Architecture firm BIG unveils plan to turn Uganda's Bidi Bidi settlement into an economic hub

The architecture firm BIG has unveiled a masterplan that would reimagine the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda as an economic hub. The plan, called Refugee City, was reported by Dezeen on 13 November 2026.

A masterplan is a long-term blueprint for how an area is laid out, built and used. Refugee City proposes housing, schools and markets for the settlement, which is home to around 250,000 displaced people. Bidi Bidi is the largest refugee settlement in Africa.

BIG developed the plan with To.org, a social enterprise, a business that aims to solve social problems rather than simply make a profit. The firm designed Refugee City to be scalable and modular. In plain terms, that means its parts can be repeated and adjusted, so the same approach could be used in other places.

The first phase is already under way. A prototype single-family housing unit, a home for one household, is being built on the site. Once finished, it will work as a guesthouse for international investors and future collaborators. Visitors will be able to see the design in use before any wider building begins.

The plan's focus on work and trade has a legal backdrop. Uganda's 2006 Refugee Act gives refugees the right to work and start businesses. It also guarantees freedom of movement, and the right to acquire agricultural plots within integrated rural settlements, areas where refugees and host communities live side by side.

For the people living at Bidi Bidi, the proposal is a set of ideas rather than a finished project. The homes, schools and markets described in the plan are not yet built, and the prototype is the only construction so far. What comes next will depend on the funding, partners and approvals that the plan still needs.

What makes this one stand out is the scale of the idea. A camp of about 250,000 people is usually thought of as a temporary place. Refugee City treats it as a place where people build lives and livelihoods, and where a design could be copied elsewhere.