Spring 2024

Climate, Peace and Security in M’Bera Camp, Mauritania

Spatial Strategies for Climate Migration

In collaboration with International Organization of Migration (IOM) and UN Peace-building Fund

While often understood as “temporary” spaces created to meet imme- diate needs, refugee camps hold significance and meaning beyond crisis navigation, mitigation, and control. Since its formation in 1991, Maurita- nia’s M’Bera camp has evolved into a dynamic and complex ecosystem, a site of economic activity, and a home to a growing population center within Mauritania.

Through an interdisciplinary approach drawing from spatial analysis, critical geography, and postcolonial theory, this research seeks to identify and challenge the entrenched power im- balances inherent in the infrastructural development of refugee camps and provide opportunities for communi- ty-responsive and inclusive change within the M’Bera camp. This work un- derscores the importance of fostering a sense of ownership that transcends the temporality often associated with refugee camps. We will propose design strategies around the access to tools, spaces, and resources to empower the local community to actively shape their future through the environments they live in.

The project explores three potential scenarios around the future of mi- gration in Mauritania, and specifically within the M’Bera camp. While each scenario can be explored and imple- mented independently, together they create a more holistic understanding of choice and agency within migration across the Sahel.

Each scenario centers choice and agency within different scales and temporalities, recognizing that the state of migration includes lifestyles across the nomadic-to-sedentary spectrum, requiring migrants to en- gage with multiple choice-points. Mi- gration to and from Mauritania is not a one-size-fits-all journey; building a life at M’Bera can look different depending on a migrant’s communities’ needs and preferences.