City Within A City: Refugee Architecture for Cultural Void of The Rohingya Children at Balukhali Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Abstract

Cox's Bazar is a popular tourist destination in southeastern Bangladesh and is also recognized worldwide for its long sandy beachfront. Year after year, the city welcomes millions of tourists from home and abroad. The existence of ancient temples and Buddhist monasteries from the Mughal era exemplify the city’s diverse religious culture. Since August 2017, after the sudden influx of 7,45,000 Rohingya refugees following the sanguinary ethnic violence of the Myanmar army, the city has been well known as the largest refugee camp in the world. The Rohingyas were forcefully displaced from the Arakan state of Myanmar, where they constituted a vulnerable ethnic Muslim minority. The Rohingya possess a rich cultural heritage, but after six years in displacement, their hope of returning to Myanmar remains bleak. The refugee population now exceeds 1.3 million, with 60% being children who have endured extreme atrocities and now live within the camp's barbed-wire confines. These children, who should be in the midst of their formative years, experience a profound cultural void due to the restricted conditions of the camp. This void not only destabilizes their psychological and emotional well-being but also deprives them of a normal childhood, contributing to the emergence of a "lost generation"—a generation marked by the loss of both (cultural) identity and childhood experiences. This research aims to explore how architectural interventions within the refugee camp could bridge the gap between the Rohingya children's ethnic culture and their current environment, potentially mitigating this cultural void. Using an ethnographic biography approach and engaging with adolescent children from the camp, the study has conducted an exhaustive qualitative investigation in the Balukahli Rohingya refugee camp. The research outcome reveals how refugee architecture plays a leading role in shaping the lives and identities of inhabitants under precarious ‘bare’ conditions.