Healthy housing for the Displaced

我们的愿景是通过一种工程化的住房解决方案来改变在极端条件下扎营的流离失所者的生活，这种解决方案促进了住房设计的新科学。该项目将对世界上最大的五个难民营进行研究。Zaatari和Azraq（约旦）、Kilis（土耳其）、Mae La（泰国）、Nyarugusu（坦桑尼亚）。这些城市的人口多达25万，因此在许多方面都是城市。它们的夏季温度> 35摄氏度，偶尔> 40摄氏度;在这些条件下，未隔热的住宅无法提供安全的条件。此外，这些地点可以有1600瓦/平方米的太阳辐射，进一步提高了住宅内的温度，在约旦的冬季温度为-10摄氏度。在泰国，高湿度可能在对居住者施加热压力方面具有同等重要性。此外，流离失所庇护所可能使用含有高比例VOC（如增塑剂和脱模剂）的聚合物材料，并且使用木材等燃料的烹饪设施通风不良，从而产生颗粒物。营地曾经被认为是一个短期的解决方案，在某些情况下仍然如此。然而，正如在地球仪的许多地方所看到的那样，营地往往持续数年或数十年（例如，1992年在肯尼亚开设了有34万人的达达布营地）。即使在发生自然灾害时，重建工作的拖延也可能导致流离失所者营地出现半永久性定居的情况。在紧急情况刚开始时的生存挑战很快就让位于对较长时间内住所是否合适的关切。这种基本住房妨碍了家庭生活、向年轻人提供教育以及发展社区凝聚力所需的社会关系。受创伤的人对安全感和隐私的需求往往也得不到满足。不幸的是，即使是目前提供庇护所的最先进技术也没有充分考虑建筑物的物理特性、热舒适性和空气质量。对社会文化问题也普遍缺乏关注。因此，例如，我们在约旦的试点研究通过社会调查显示，流离失所者对安全和隐私问题始终感到关切。鉴于可能可用的建筑材料、气候和文化的多样性，不会有单一的住房解决方案，而是需要一个系统的设计过程，该过程要认识到气候、景观、文化、可能需要的住宿时间长度、随着家庭规模变化的灵活性和便携性。该项目将通过与气候、文化条件和政治敏感性各不相同的四个国家的援助机构工作人员接触，创造一种新的住房设计科学，从而发展这样一种设计过程。这将涉及：1）在五个营地进行大规模的社会和室内环境调查; 2）在英国、气候室和约旦建造一系列潜在的设计; 3）为机构实地工作人员制作一个多语言、极端气候建筑物物理学基础上的、文化敏感的住房设计工具。

Our vision is to transform the lives of displaced people encamped in extreme conditions through an engineered solution to housing that promotes a new science of shelter design. The project will entail research in five of the world's largest refugee camps. Zaatari and Azraq (Jordan), Kilis (Turkey), Mae La (Thailand), Nyarugusu (Tanzania). These have populations of up to 250,000 and hence are in many ways cities. They have summer temperatures >35degC and occasionally >40degC; in these conditions un-insulated dwellings are unable to provide safe conditions. In addition, such locations can have 1600W/m2 of solar radiation, further raising the temperature inside a dwelling, and in the case of Jordan winter temperatures of -10degC. In Thailand the high humidity is likely to be of equal importance in placing thermal stress on occupants. In addition, displacement shelters can use polymeric materials which contain a high proportion of VOCs such as plasticisers and release agents, and have poorly ventilated cooking facilities using fuels such as wood, thereby generating particulates. Camps were once expected to be a short term solution, and this is still true in some settings. However, as witnessed in numerous locations around the globe, encampment often continues for years or decades (for example, the 340,000 strong Dadaab camp in Kenya opened in 1992). Even in natural disasters delays in rebuilding can lead to displacement camps taking on aspects of semi-permanent settlement. The challenges of survival in the immediate onset of an emergency quickly give way to concerns about the suitability of shelter over a longer timeframe. Such basic dwellings inhibit domestic life, educational delivery to the young, and development of the social relations needed for community cohesion. Often the need of traumatised people for a sense of security and privacy also goes unmet. Unfortunately, even the state of the art in current shelter provision does not adequately consider building physics, thermal comfort and air quality. There is also a general lack of attention to socio-cultural issues. Thus, for example, our pilot study in Jordan has revealed through social surveys a consistent concern amongst the displaced population with the issues of safety and privacy. Given the diversity of potentially available building materials, climates and cultures, there will be no single shelter solution, but rather a need for a systematic process of design that is cognisant of the climate, landscape, culture, length of time the accommodation might be needed, flexibility as family size changes and portability. This project will develop such a design process by creating a new science of shelter design through engagement with aid agency staff in four countries with diverse weather, cultural conditions and political sensitivities. This will involve 1) wide scale social and indoor environment surveys in five camps; 2) the construction of a series of potential designs in the UK, in a climate chamber and in Jordan; and 3) the production of a multi-language, extreme climate building physics-based, culturally sensitive, shelter design tool for agency field staff.