Building future cities in times of uncertainty: Co-creating resilient infrastructure

Author: Dr Olena Shevtsova, Södertörn University, Sweden

Based on insights from her research in Ukraine, Dr Olena Shevtsova, a Researcher at Södertörn University, outlines built environment strategies that can make a difference during times of uncertainty and crises.     

“These were times of uncertainty, fear, non-understanding of the future, the aim and mission of existence of the (agency) during the war. One didn’t know where to go, what to do…one was a human being coming to the office…but everything you were doing before was ruined in one moment and no longer existed…” (From an interview with Ukraine’s public manager, 2023)

Uncertainty. Such a simple notion, as if well-known, because we face it everywhere every day and there have hardly ever been ‘times of certainty’. But gaining such a bitter taste as we may read a part of the interview with Ukraine’s public manager experiencing various crises and disasters of war.

I used the term ‘times of uncertainty’ for the first time in 2023, implying any type of crisis, war, conflict, natural disaster, pandemics etc., as an umbrella concept for all events causing a high level of turbulence and scarce resources at national, transnational, and global scale in the 21st century. Precisely, because uncertainty of what happens next or for how long the turbulence lasts is indeed huge and concerns everybody on the globe. Uncertainty affects organisations and people both externally and internally, and they adapt to the environment or sensemaking enactment takes place.

In fact, no matter what notion we use – times of uncertainty, anxious times, times of crises – the uncertainty encountered today has a new connotation, depriving all of us of a sense of a long-term perspective and timelines that endure. So, we started inventing new mechanisms and innovative modi operandi that would satisfy citizens, state, environment and the planet.

Co-creating through translating resilient models into the architectural context

As a possible way forward, I offered a stakeholder partnership mechanism bringing cost-, time-, and HR-efficiency. This theory is developed from empirical work in Ukraine and its main philosophy is co-creating value by stakeholders from different levels of governance with legitimisation of outputs. How would it work for built environment?

Let’s say you plan to develop a design of residential blocks that would survive natural disasters and wars. What would you do? Hire a top-tier development company? No need to invent a bike! To save time and money, it would be wise to take existing models and designs from the countries or cities that have experienced such constructions, and add national ownership (translate these models into your cultural/architectural context). Besides, all stakeholders with such variables as legitimacy, power and urgency are sure to be included in the process, including specialists with such development expertise in the process of construction. The more, the better, as the burden of work is less if the roles are distributed correctly at initiation. It would be helpful to have a validation phase of such initiatives, including public events where the results might be presented to citizens (the most interested stakeholder) and international partners, so that they are aware of the new models and approaches that could be reused by other cities or countries.

Distributed leadership for restoration and reconstruction in emergencies

In our aspirations to be ready for anything and everything we should not forget that times of uncertainty may require not only construction and development, but also restoration and reconstruction. It could be expedient to distribute leadership as Ukrainian managers did during the Russo-Ukrainian war. They speak about intraorganisational distributed leadership (changing roles within the organisation situationally), intergovernmental distributed leadership when leadership is distributed among several organisations when solving problems. For example, public information on ‘behaviour during a missile attack’ involved the Ministry of Emergency, the police and a public agency. Finally, is intersectoral distributed public leadership – the distribution of leadership among all stakeholders. For example, when streets were renamed in Ukraine, authorities agreed to variants suggested by citizens and civil society, although they are not obliged to accept the results of public oversight.

EI for future cities

Most importantly, future cities are designed for people and by people. People are at the core of infrastructure, development and reconstruction. Times of uncertainty, if permeated with stressful events and traumas, may provoke different negative feelings and emotions. Emotions individualise crises but also contribute to recovery. That’s why we should mind emotional intelligence, get to know it, and, most importantly, we should train it and try to develop relevant capacities. It might be of particular relevance to know how to help yourself to regulate negative feelings, support your families, as well as colleagues and citizens.

My recent study of Ukrainian managers shows that emotional intelligence is an important component for resilience and thriving in leadership in times of uncertainty. Self-awareness would help to recognise the feelings and emotions, self-regulation would control them, multi-level motivation would help to survive the crisis, empathy would help to understand colleagues and citizens receiving services, their needs and take care of them, and social skills would help leaders to drive their teams through crises and distribute leadership as necessary. I also ascertained additional integral parts of emotional intelligence – adaptability and lifelong learning.

Best coping practices from Ukraine’s public managers

• Find your stability.
• Control your emotions and know that adaptability will come.
• Accept the situation if you can’t change it, and think positively.
• Transform negative energy – use it as a push forward to thriving.
• Put yourself into an information vacuum for some of time.
• Stop reading news from everywhere, and check only necessary information from official channels.
• Be busy, be active, be among people.
• Distract attention. Use minutes to recharge, collectively brainstorm and support activities at work, and keep your team constantly informed.
• Maintain lifelong learning and self-development.
• Stay united with your teams. Create a sense of collective belonging and support.
• Start helping others after you have stabilised yourself.
• Remember your motivation. Believe.
• Be emphatic and care for people and colleagues.
• Network and cooperate with others. Innovation and distribution will help.
• And finally…develop emotional intelligence!

Eager to know more? You’re most welcome to dive in:

Shevtsova, O. (2025). Emotional Intelligence for Public Leadership in Times of Uncertainty (1st ed.).

Shevtsova, O., Madestam, J., & Ivarsson Westerberg, A. (2025). Leadership during the war: perceptions of ideal leadership among public leaders in Ukraine. International Journal of Public Leadership, 21(2), 109–122. 

Shevtsova, O. (2023). Towards Stakeholder Partnership Theory in Public Administration: Based on an Autoethnographic Case Study Method in Ukraine (1st ed.).