Refugee Camps, the Built Environment, and Third Space Theory
Joseph Keating - MA by Research in Art & Design
Joseph Keating has a background in construction and civil engineering and is a registered architect (RA) in New York since 1999. Graduating with a BA (Hon.) Fine Art in 2014 is now a candidate for a research MA in fine art at CCAD/CIT.
This research addresses specific architectural and built environment in contemporary refugee settlements and intends to use as its case studies, long term refugee camps, one in the West Bank/Palestine and one in Jordan.
This research is a response to the chronic Middle Eastern refugee crisis, and specifically, on medium to long term, established refugee shelters, settlements, associated border areas and their inhabitants.
The research will examine cultural evolution within and about these specific built environments, and whether this cultural response is consistent with Edward Soja’s (et al, [Soja,1996]) Third Space Theory; ‘an-Other’ way of understanding and acting to change the spatiality of human life, a distinct mode of critical spatial awareness’ [Soja,1996]
Using the built environment, its architecture, as the lens and means of investigation; the research will be examined and tested through a visual art practice, supported by contextual materials, and is theoretical underpinned by a written thesis.
