Rebuilding after displacement: Identifying the needs of displaced communities from the perspective of the built environment

Abstract

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)'s submission on the inadequacies of policies imposed by certain international initiatives strongly confirms the need to focus on built environment programmes when rebuilding displaced communities. This chapter identifies the needs of internationally displaced communities in the United Kingdom (UK) within the past decade (2009-2019), in the context of the built environment. This will assist in their progress towards successful resettlement and integration. The chapter is based on the findings of qualitative analysis of interviews with experts working with the displaced in the UK. The interviewees were from different groups responsible for managing different aspects of the refugee experience. Research results reveal that the UK government's standards vary across the range of different categories of displaced persons. This creates a deprived group within the displaced communities with numerous needs. Some of these are built environment-related needs that should be met to enable successful integration into the UK.