agency for Immigration and Integration (OFII), as well as by private actors from the employment market. [less ▲]

Asylum seekers and refugees’ lived experiences of borders and (im)mobility. The Case of Luxembourg

Scientific Conference (2019)

The mobility of people influences the (re)creation of borders through bordering practices. Conversely, borders and bordering practices affect the management of mobility and thus peoples’ migratory ... [more ▼]

The mobility of people influences the (re)creation of borders through bordering practices. Conversely, borders and bordering practices affect the management of mobility and thus peoples’ migratory trajectories. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with refugees conducted for the H2020 project CEASEVAL, this paper explores the ways in which borders at various levels (spatial, legal, economic and social) influence migrants’ mobility before, during and after arrival in Luxembourg. As such, by focusing on the interrelations between border studies and mobility studies, it brings together two fields which have rarely been studied together, particularly when focused on refugees. This is of particular interest both empirically (given the multiple flows of people arriving in Luxembourg) and conceptually (as bordering practices relate to both practices of mobility and border making, as well as border crossing, from an institutional and experiential perspective). With 2,322 asylum applications in 2017, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is home to one asylum application per 254 people. This is far more that the EU-28 average, which is one application for every 787 people. Despite this, academic research depicting the everyday experiences of refugees in Luxembourg is lacking. This paper will first provide an overview of the Luxembourgish context with regards to asylum seekers and refugees. It will then analyse how bordering practices are experienced when carried out by traditional actors such as border agents. Lastly, it will shed light on the participants’ everyday experiences of borders by (non) traditional actors, such as ‘citizens’ and housing/labour market agents. It seeks to explore the ways in which the Luxembourgish politics of belonging influence the respondents’ feelings of belonging, which can further affect their (im)mobilities. [less ▲]

The Politics of Temporariness and the Materiality of Refugee Camps

in Meeus, Bruno; Arnaut, Karel; van Heur, Bas (Eds.) Arrival Infrastructures: Migration and Urban Social Mobilities (2018)

The aim in this chapter is to analyze the temporality of arrival in refugee camps. The prolonged stay of refugees in a number of camps calls into question the widespread notion that refugees’ arrival is ... [more ▼]

The aim in this chapter is to analyze the temporality of arrival in refugee camps. The prolonged stay of refugees in a number of camps calls into question the widespread notion that refugees’ arrival is bounded in time. It is argued that in many camps, arrival does not end, but evolves in varied forms within the framework of a “lasting temporariness.” Drawing from the case of the Al-Hussein Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, the chapter shows that the alternative ways in which “arrival” may be understood are induced by shifting meanings of temporariness; in the camp, it is a field of political struggle in which multiple actors—such as residents, state authorities, international organizations, landowners, and political movements—are involved. Furthermore, conceptions of temporariness impact on, and can be read from, the material interventions which take place in the built environment of camps. [less ▲]

Luxembourgish implementation of the Common European Asylum System: Insights from a small-scale country

Scientific Conference (2018)

Within the so-called migration crisis, the focus of media and research has been mainly on Mediterranean countries, which were the first impacted by the arrival of refugees, as well as big recipients of ... [more ▼]

Within the so-called migration crisis, the focus of media and research has been mainly on Mediterranean countries, which were the first impacted by the arrival of refugees, as well as big recipients of asylum seekers such as Germany. Less attention has been directed toward small-scale countries such as Luxembourg, where the number of registered refugees arriving has more than doubled in 2015 and 2016 compared to 2014. In 2016, Luxembourg had 3582 registered first time applicants, which represents one of the highest numbers relative to its population in the European Union. Against this background, this presentation will focus on how Luxembourg has dealt with the implementation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and the ways in which it has been affected by the so-called migration crisis. This paper will particularly focus on the question of reception of asylum seekers and refugees. Given the large number of applicants relative to the small size of the country, and the limited number of administrative levels, how was reception implemented, and what are the lesson to be learned? It will do so by mapping the main actors involved in the refugee scene. It will then move on to the contextualization of the reception of refugees in the housing and employment market. Finally, it will critically examine the stakeholders’ involvement in order to find the gaps in the asylum seeker/refugee reception. [less ▲]

The refugee camp as a space of multiple ambiguities and subjectivities

in Political Geography (2017), 60

Analyses of refugee camps have criticised Agamben's conceptualisation of exception, understood as the juridical production of ‘bare life’ by the sovereign. They have emphasised the multiplicity of actors ... [more ▼]

