Rural and regional settlement of former refugees and humanitarian migrants: a place-based perspective

National, state and local governments shape the settlement of former refugees and humanitarian migrants in regional locations. However, settlement is often measured by top-down traditional markers of success that tend to overlook the role of place. This editorial introduces a special collection on regional settlement of refugees and humanitarian migrants. The included papers adopt diverse place-based approaches that highlight the intersection of former refugees and humanitarian settlement with local environments, landscapes and distinctive community dynamics in place. Through two key themes, successful refugee settlement in place(s) and people–place bonds, we consider how policy and practice in the context of settlement and integration outcomes can be better served using a place-based lens. By interrogating the idea of ‘successful settlement’, we elucidate settlement locations as sites where the identities of existing residents and newcomers intersect, are shaped, and are transformed through social integration, and from this we show how places of settlement can be reimagined beyond welcoming communities.