Housing processes in war-tom areas:

The chapter focuses on the housing processes of three families from one of the war-damaged villages in Lebanon, namely al-Burjain (the two towers ² ). It uses family case study method to examine, in-depth, their survival and shelter provision strategies. The stories of the three families give detailed insights emphasising issues of shelter, reconstruction and their inter-relationships with socio-economic conditions. All these are put in a human context by using some phraseologies and expressions of the families themselves. Additionally, the living picture given by the three families, convincingly questions the effectiveness of top-down approaches to housing provision after disasters. Despite the limitations of case study method, the discussion is extended to generate patterns and relations of theoretical importance, related to shelter provision in disaster prone areas.