Symposium 002: What Makes a Place Refugee-Ready?

Abstract

The second annual Agora symposium has again sought out a timely and controversial issue for planners to explore. Investigating a large-scale crisis, such as the current Syrian refugee crisis, disrupts a planner’s day-to-day thinking to reflect on the planning profession’s connection to a seemingly distant planning problem. It is unsurprising that when asked the thought-provoking question, “What makes a place refugee-ready?”, planning student’s’ responses were multifaceted. Citing both domestic and international cases, the authors consider influential policy reforms, spatial analysis, comprehensive transportation plans, and innovative architecture and design to inform their answers. It is the variety of responses that expose the true complexity of this crisis. Yet all of the articles reveal that despite historical precedent, we were not prepared for this humanitarian crisis.