User’s Cultural Specific Spatial Needs in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Shelter constitutes one of the primary needs of displaced persons who seek refuge because of natural and human orchestrated crisis in which their initial shelters have been destroyed. Accordingly, different actors such as NGOs, internationals organizations and Governments of different nations actively sought to provide shelter for the displaced persons. Due to the rise in terrorism since 2012 in Nigeria, there has been a dire need of shelter provision for internally displaced persons, with the focus of these institutions being mostly on the decision for these shelters to either be temporary or permanent. However, little study exists in the understanding of cultural specific spatial needs of the internally displaced persons. This research thus qualitatively understudied the perception of internally displaced person about their shelter in Abuja Nigeria. In carrying out the research, three camps were purposively selected using interviews and participant observations as instruments for data collection. The content analysis of the data shows the emergence of unique spatial architectural character of the culture sensitive residents of the internally displaced person’s (IDP) camps. Most importantly is that the findings have implications in the planning of refugee camps, especially the accommodative facilities for these campers which aligns more to the communal system of living as opposed to individualistic spaces that are generally obtainable in IDP camps