Fostering Intercultural Collaborative Encounters. A study of the role design can play in refugees’ integration processes towards social cohesion

Masterarbeit, Department of Architecture, Facility Management and Geoinformation, 94 Seiten, engl.

Summary:

The research Fostering Intercultural Collaborative Encounters: A study of the role design can play in refugees’ integration processes towards social cohesion, emerged from the interest on the issue of cultural integration of refugees, and the identification of frictions and tensions hindering the process of integration in a very fundamental basis: the everyday life context. Therefore, this study represents a reflection around the possible contributions that designers and design-based projects can make in the multiple transitions phases that integration of immigrants and refugees represent in the everyday life dimension. From the establishment of the vision of integration towards social cohesion, the research explores its points of convergence with the design realm to approach and analyze relevant case-studies. By defining the way in which some design actions are providing fundamental elements (like makingtogether, familiarity, translation, and mediation), it was recognized how design is taking part in different stages of a trajectory in which intercultural collectivities are being configured. Hence, the research defines how design is playing a role not just in integration processes, but towards the strengthening of more cohesive, diverse and plural communities, by enhancing the generation and development of intercultural collaborative encounters.