Refugee Republic: Cities of Tomorrow

"We have to get away from the concept that, because you have that status – migrant, refugee, martian, alien, whatever – you're not allowed to be like everybody else." Kilian Kleinschmidt

According to Kilian Kleinschmidt, a leading authority on humanitarian aid who has worked for the United Nations and the UN High Commission for Refugees for 25 years, governments should stop thinking about refugee camps as temporary places. A lack of willingness to recognise that camps have become a "permanent fixture around the world" and a failure to provide the infrastructure needed would lead to poor conditions that could otherwise be prevented leaving residents vulnerable to "crooks" (Dezeen).

"These are the cities of tomorrow. The average stay today in a camp is 17 years. That's a generation. In the Middle East, we were building camps: storage facilities for people. But the refugees were building a city." Kilian Kleinschmidt

Refugee Republic is a brilliant(!) interactive online documentary created by the agency Submarine Channel. It was awarded twice at the Dutch Design Awards last year. The online documentary uses photography, moving image, illustration, sound and text to give an insight into the daily lives of refugees in the Domiz Syrian refugee camp in northern Iraq, 60 kilometres from the Syrian border (Dezeen).

::: Start the journey here: Refugee Republic

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Image via Submarine Channel