Bidi Bidi was not designed to be a city. Its planners treated the bidi bidi refugee settlement as a stopgap, even though many of its residents are likely to stay for decades. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and to.org want to change that assumption.
Bidi Bidi, in northern Uganda, is home to about 230,000 refugees, and the bidi bidi refugee settlement is still expanding. Refugee Future Cities, a masterplan for the site, would accommodate an additional 155,000 residents. It would also connect Zones 1 and 2, which are currently separate parts of the settlement.
The plan treats the refugee settlement as a city. Housing sits alongside schools, clinics, workshops, markets, and farms. The aim is to give people a place to build a life rather than a place to wait.
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Why “temporary” no longer fits
Ingels has argued that the average stay in a refugee camp is around two decades. At that length, he says, the word “temporary” no longer describes the reality. Planners who accept that point can design differently from the start.
“If we start thinking of cities rather than camps, then charity becomes investments into the future,” Ingels said. His team wants companies to set up production in the settlement, so residents can work instead of depending only on aid.
A structure that grows one family at a time
The masterplan repeats one nested pattern at several scales. It starts with a 250-square-meter family plot. Six plots form a compound, and the compounds link into clusters, neighborhoods, and community centers.
Each compound centers on a shared courtyard where six families can cook, gather, and run small businesses. Larger courtyards and market squares serve trade, learning, and recreation. A covered market and a coworking center would anchor the settlement’s civic and economic life.
Shaded footpaths and transport loops would link homes to farmland, bamboo groves, and community gardens. The network builds on gathering spaces that already exist in the bidi bidi refugee settlement. It extends everyday social life into streets and squares that connect more people.
Local materials in the bidi bidi refugee settlement
The architects drew on existing housing types, local construction skills, and the climate of the region. Research visits to Kakuma and Bidi Bidi in 2025, together with the local firm LocalWorks, shaped the design. The result relies on sun-dried earth brick, laterite stone, and bamboo.
The proposal targets ventilation, weather protection, and mosquito control. Solar power would supply part of the shared infrastructure. The proposal treats familiar materials as the basis for a modern local style rather than importing a foreign one.
The program goes well beyond housing. It includes a technical school, a health center, a healing garden, and a wellness retreat. Greenhouses, livestock barns, and aquaculture ponds would support local food supply. A solar-powered industrial hub would combine energy generation, water treatment, and waste processing.
For readers interested in building with less environmental cost, Hafsa Burt’s compact Null House and its sustainable approach offers a small-scale comparison worth reading.
Money, maintenance, and who decides
Commercial activity would be expected to return value over decades rather than depend on short-term donations. Manufacturing and agriculture are the sectors the plan names for these investment zones.
The model depends on conditions that architecture cannot supply. Host governments would need to commit land, set a regulatory framework, and grant refugees the legal right to work. Free York also asks who will maintain the systems, pay for repairs, and replace worn equipment. The plan has yet to answer those questions in detail.
Free York argues that investment returns alone would not show whether the plan works. Residents, it says, should be the measure. The questions that matter include whether people can shape their own neighborhoods, whether jobs pay fairly, and who decides when commercial goals conflict with community needs.
A first step, and a test
A single home in the bidi bidi refugee settlement lets residents test the design before the rest of the plan moves forward. The value of the proposal depends on whether their feedback changes the larger plan.
It remains in design, and no construction schedule for the full masterplan has been published. Both Bjarke Ingels Group and to.org are named as the project’s architect and partner.
- Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), @big_builds
- Partner: to.org, @to.org_
- Location: Bidi Bidi, northern Uganda
- Collaborators: LocalWorks, Buro Happold, Beauty & The Bit
The courtyard is a modest beginning. Its real test will be whether the people who live around it help decide what the city becomes.
Sources & Links
Frequently asked questions
How many refugees live in the Bidi Bidi settlement?
Bidi Bidi, in northern Uganda, is home to about 230,000 refugees. The settlement is still expanding.
What is the Refugee Future Cities masterplan for Bidi Bidi?
Refugee Future Cities is a masterplan for the Bidi Bidi site that would accommodate an additional 155,000 residents. It would also connect Zones 1 and 2, which are currently separate parts of the settlement.
What materials would the Bidi Bidi housing design use?
The design relies on sun-dried earth brick, laterite stone, and bamboo, drawing on local construction skills and the regional climate. The proposal also targets ventilation, weather protection, and mosquito control, and solar power would supply part of the shared infrastructure.
Has construction started on the full Bidi Bidi masterplan?
The full masterplan is still in design, and no construction schedule has been published. A single home in the settlement is planned as a first step so residents can test the design before the rest of the plan moves forward.
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