Residents of Dheisheh and Al Azza refugee camps planted gardens and decorated their homes, grounding themselves in the present and expressing themselves through acts of beautification. Garden of Musa Al-ayasa in Dheisheh Refugee Camp, West Bank.

Photo: Nizar ALayasa, 2023

How Aesthetics and Beauty in the Built Environment Enhance the Well-Being, Dignity, and Resilience of People in Humanitarian Crises

Stephanie Acker and Dr. Devora Neumark

Global Shelter Cluster

June 14, 2024

Summary

This presentation examined the role of beauty and aesthetics in the built environment for Palestinian refugees living in protracted displacement in the Dheisheh and Al Azza refugee camps in the West Bank. Drawing on three methodological strands, including Dr. Neumark’s research-creation study involving participatory, arts-based conversations with first, second, and third generation forcibly displaced individuals resettled to Canada, a desk research review of nearly 100 published articles on refugee homemaking and shelter beautification across displacement contexts led by Stephanie Acker, and 30 community dialogues conducted by Nizar ALayasa with residents in their gardens and homes in the two camps, the presentation applied a trauma-informed framework and insights from neuroaesthetics research, including conversations with US psychiatrist Dr. Curt Thompson, who specialises in neurobiology. Findings demonstrate that acts of beautification, including gardening, embroidery, and painting, ground individuals in the present moment to reduce anxiety and enable the imagination of a different future, restore personal agency and support the shift from “what has been done to me” to “what I can do” as described by philosopher Susan Brison, and provide a physical medium through which to sense and express complex emotions that cannot yet be put into words. Beautification also connects generations through postmemory, a concept developed by Marianne Hirsch, allowing families to honour past homes while remaking home in displacement. Drawing on Arthur Danto’s assertion that beauty is not an option for life but a necessary condition for it, the presentation argued that aesthetics in the built environment are vital to dignity, identity, and post-traumatic growth, and warrant greater attention in humanitarian practice and policy.

Key Takeaways

As articulated by Alexis, a participant in Dr. Neumark’s research-creation project Home Beautiful Revisited (2010), “as refugees, we lose our sense of beauty, and when that happens, we lose our sense of everything. Of life itself.” Through acts of home beautification, the pain of the loss of home is intricately absorbed by, and into, the aesthetic experience, making aesthetics in the built environment vital to dignity, identity, and recovery, and not dismissible as merely decorative or superficial.

Drawing on insights from neuroaesthetics research and conversations with psychiatrist Dr. Curt Thompson, who specialises in neurobiology, the presentation demonstrates that acts of beautification ground individuals in the present moment, reducing anxiety about the past and enabling the imagination of a different future. Whether tending a garden, caring for a family heirloom, or surrounding oneself with colour and flowers, these acts create a tangible sense of relaxation, stability, and hope that has measurable benefits for trauma recovery and psychosocial wellbeing.

Building on psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun’s framework of post-traumatic growth, acts of beautification restore personal agency in contexts of profound powerlessness by enabling a narrative shift from “what has been done to me” to “what I can do.” Even simple acts, such as using scissors, a watering can, or basic woodworking tools to infuse a space with one’s own identity and taste, serve as a therapeutic medium through which displaced individuals can sense and express complex emotions that cannot yet be put into words.

Beautification sustains intergenerational resilience through postmemory, a concept developed by Marianne Hirsch to describe how subsequent generations inherit and carry the collective and cultural trauma of those who experienced displacement before them. When families beautify their current homes with soil, trees, or objects carried from their villages of origin, these acts help younger generations connect with their cultural roots and identities while transforming inherited loss into creative expression, continuity, and renewed belonging.

At the community level, beautification promotes resilience, builds social capital, fosters belonging, and serves as a collective expression of cultural identity and hope. As articulated by participants in the Dheisheh and Al Azza refugee camps, caring for and beautifying one’s home and shared spaces is also an active assertion of the right of refugees to live in a clean, beautiful environment, affirming that aesthetics in the built environment are not a luxury but a fundamental human right warranting greater attention in humanitarian practice and policy.

Implications for Practitioners

Recognise beautification as a trauma-informed coping mechanism: Humanitarian and refugee-support practitioners should recognise beautification practices as trauma-informed coping mechanisms rooted in neuroaesthetics, integrating opportunities for aesthetic expression into psychosocial programming. Drawing on Dr. Curt Thompson’s insights, practitioners should understand that grounding individuals in the present moment through acts of beautification is not incidental but a neurobiologically supported pathway to reducing anxiety, building hope, and supporting trauma recovery.
Design enabling environments based on neurobiological evidence: Shelter and camp management actors should understand that restricting residents’ ability to garden, paint, decorate, and personalise their living spaces is not a neutral policy decision but one with measurable neurobiological consequences. Policies governing shelter modification should be evaluated against evidence from neuroaesthetics showing that aesthetic self-expression directly supports emotional regulation, reduces chronic stress responses, and enhances psychosocial wellbeing.
Integrate aesthetics as a therapeutic tool for post-traumatic growth: Mental health and protection professionals should incorporate aesthetic and hands-on practices, such as gardening, craftwork, embroidery, and spatial personalisation, into therapeutic and community wellbeing initiatives. Drawing on Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun’s framework of post-traumatic growth, practitioners should recognise that these acts support a critical narrative shift from “what has been done to me” to “what I can do,” enabling displaced individuals to reclaim agency and identity beyond the refugee label.
Embed aesthetics within intergenerational programming: Practitioners working with displaced families should recognise the role of beautification in sustaining intergenerational resilience through postmemory, as described by Marianne Hirsch. Programming that supports families in beautifying their homes and shared spaces, particularly through acts that connect present homes to places of origin, can help younger generations build cultural identity, process inherited trauma, and develop positive coping mechanisms.
Adopt a strengths-based lens across all displacement programming: All practitioners working in displacement contexts should actively counter narratives that frame refugees solely through trauma and loss, recognising instead that beautification practices are evidence of creativity, agency, and cultural continuity. Organisations should audit their programming and communications for deficit-based framing and replace it with approaches that foreground refugees as resourceful cultural agents whose aesthetic practices are a source of resilience, identity, and post-traumatic growth.