Refugee camps in Chad: planning strategies and the architect’s involvement in the humanitarian dilemma

Apart from all fundamental, life-saving functions in the context of conflicts and humanitarian catastrophes, refugee camps are performing a vital function in our globalized world. At a time, when humanitarian interventions are occurring more and more often, when local conflicts are inscribed into a global matrix of interests, refugee camps become the interface and access point for the activities of the developed world. Almost all knowledge that we possess on the Darfur conflict, comes from the refugee camps in the east of Chad, their counterparts on the other side of the boundary in Sudan, or the humanitarian organizations involved in those camps.