Informal Settlements in the Syrian Conflict: Urban Planning as a Weapon

Abstract

Uprising and war in Syria have induced changes in urban policies towards informal settlements. Syrian urban policies in the 2000s set the issue of informal settlements as a priority item in the agenda. The reform of the legislative urban frameworks, designed with international assistance, and new master plans encouraged both their regularization / upgrading and their renewal (destruction / reconstruction). While competition between these models and objectives delayed decisions and program implementation in Damascus, the beginnings of the Arab Spring elsewhere in the region influenced the orientation of these policies, showing in which different ways urban planning can be used for strategic reasons. Initially, the Syrian uprising led to an inflexion of policies towards more social options for regularization. Subsequently, as it developed into an armed conflict, and with the escalation of physical destructions, the urban renewal option was favoured and overlapped military targets. In return, conflict, destruction and displacements have led to put all urban options back on the table for reconsideration, in the prospects of future reconstruction. This article discusses policies towards informal settlements in Syria before and during the uprising with a special focus on the case study of urban policies in the metropolitan area of Damascus.

Forging Peace in Damascus: On International Aid, Localized Elite Bargaining, and Insider Mediators

“…This contradicts prevalent and often normatively-driven accounts of Syria-specialist literature (e.g. Heydemann 2018, 11;Clerc 2014;Jamal and Kieke 2016;Salem 2017) and illuminates a localized approach towards influencing political settlements as a fruitful avenue for 'pragmatic peacebuilding' research and responses, particularly in urban spaces.…”

“…Because this also contains the ability to have and return to ' a home, free from the fear of eviction and a place that offers shelter, safety and the ability to secure a livelihood' (Leckie & Huggins, 2011: 2), HLP rights constitute an issue in every situation of conflict, destruction, displacement, conflict-resolution, reconstruction, and refugee return. 10 See, e.g., Clerc 2014;Jamal & Kieke 2016;Salem 2017;and Heydemann, 2018a: 11. 11 See, e.g.…”

Women’s health and well-being in low-income formal and informal neighbourhoods on the eve of the armed conflict in Aleppo

“…In a case of an informal settlement in the capital Damascus, the municipality ordered residents to evacuate their homes, promising them compensation, substitute housing and shares in what will become modern tower blocks that will replace their homes and businesses (Al-Sabouni 2016). We recommend that empirical research is undertaken to explore claims of the weaponisation of urban planning policies in the era post-conflict (Clerc 2014;Hanna 2018), and the impact on health and well-being of low-income marginalised communities in a way similar to the recent investigation by the Lancet-American University of Beirut Commission on Syria: Health in Conflict into the weaponisation of healthcare during the armed conflict (Fouad et al 2017).…”

“…Thus our study reaffirms the importance of including the voices of women in marginalised communities in informal and low-income urban neighbourhoods in post-conflict urban planning and policy. This is crucial with future urban renewal policy in Syria shifting from the upgrading of informal settlements to outright demolition and reconstruction, a shift that predates the conflict but has become even more politicised post-conflict (Clerc 2014 ; Wakely 2010 ). For example, Law 10 (enacted in April 2018) and its predecessor Decree (66), a Damascus-only urban reconstruction decree, draw regulatory master plans and mega projects to ‘formalise’ informal neighbourhoods (Hanna 2018 ).…”

“…As in other Syrian cities, the distinction between the physical environment of 'formal' and 'informal' neighbourhoods in Aleppo was not clear-cut (Clerc 2014). Many informal areas were served by some degree of public infrastructure (Goulden 2011;Hammal et al 2005;Lavinal 2008).…”