Analyses of refugee camps have criticised Agamben's conceptualisation of exception, understood as the juridical production of ‘bare life’ by the sovereign. They have emphasised the multiplicity of actors and exclusionary dynamics involved in the production of exception, as well as the politicisation of space. This scholarship has however stayed framed around an ‘exclusionary paradigm’. This article proposes a complementary way to move beyond Agamben's analysis of the camp by reconsidering the idea of a ‘zone of indistinction’ between exclusion and inclusion. It refers to Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, where many dwellers have a dual status of ‘refugee-citizen’. It analyses how the subject and citizenship are ambiguously constructed as simultaneously excluded and included – and not solely included through an exclusion. To explore these complex spatial dynamics of exclusion and inclusion, the analysis addresses the exercise of three forms of power – sovereignty, discipline and government – by focusing on the materiality of the camp and the practices of authorities managing space. These powers are ambiguously contributing to the inclusion of the camp and its dwellers in the territory of the Jordanian state, as well as in the neoliberal city of Amman, while maintaining the character of the camp as an excluded humanitarian and temporary space. Through this process, camp dwellers are recast not only as assisted subjects and beneficiaries, but also as autonomous and productive subjects, as well as entrepreneurs and consumers. This article therefore argues that the camp needs to be re-considered as a space of multiple ambiguities and subjectivities aimed at creating a differentiation in the city. [less ▲]

Les camps de réfugiés palestiniens au Proche-Orient: un provisoire qui dure

Book published by BSN press (2016)

Ce volume s’inscrit à la suite de plusieurs publications récentes de réflexions collectives qui ont traité, en totalité ou en partie, des réfugiés palestiniens au Proche-Orient, en abordant également la ... [more ▼]

Ce volume s’inscrit à la suite de plusieurs publications récentes de réflexions collectives qui ont traité, en totalité ou en partie, des réfugiés palestiniens au Proche-Orient, en abordant également la question des camps. Nous proposons ainsi de poursuivre les débats, en réfléchissant explicitement à la question du temporaire qui se prolonge, et qui a tendance à se normaliser, et sur ses différents impacts politiques, socioéconomiques et urbains affectant les camps et les réfugiés palestiniens au cours de la période récente. Les articles de ce volume vont ainsi aborder plusieurs thèmes essentiels à cette compréhension : la cristallisation du provisoire dans les camps, et de ses effets, les questions de l’organisation politique et de la gouvernance dans les camps, du développement urbain, de l’habitat et des conditions de vie dans les camps et leurs alentours. Au final, les articles mettent en évidence que « le provisoire qui dure » ne fait pas des camps de réfugiés palestiniens au Proche-Orient des espaces d’exception figés, que ce soit au niveau de leur gouvernance ou organisation politique, de leurs caractéristiques urbaines, démographiques et socioéconomiques, ou encore au niveau de l’engagement politique de leurs habitants. [less ▲]

Le gouvernement des camps palestiniens en Jordanie à la croisée de différentes rationalités

in Bennafla, Karine (Ed.) Acteurs et pouvoirs dans les villes du Maghreb et du Moyen-Orient (2015)

L’amélioration des conditions de vie dans les camps de réfugiés palestiniens à Amman ou la dé-théâtralisation de l’urbanisme jordanien

in Articulo (2015), (Special issue 7),

By analysing urban development in Palestinian refugee camps in Amman, this article highlights the heterogeneity of urban planning strategies and discourses that exist in Jordan. Despite the fact that some ... [more ▼]

By analysing urban development in Palestinian refugee camps in Amman, this article highlights the heterogeneity of urban planning strategies and discourses that exist in Jordan. Despite the fact that some camps have been established more than 60 years ago, the official discourse of institutions in charge of these spaces emphasises above all their temporary character. This claim appears at first sight inconsistent with the principles of urban planning. The aim of the latter is to plan long term spaces which will last in the future. Nevertheless, my argument is that even in a situation where officially urban development does not exist, some form of “humanitarian” urban planning has taken place. It was driven by the invention of a discourse revolving around the improvement of living conditions. There, the transformation of the habitat of Palestinian refugees was “unstaged” compared to the “staging” of the dominant Jordanian urban planning aimed at neoliberal restructuring of central and western areas in Amman. The urban planning of camps is nonetheless not completely disconnected from this process. Nevertheless, the storytelling associated with their planning has neutralised the debate about it by limiting its scope to only technical and humanitarian dimensions. This “unstaging” of the urban narrative represents an ingenious compromise that was necessary to maintain the features of the camps –half-neighbourhoods, half-temporary places– while allowing a form of development and integration of these spaces in the modern and neoliberal city of Amman. [less ▲]