Learning from strangers: transferability of current principles for designing inclusive area-based settlements to learning factories in resource-limited settings

What can we learn from the current design principles adopted to build inclusive area-based settlements such as refugee camps? How can we transfer the lesson learnt to useful principles for learning factories in resource-limited settings? Refugee camps are a form of settlement in which internally displaced persons (IDP)s reside and receive centralised protection, humanitarian assistance, and other services from governments and humanitarian actors. These settlements can be planned and developed on land allocated by the Government, or created spontaneously when persons of concern settle on land which has not been designated to accommodate them. This type of settlement often limits rights and freedom, such as the ability to move and work freely and they do not consider any sustainability insights. To overcome these limitations, it is necessary to pursue alternatives based on a separate set of design parameters that include life-cycle analysis. After analysing the current general situations of refugee camps and settlements, firstly, the paper offers a set of life-cycle principles to facilitate the achievement of long-term, sustainable, and inclusive temporary settlements and secondly a reflection on possible principles to transfer and apply to the design of learning factories in resource-limited settings.