There is a rising global number of forced displacements in urban settings, making social integration one of the durable solutions to fend off undesired impacts. This paper discusses insights from the 2019 action research project on social integration between refugees and local youths in Makassar, Indonesia's third-largest refugee host city. Indonesia is a transit country that refugees often use as part of their migration routes. They live for years in cities while waiting to be resettled, without the right to work, with limited access to basic services, and alienated from the local communities. Aiming to tackle social integration concerns, this action research project employed a placemaking methodology to catalyse social integration between youth refugees and the locals. Placemaking facilitates the co-creation of meaningful shared living spaces and encourages positive interactions. This action research used three primary experimental methods: Kikigaki (listen-and-write), Machiaruki (town walking), and organising a ‘Mini Festival’. These methods successfully stimulated positive interactions and collaborations. However, the aim to ‘re-make places’ in the long term to foster new shared identities could not occur due to the temporary nature of refugees’ living space. The insights discussed in this paper are based on four significant aspects during research alteration and activity design: spatial features, participant profiles, group dynamics, and facilitators. The study highlighted the significance of shared spaces near refugee shelters in fostering interaction between refugees and host communities.