Shelter spaces as social and digital infrastructure for learning and working in times of crisis
The SHAPE reimagines adaptive collaboration spaces for living, working, and learning in response to military conflict and its long-term impact on organizations and communities. These spaces are defined by the integration of physical shelters (such as bunkers), digital technologies – including AI-enabled communication and decision-support tools – and a human-centric approach that promotes psychological safety, inclusion, and coordinated action under stress.
Achieving this aim requires strategic cross-sector partnerships involving public, private, and civil society actors, built on trust, shared purpose, and intercultural competence. Drawing on frontline insights from the Ukrainian context, the project investigates how people collaborate across boundaries and how adaptive capacity is embedded in organizational and spatial design. It further explores the potential of AI to support collective sensemaking and decision-making in high-stakes environments.
Team
Prof. Dr. habil. Anna Aleksandra Lupina-Wegener, ZHAW School of Management and Law
Dr. Magdalena Zabicka-Wlodarczyk, ZHAW School of Management and Law
Academic partner
Prof. Halyna Makhova, Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) / Nauczyciele | Szkoła Handlowa w Kijowie
She is a professor of entrepreneurship and program director at KSE, and she brings expertise in urban studies and after-war reconstruction through her involvement in KSE’s MSc program called “Urban Studies and After-War Reconstruction”. This existing collaborative relationship provides direct access to Ukrainian academic perspectives on maintaining educational and professional activities during emergencies.
As a leading academic institution operating under war conditions since 2022, the Kyiv School of Economics offers unique, real-world expertise in sustaining education and research within shelter spaces. This partnership provides unparalleled access to Ukrainian perspectives on emergency-based learning and working environments. Their lived experience and documented practices offer critical insight into designing human-centered urban infrastructure.
Practice partner
Olivier Bertschinger, CEO and Founder of Triple Eight Solutions AG, President of the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland–Eastern Europe, and advisor on AI and digital transformation, plays a key role in shaping strategic partnerships and facilitating knowledge transfer from the CEE region.
