Zaid Alawamleh

The study draws upon theory and research on behavior settings to understand how the built environment shapes selected aspects of behavior in a protracted refugee camp located in an urban area in Jordan. Over 3 years, the research used a multi-method analysis of behavior settings within a residential space and an assessment of modifications to the home using a pre-post research design. The findings showed that the settings can carry new meanings although the occupants greatly restrict their behaviors to conform to the settings they occupy. The findings also indicated the importance of the psychological dimension, which was undervalued in previous applications of the theory. The methodology used demonstrated that localized problems can be addressed by analyzing the features of the relevant behavior setting to reveal the underlying source of the problem. This will help identify solutions that promote behavioral changes to ameliorate displacement and improve the built environment.

This article recounts 6 years of empirical research in a humanitarian context on spatial behaviour using the behaviour settings theory. This research journey details the shortcomings of conventional architectural processes and the subsequent development of a human-centred behaviour setting methodology that drives behaviour change for adaptable spaces. The research work puts Barker’s theory of behaviour settings into practice to show its significant methodological abilities in shaping behaviours through spaces. While the original theory was solely an analytical account of existing behaviours in certain settings, this study marks the first pragmatic exploration of the theory into both residential and refugee contexts. The methodology that is subsequently proposed is a complementary tool to account for the deficiencies of conventional architectural design processes. A method that enables one to fully immerse themselves in the environment, recognize specific architectural interventions, assess their effects and reiterate. It is a proposal for humanizing architecture, sympathizing its processes and personalizing its results for the users of any space. This article is part of the theme issue ‘People, places, things, and communities: expanding behaviour settings theory in the twenty-first century’.

The Syrian civil war has led to more than 6.8 million people fleeing Syria. Jordan has received the biggest number of Syrian refugees per capita, after Lebanon. In this article, authors take a retrospective look at how the Jordanian government adopted a new approach for hosting the Syrian population within the context of social and economic challenges. The authors draw on an exhaustive inventory of historical events, government decisions, and other grey literature, combined with key informant interviews. This article emphasizes the importance of considering a country’s legacy and the current socio-economic landscape when examining the migration-development nexus. The article contends that the evolution of refugees management from “camps” to “integration” through a development approach did not follow a linear sequence; rather, it appears to have been strategically employed as a governance tool to attain political, economic, and humanitarian stability.