Refugee camps enacting agency: The case of Al Nasr refugee camp, Amman, Jordan

Abstract

Today's realm of urban studies and planning is heavily marked by a dividing paradox. While substantial rapid urbanization is happening extensively in the global south, the urban planning theories implemented remain extensively entrenched in the developed world, constantly repeating the reprehensible narrative of “underdeveloped” nations' following the footsteps of the “developed” nations' urban growth management strategies. One counter-response to reject such a dichotomy is to ask what we, scholars, practitioners, and urban planners, can learn from the existing urban growth models and policy approaches in developing nations. (AlSayyad & Roy, 2004, Sanyal, 1990). This paper traces such a route by delving deeper into a pivotal theme of third world urban research: informal refugee camps and how their urbanization processes construct and contribute to enacting agency. By deploying an interview-based grounded theory approach, this study analyzes the unique informality of refugee camps as a mode of metropolitan urbanization rather than as the binary “other” to the formal sector (Connolly and Wigle, 2017, Roy, 2005) and interrogates governments' role in defining the parameters of informality (Azuela, 1978). This paper revolutionizes the urbanization theory by arguing that refugee camps are an intrinsic organic component of metropolitan urbanization that proclaims agency. Given the global scale of displacement and the prevalence of refugee camps, the study not only contributes to the theoretical landscape by shifting the narrative from viewing refugee camps merely as crises to recognizing them as powerful governance nodes but also holds practical implications for policymakers, urban planners, and humanitarian organizations working in refugee settings. Through investigating the case study of Al Nasr refugee camp in Amman, Jordan, and interviewing 15 refugees accompanied with walk-photography and video footage of the camp, the study investigates the informal urban character beyond the existent pejorative connotations. It explains how the camp activates urbanization and contributes to Amman and Jordan's broader economic and social dynamics. Through exploring themes of governance, authority, and citizenship participation, this monograph articulates the urban dichotomies presented in the camp. It reconfigures notions of territoriality and physicality, considering the inter-spatial and intra-spatial informal ambiguity it entails.