Blueprint 200 Plan – Regenerative Refugee Settlement

Blueprint 200 Tamera will be a scalable model refugee settlement and educational demonstration site for 200 people, located in our visitor center. It will be a place where we can work and test detailed solutions for regenerative settlements with the Blueprint Alliance. Initially we decided to work on two concurrent projects – one in Tamera and the other in a post-disaster area in Pakistan. However, we realized that we wanted to focus our strategy first on one project, so we could formulate a solid foundation, apply it to our lives and turn it into an educational place for projects around the world. We’re presently in the planning stages of phase 2 and are working on funding proposals to continue the work.

Planning and Documentation

Up until the end of 2017, the project focused on planning, design and documentation. Two teams have been working on:

• Phase 2 of the plan, including:
  • formulating principles for the design of regenerative settlements
  • evaluating data from camp visits and interviewing experienced practitioners and workers of various disciplines within the humanitarian sector (inside and outside of the Blueprint Alliance) and asking them what is most needed, so that what we formulate is current
  • creating a design framework (based on a pattern language), which is informed by the research carried out during phase 1 and which continuously evolves through further feedback
  • creating a “Regenerative Continuum” – a road map to show the possible evolution of settlements from degenerative to sustainable to regenerative
  • developing a detailed design for the Blueprint 200 demonstration site in Tamera.
• A Living Manual, written during and after the design and construction process, detailing the principles of integrated regenerative design for designers, builders, engineers and managers of refugee camps and temporary settlements. Addressing the common problem of ecological destruction caused by temporary camps, the open-source manual can be used to construct more permanent settlements, and to encourage temporary camps to be designed in a way that they can be easily converted into permanent settlements. The Living Manual also serves as a guide so that people who can’t visit Tamera can access the research and reference materials, such as photos and detailed diagrams. We want to continuously develop the Living Manual so that it will gain more and more complexity and intelligence and respond to the changing situation of displaced people. By using it, people around the world will be able to add information and refine it – which makes it “alive.”