Yet infrastructure is not only vulnerable. It can also be a source of resilience. Across Ukraine, local communities, state institutions, and international actors are finding ways to maintain functionality under conditions of extreme disruption – often through improvised and locally driven solutions.
This public panel explores infrastructural fragmentation and resilience from multiple angles – combining perspectives from research, civil society and international cooperation. The discussion highlights both the damage and vulnerabilities that war inflicts on critical infrastructure, as well as the forms of resilience and capacity that emerge in response – and asks what lessons this holds for Europe and beyond.
With:
Oleg Nivievsky – KIU Guest Professor, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Oleksandra Shumilova – Scientist, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
Stefan Greiving – Chair of Regional Development and Risk Management, Department of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University; Principal Investigator, GIZ project "Strengthening of Urban Resilience in the Areas of Supply Infrastructure and Housing” (SUR)
Viktor Zagreba – Mobility and Public Policy Specialist, NGO Vision Zero
Moderation: Jan Passoth, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Welcome remarks: Christoph Markschies
The event is a cooperation between the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), the German Platform for the Reconstruction of Ukraine (Plattform Wiederaufbau Ukraine), and the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU). The discussion takes place within the framework of the KIU semester theme ‘Infrastructural Fragmentation, Infrastructural Resilience – Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Techno-Politics and Crisis’.