Designing spaces with victims of humanitarian crisis: Action research on spaces for children at Rohingya camps in Bangladesh

Abstract

The victims of humanitarian crisis, due to series of constraints, usually need to evacuate from their native places and seek asylums in any safer location. The temporary accommodation of displaced population, identifying as refugee camps provide fragments of ‘bare life’, where children of the victim community rarely get opportunities to have an environment suitable for their physical and mental growth. This chapter studies the camps established in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh for temporarily accommodating Rohingya population who were forced to migrate from Myanmar. The child-friendly spaces developed as Humanitarian Play Labs (HPL)s within the camp areas provided the scope for exploring an interactive and community participatory design process for making the spaces culturally sensitive. The pilot process of current research identified three features which were added to existing HPLs: wall decoration (alpona), fabric-made drop ceiling (shamiyana) and bamboo platforms. It was identified that the playful, creative and engaging environments helped children better to manage their traumatic condition, caused by humanitarian crisis experiences. Moreover, retaining their identity through adding traditional features to HPLs was also identified as a crucial aspect of healing through tailored and creative activities and spaces.