Public Outdoor Space and Refugees’ Socio-Cultural Integration: Understanding Refugees’ Agency within a Network of Actors in Amman, Jordan.

This thesis is an in-depth exploration of the relational processes involved in
the production of public spaces for socio-cultural integration in Amman,
Jordan, engaging with the multiplicity of actors who produce, authorise,
educate, activate, advocate, fund, and use these. Amman has a long history of
hosting refugees, but more recent influxes have led to higher tensions
between hosts and refugees, sometimes playing out in public space social
dynamics. However, there is also an emergence of some actors who identify
the opportunity of public spaces to support social cohesiveness. This research
identified and employed a framework of four components - understand,
enhance, amplify, and reflect - to document and analyse the experiences and
intersections of different actors. This analysis represents layers of knowledge
relating to the roles of different actors: government, third sector, urban
designers, activists, researchers and refugees with a particular focus on a
relational and socio-spatial understanding of refugees’ everyday outdoor
experiences. The research process adopted a tailored qualitative approach for
each category of actors, focused on stakeholder interviews and three ethno-cases: researcher residency in architectural practice, volunteering at a
community skate park, and ethnographic excursions with refugees living in
one neighborhood. The findings provided an in-depth understanding of the
multidisciplinary processes around public space and refugee integration,
highlighting the links, gaps, and interrelations between the actors. Notably,
the refugees’ agency was identified through their mundane outdoor
experiences and represented a range of tactics concerning survival,
indifference, and sociability. This form of agency is explored as expressions
of ‘gentle insurgency’. The researcher is situated as a contributing actor
within the research process and the city contexts, and reflection on these
relational dynamics is integral to this thesis. The research aims to understand
and amplify marginalised voices of refugees to inform better practice in both
the public space and refugee support sector.