From survival to belonging

This project uses immigrant women as a research lens to explore how space can support the formation of belonging in unfamiliar environments, especially during the first-time experience of entering an unfamiliar space. It asks what might happen if the responsibility of exploration could shift partly from individuals to space itself, and whether space can actively respond to people’s needs. It develops a reparative spatial system that translates people’s coping strategies into spatial support. Through a series of lightweight patches, it identifies resistance in unfamiliar environments and intervenes when the experience begins to break down. The project combines spatial design, service design, and social inclusivity through a structural plugin for designers and a physical toolkit for spatial operators, allowing spatial repair to happen both during the design stage and long-term operation. Ultimately, it aims to help different spatial actors reduce spatial resistance, improve everyday spatial experiences, and transform unfamiliar places into potential places of belonging.