Eleventh International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

This paper presents lessons learnt from studying the planning and design decisions that housing providers (architects and donors) made when developing resettlement projects in Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami disaster and the displaced peoples’ assessment of such re-housing projects. Its purpose is to develop a sound theoretical understanding in the effective response to post-disaster resettlement that better serves communities’ needs. Most post-disaster resettlement projects reflect the ideals of providers (state, donors, and designers) rather than those of the affected. Such projects fail to provide the intended benefits for their residents. This indicates that the field of architecture is lacking integrated knowledge in post-disaster recovery planning and design. Following qualitative research approach and through literature review, interviews, observations, and document analysis, we studied five post-tsunami re-housing projects in Sri Lanka, by gathering the providers’ intentions in designing them and the residents’ feedback on their lived-experience. These data were analyzed to compare these two perspectives. Findings indicate four key lessons for sustainable resettlement designs: the need for residents’ involvement in the design process, the provision of physical and social support systems, the need for incremental growth of housing, and the use of appropriate building technology. These lessons are useful for future post-disaster reconstructions, especially in the less-affluent communities. Care should be taken though in the transfer of this knowledge, as diverse contextual factors may limit its direct application. Further work is also needed in managing the vast but disconnected extant knowledge on post-disaster recovery efforts around the world.