Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case

The resettlement and integration of a displaced population into a new society faces a plethora of challenges. These range from lack of national legal frameworks to plan and implement planned relocation, to the absence of a long-term vision, inadequate funds, and poor institutional structures. The 3-...

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Autor principal:	Mo Hamza
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	displacement refugees asylum seekers social cohesion integration built environment Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/61bc5611e212449fb5e75f00f58ace70
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:61bc5611e212449fb5e75f00f58ace702021-11-25T19:04:32ZRefugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case10.3390/su1322128122071-1050https://doaj.org/article/61bc5611e212449fb5e75f00f58ace702021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12812https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050The resettlement and integration of a displaced population into a new society faces a plethora of challenges. These range from lack of national legal frameworks to plan and implement planned relocation, to the absence of a long-term vision, inadequate funds, and poor institutional structures. The 3-year EU Erasmus+ funded REGARD Project (REbuildinG AfteR Displacement) set out to address some of these challenges and develop guidance with a focus on the roles and responsibilities of the host and the resettled community in order to understand the needs of both. This paper focuses on the Swedish experience (one of four case studies in the project) in the aftermath of the mass influx of Syrian refugees in 2015. A needs assessment conceptual framework of both host and displaced communities guided the multi-method approach applied in the Sweden case where data was drawn from a scoped literature review on issues related to integration and social cohesion complimented and validated by in-depth interviews with a number of municipalities and non-governmental organizations all working with asylum seekers resettlement. The results of the research indicate that while the Swedish case was a relative success by comparison to others in Europe, there was still systemic shortcomings that needed attention. First, cooperation and coordination between government and non-governmental actors and at different levels up and down the chain of services provided for resettled refugees is still lacking where the reality on the ground is not fully grasped by centrally driven policy and decision-making. Second, what determines the effectiveness of resettlement and integration efforts is focusing on the individuality of each displacee’s needs and circumstances where one-size does not fit all, and recognizing that integration is a two-way process that has to involve both host and guest community and not simply the absorption of one into the other. Finally, the paper concludes that the pressured and often highly politicized situations both host and guest community are put into usually force rapid responses, while long-term visions and sustainable solutions when adequate time is taken to establish trust and build viable networks between the two communities can lead to far better results.Mo HamzaMDPI AGarticledisplacementrefugeesasylum seekerssocial cohesionintegrationbuilt environmentEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12812, p 12812 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	displacement refugees asylum seekers social cohesion integration built environment Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	displacement refugees asylum seekers social cohesion integration built environment Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Mo Hamza Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case
description	The resettlement and integration of a displaced population into a new society faces a plethora of challenges. These range from lack of national legal frameworks to plan and implement planned relocation, to the absence of a long-term vision, inadequate funds, and poor institutional structures. The 3-year EU Erasmus+ funded REGARD Project (REbuildinG AfteR Displacement) set out to address some of these challenges and develop guidance with a focus on the roles and responsibilities of the host and the resettled community in order to understand the needs of both. This paper focuses on the Swedish experience (one of four case studies in the project) in the aftermath of the mass influx of Syrian refugees in 2015. A needs assessment conceptual framework of both host and displaced communities guided the multi-method approach applied in the Sweden case where data was drawn from a scoped literature review on issues related to integration and social cohesion complimented and validated by in-depth interviews with a number of municipalities and non-governmental organizations all working with asylum seekers resettlement. The results of the research indicate that while the Swedish case was a relative success by comparison to others in Europe, there was still systemic shortcomings that needed attention. First, cooperation and coordination between government and non-governmental actors and at different levels up and down the chain of services provided for resettled refugees is still lacking where the reality on the ground is not fully grasped by centrally driven policy and decision-making. Second, what determines the effectiveness of resettlement and integration efforts is focusing on the individuality of each displacee’s needs and circumstances where one-size does not fit all, and recognizing that integration is a two-way process that has to involve both host and guest community and not simply the absorption of one into the other. Finally, the paper concludes that the pressured and often highly politicized situations both host and guest community are put into usually force rapid responses, while long-term visions and sustainable solutions when adequate time is taken to establish trust and build viable networks between the two communities can lead to far better results.
format	article
author	Mo Hamza
author_facet	Mo Hamza
author_sort	Mo Hamza
title	Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case
title_short	Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case
title_full	Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case
title_fullStr	Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case
title_full_unstemmed	Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case
title_sort	refugees’ integration in the built environment: the sweden case
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/61bc5611e212449fb5e75f00f58ace70
work_keys_str_mv	AT mohamza refugeesintegrationinthebuiltenvironmenttheswedencase
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Refugees’ Integration in the Built Environment: The Sweden Case

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