Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesForced migrants face many challenges when trying to settle into life in a new city. Social
isolation is one common consequence of the upheaval they experience. Research has
shown that technology can ease various parts of the resettlement process, but work is
needed to see how it can address social isolation in particular. We hypothesized that a
location-based freecycling service would be particularly suitable for this purpose, due to
freecycling's potential to bolster social engagement and location-based services' ability
to adapt to the user's context. We conducted needs assessment interviews with ve
forced migrants and six freecyclers in M unster, Germany. We analyzed the results of
the interviews to develop user requirements for a theoretical service. We implemented a
subset of the user requirements as part of a prototype mobile app. Then we evaluated the
app with 6 forced migrants and 16 freecyclers during a two-week trial. Our investigation
showed that, with careful design, a location-based freecycling service can meet the needs
of both locally established freecyclers and forced migrants seeking to reduce their social
isolation. These ndings contribute to literature on the needs of forced migrants and how
to meet those needs with geospatial technologies. Our ndings can bene t researchers
of forced migrant social isolation and developers of location-based and other services to
support forced migrant resettlement
