Literature in Human Geography has given much attention to “encounters” and their impact on negotiating difference in everyday life. These studies, however, have focused solely on cities, while “other” spaces like refugee camps have received little attention to date. In this paper, I highlight the significance of “encounters” in camps by exposing three main types: the “refugee-refugee,” the “refugee-humanitarian,” and the “refugee-more-than-human” encounters. Using empirical examples from Zaatari camp in Jordan, I show that the “refugee-refugee” encounters cannot be fully understood without taking refugees’ culture, background, and urban identities into consideration. I also explain how the “refugee-humanitarian” encounters result in new types of behaviors and might harden the boundaries between both groups. And lastly, I demonstrate how the “refugee-more-than-human” encounters can inform us about refugees’ unique experiences with shelters, space, and materiality. Building on the examples given for each type, this article suggests that “encounters” have the ability to generate knowledge and learnings, which contributes to shaping the space of the camp by either enforcing boundaries between different groups and/or by allowing new and hybrid spatialities to emerge. This not only confirms that “encounters” are an important entry point in understanding the socio-spatial and material composition of refugee camps, but also that further studies in this regard are direly needed. It also suggests that architects and planners need to allow for the “new” to emerge as a result of these encounters and, therefore, to enable flexibility and adaptability within camps’ design and planning.

中文翻译：

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难民营作为多重相遇和实现的场所

人文地理学的文学作品非常关注“相遇”及其对协商日常生活差异的影响。然而，这些研究只关注城市，而难民营等“其他”空间迄今为止很少受到关注。在本文中，我通过揭示三种主要类型：“难民-难民”、“难民-人道主义”和“难民-多于人类”的遭遇，强调了难民营中“遭遇”的重要性。使用约旦扎塔里难民营的经验例子，我表明如果不考虑难民的文化、背景和城市身份，就无法完全理解“难民-难民”的相遇。我还解释了“难民-人道主义”遭遇如何导致新的行为类型，并可能加强两个群体之间的界限。最后，我展示了“难民超过人类”的遭遇如何让我们了解难民在庇护所、空间和物质方面的独特经历。在为每种类型提供的示例的基础上，本文建议“相遇”具有产生知识和学习的能力，这有助于通过加强不同群体之间的界限和/或允许新的和混合的空间来塑造营地的空间出现。这不仅证实了“遭遇”是了解难民营社会空间和物质构成的重要切入点，而且迫切需要在这方面进行进一步的研究。它还表明，建筑师和规划师需要允许“新”因这些相遇而出现，因此，