The impact of Covid-19 encampment mechanisms on Syrian refugees’ mobilities and vulnerabilities in Lebanon.
Project overview:
This project (funded by UCL/BSP) aims to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the perception and vulnerabilities of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, particularly those living in informal tented settlements (ITS); it also assesses the wider impact of mobility restrictions, enforced by local municipalities, on their ability to cope (access to food, informal jobs, health services etc.).
Starting date: March 2020 (ongoing)
Four objectives are addressed:
O1: Identify the range of encampment and lockdown mechanisms implemented under the Covid-19 health narrative and targeting Syrian refugees;
O2: Assess the extent to which the pandemic impacted the perception of refugees;
O3: evaluate how encampment measures have impacted refugees’ mobilities and vulnerabilities;
O4: draw recommendations for future pandemic outbreaks, and general disease transmission, specifically targeting INGOs prevention, containment and treatment strategies.
This project builds upon Paul Moawad's (co-investigator) ongoing doctoral research.
Photo credit (banner and above): Paul Moawad
This project (funded by UCL/BSP) aims to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the perception and vulnerabilities of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, particularly those living in informal tented settlements (ITS); it also assesses the wider impact of mobility restrictions, enforced by local municipalities, on their ability to cope (access to food, informal jobs, health services etc.).
Starting date: March 2020 (ongoing)
Four objectives are addressed:
O1: Identify the range of encampment and lockdown mechanisms implemented under the Covid-19 health narrative and targeting Syrian refugees;
O2: Assess the extent to which the pandemic impacted the perception of refugees;
O3: evaluate how encampment measures have impacted refugees’ mobilities and vulnerabilities;
O4: draw recommendations for future pandemic outbreaks, and general disease transmission, specifically targeting INGOs prevention, containment and treatment strategies.
This project builds upon Paul Moawad's (co-investigator) ongoing doctoral research.
Photo credit (banner and above): Paul Moawad
Team
Principal Investigator : Lauren Andres
Co-Investigator : Paul Moawad www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/planning/paul-moawad
Paul Moawad is an architect, an academician and a doctoral researcher with over 20 years of professional and academic experience. From 2000 to 2010, he practiced architecture in various firms in Connecticut and Washington D.C. He is an award-winning architect (IIDA, AIA awards) with extensive experience in mixed-use developments, corporate workplaces, educational facilities, libraries and public places. From 2004 to 2006, he taught urban development courses at Columbia University and design courses at the Corcoran Art & Design School and has been since 2010 teaching and coordinating architecture and urban design studios at Notre Dame university, Lebanon. He served as a guest critic to academic senior projects at local universities and has been invited to lecture in seminar courses at UCL. His research interests focus on contested public spaces, informal settlements, mobility, migration and refugees’ transience and temporariness.
Paul is also founder of the BeBeirut Architects initiative launched to serve the affected victims in the aftermath of the Beirut blast that took place on August 4th, 2020. The team is composed of over 40 architects offering pro bono architectural services and project management to damaged residences of the elderly and most vulnerable community members. https://www.instagram.com/bebeirutarchitects/
Principal Investigator : Lauren Andres
Co-Investigator : Paul Moawad www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/planning/paul-moawad
Paul Moawad is an architect, an academician and a doctoral researcher with over 20 years of professional and academic experience. From 2000 to 2010, he practiced architecture in various firms in Connecticut and Washington D.C. He is an award-winning architect (IIDA, AIA awards) with extensive experience in mixed-use developments, corporate workplaces, educational facilities, libraries and public places. From 2004 to 2006, he taught urban development courses at Columbia University and design courses at the Corcoran Art & Design School and has been since 2010 teaching and coordinating architecture and urban design studios at Notre Dame university, Lebanon. He served as a guest critic to academic senior projects at local universities and has been invited to lecture in seminar courses at UCL. His research interests focus on contested public spaces, informal settlements, mobility, migration and refugees’ transience and temporariness.
Paul is also founder of the BeBeirut Architects initiative launched to serve the affected victims in the aftermath of the Beirut blast that took place on August 4th, 2020. The team is composed of over 40 architects offering pro bono architectural services and project management to damaged residences of the elderly and most vulnerable community members. https://www.instagram.com/bebeirutarchitects/
Outputs:
MOAWAD, P. & ANDRES, L., 2020, Decoding Syrian Refugees’ Covid-19 Vulnerability in Informal Tented Settlements: a Community/Refugee-Led Approach to Mitigate a Pandemic Outbreak, 2020, Town Planning Review. Available from:
s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cp-cloudpublish-public/p6/5f92d2ca010bb.pdf
MOAWAD, P. & ANDRES, L., 2020, Tackling COVID-19 in informal tented settlements (Lebanon): an assessment of preparedness and response plans and their impact on the health vulnerabilities of Syrian refugees, Journal of Migration and Health, Available from:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2020.100011
MOAWAD, P. & ANDRES, L., 2021, The Impact of Covid-19 in Lebanon: Contextuality, Cultural Practices and Spatial Implications, in BRYSON, J., ANDRES, L., ERSOY, A., REARDON, L. Living with Pandemics: Places, People, Policy and Rapid Mitigation and Adaptation to Covid-19, Edward Elgar (commissioned)
MOAWAD, P. & ANDRES, L., 2020, Decoding Syrian Refugees’ Covid-19 Vulnerability in Informal Tented Settlements: a Community/Refugee-Led Approach to Mitigate a Pandemic Outbreak, 2020, Town Planning Review. Available from:
s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cp-cloudpublish-public/p6/5f92d2ca010bb.pdf
MOAWAD, P. & ANDRES, L., 2020, Tackling COVID-19 in informal tented settlements (Lebanon): an assessment of preparedness and response plans and their impact on the health vulnerabilities of Syrian refugees, Journal of Migration and Health, Available from:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2020.100011
MOAWAD, P. & ANDRES, L., 2021, The Impact of Covid-19 in Lebanon: Contextuality, Cultural Practices and Spatial Implications, in BRYSON, J., ANDRES, L., ERSOY, A., REARDON, L. Living with Pandemics: Places, People, Policy and Rapid Mitigation and Adaptation to Covid-19, Edward Elgar (commissioned)
Photo credit: Paul Moawad