Civil Society and International Development Work

The Brief

Refugee integration isn’t just about access to housing, jobs, or language programs. It’s about something more fundamental: at what point does a place stop being “where I live” and start being “my home”?”

That’s a design problem. It’s a systems problem. And at its core, it’s a psychological ownership problem—the invisible but essential process through which people claim and shape their communities.

This study set out to map that process, using a research tool that captures how people develop ownership over ideas, objects, and—most critically—places. Because if we can understand how refugees come to feel like a community belongs to them, we can design policies, services, and interventions that don’t just place people in new environments but actually help them integrate, participate, and belong.

By applying a qualitative method we have developed to map psychological ownership over time, we aim to explore the factors that contribute to or hinder this sense of place. The research will combine interviews, workshops, and community engagement activities to capture the lived experiences of refugees during their settlement journey. We will examine key moments of transition, such as accessing services, participating in community events, or forming connections and improving qualifications. The findings will inform the design of interventions that support integration and empower refugees to actively shape their communities. Our aim is to contribute to a better understanding of community design to foster social cohesion and belonging for all members. Importantly, this lens of ownership builds a two-way relationship in which belonging may occur as well as reciprocal action such as increased participation, civic engagement, volunteerism and more.

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Psychological ownership is the feeling that something is mine. Researchers have studied it in organizations, consumer behavior, and digital environments, but its role in refugee integration is largely unexplored.

So we asked:

Using qualitative research methods, we worked with two UK-based organizations supporting refugee communities. Through interviews, workshops, and psychological ownership mapping, we captured the lived experience of settling in, navigating services, forming connections, and rebuilding identity in a new place.

The goal? To make the invisible, visible—to map the psychological journey of integration and identify where policy, community design, and service ecosystems are failing or succeeding.

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Most studies on integration focus on material needs—housing, employment, legal status. But these things alone don’t make a place feel like home.

The tool we used—psychological ownership mapping—helps track how individuals form attachments to their environment over time. It works by mapping:
✅ Key moments of transition—arriving, first encounters with services, first friendships, first moments of feeling agency.
✅ Shifts in control and participation—when refugees move from passive recipients of services to active members of their community.
✅ Emotional and psychological markers of ownership—feeling recognized, feeling safe, feeling like one’s presence matters.

In practice, this meant conducting deep, structured interviews—not just about the logistics of resettlement, but about the feeling of integration. When did they first feel like they belonged? What small moments made a difference? What barriers made them feel like outsiders?

Through this mapping, we weren’t just gathering stories—we were identifying points of intervention where policies and community services could better facilitate ownership.

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This isn’t just an academic question. It’s a systems design challenge—one that directly impacts social policy, economic mobility, and civic engagement.

For governments and NGOs, the challenge isn’t just providing resources; it’s ensuring that those resources lead to real, felt integration. If people don’t feel a sense of ownership over their community, they’re less likely to engage, less likely to stay, and less likely to contribute.

For businesses and city planners, refugee integration is about workforce participation, economic development, and social stability. Communities that foster ownership see higher levels of participation, entrepreneurship, and long-term retention—because when people feel like a place is theirs, they invest in it.

This research offers a new way to measure and design for successful integration—not just tracking access to services, but tracking how people actually experience belonging.

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A major challenge in refugee integration is that the most important barriers aren’t physical—they’re psychological, social, and systemic.

To communicate these findings, we built visual tools that bring the experience to life:

Because when you can see the barriers, you can design a way to remove them.

Organizations that take psychological ownership seriously—whether in tech, policy, or urban planning—build better, more resilient systems.

What we’ve learned from this study isn’t just about refugees. It’s about how people claim space, participate in systems, and build communities.

This approach—mapping ownership, designing for belonging—has implications far beyond integration. It can be used to:
✅ Improve employee onboarding and retention in organizations.
✅ Design more participatory urban spaces that foster civic engagement.
✅ Develop better social services that empower, rather than just assist, marginalized groups.

Because the best-designed systems don’t just place people in environments. They help people claim them—as theirs.

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If we want to build communities where people don’t just live but actually belong, we need to design for ownership, participation, and agency.

This research is a step in that direction. But the real challenge—the real opportunity—is figuring out how to take these insights and build them into the systems, policies, and designs that shape the way we live together.

Charities involved and moments cherished 

Abdul Mageedd Charity:

The Abdul Mageed Charity provides support for refugees in Westminster and Chelsea by offering culturally sensitive mentorship and assistance with settlement. Their work focuses on enabling individuals to overcome challenges related to language, culture, and community integration. They bring valuable on-the-ground insights into the refugee experience and a deep commitment to fostering empowerment and belonging.

WHEAT Mentor Support Trust:

WHEAT specialises in one-on-one mentoring and skills development for refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable groups. They focus on fostering employability, well-being, and social cohesion through tailored support. Their expertise ensures that participants are equipped to navigate the challenges of settling into a new community, making them an essential partner for this project.