Human behavior and urban open spaces in hyper-dense areas : case study : Dheisheh Refugee Camp / Palestine

Abstract

Most of the world cities have hyperdense areas within its borders. Hyperdensity can appear in an informal settlement, in a slum area, in an old core, in a city center, or in a camp as in the case of Palestinian refugee camps. Hyperdensity conditions are capable to produce plenty of problems and questions related to the built up environment, quality of life, and people needs. This dissertation is based on exploring the combination between the physical form of urban open space and human behavior to investigate people's needs in urban open spaces of a hyperdense environment. The focus will be on Dheisheh refugee camp within Bethlehem city borders in the West Bank. The research is based on qualitative data (observations and Interviews) that help in understanding and analyzing the combination between physical form of Dheisheh camp open spaces and people's behavior there to determine their needs in urban open spaces. The main finding of the research shows that people needs in urban open spaces of Dheisheh are partially met by the physical form of urban open spaces. This means that some people's needs in Dheisheh urban open spaces are met but the others could not be met. Furthermore, the type of needs differs according to age group and gender. Key words: behavior, urban open spaces, needs, hyper-density, refugee camps, Dheisheh camp.