Invercargill as an Arrival City: Investigation of architectural response to the complexity of the conditions created in individuals and communities through refugee resettlement process

Abstract

The refugee crisis is on the forefront of international development. With New Zealand Government’s proposal to increase the annual Refugee Quota to 1,000, they are becoming a significant part of New Zealand’s society. Over the last five years, there has been an increasing understanding that it is not possible to keep resettling refugees in Auckland due to the cost and lack of state housing. Consequently, Immigration New Zealand has recently named Invercargill as a new refugee resettlement location. Invercargill which was once envisioned to be one of the largest cities in South Island, but now a small industrial town, presents a challenge of integrating refugees in an area where there are no existing ethnic community. This drastic cultural difference as well as other factors including housing, climate and work environment may lead to fractured integration where there is little interaction between refugees and the local community. This thesis aims to investigate the architectural response to the complexity of the tension and conditions created in individuals and communities through resettlement process. By recognising Invercargill as an arrival city, the methodology explored in this thesis combines relevant precedents, site analysis and interviews to form a foundation for an architectural infrastructure that can allow for communications between refugees and local communities. It explores the complex structure of assimilation, cultural identity and social space within resettlement. The resulting proposal is a series of three architectural interventions located on vacant sites along Esk Street, the heart of Invercargill Central City Area (CCA). In order to accommodate for both the local and resettled community, the thesis proposes the intervention to be a network of programs that operate as an active interface while contributing to the revitalisation of the city centre which lacks activity and identity.