Our Challenge

Across Europe, construction and infrastructure use large amounts of raw materials and generate more than a third of all waste in the EU. At the same time, societies are preparing for new investments in resilience, civil preparedness and protected infrastructure. In this challenge, you will explore how shelters, protected environments and preparedness infrastructure can be designed with sustainability, circularity and innovation at the core. Together with Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency (MCF), the Swedish government authority responsible for coordinating crisis preparedness, civil defence and the protection of vital societal functions, you will investigate how future preparedness systems could make better use of reused materials, modular design, local production, repairability and circular resource flows. This is not only about recycling existing materials. It is about rethinking how preparedness infrastructure is designed from the beginning: how materials are sourced, how components are maintained, how systems can adapt over time, and how protection and sustainability can strengthen each other. Could a protected space also become part of a circular building system? Could materials from demolition, industrial by-flows or existing buildings become strategic resources for resilience? In this challenge, you will develop ideas that help shape preparedness solutions for societies that need to be both safer and more sustainable.