The Emergency Shelter Process with Application to Case Studies in Macedonia and Afghanistan

This paper explores the processes involved in sheltering people in emergencies, when shelter is understood as a basic human need because without it an individual is extremely vulnerable. When people are asked to define the word ‘shelter’ they will normally describe an action such as ‘protection’, rather than an object such as a tent. But an object can exist as an autonomous entity until it is placed within a process involving a sequence within time of intentions, decisions and actions. A process demands of an object: “What is it exactly that you are doing?”