London, England, United Kingdom
Elena Archipovaite is an urban development and reconstruction practitioner with extensive experience in humanitarian crisis management, focusing on stakeholder coordination and complex infrastructure project management, as well as special and strategic urban planning, both in crisis and stable contexts. Recently, she began her tenure as an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics. Her recent humanitarian emergency deployments, under the NORCAP roster, were focused on Ukraine Recovery and Reconstruction efforts: 2022-2024, support was provided to the UNHCR Ukraine operation, first as the Interim Shelter Cluster coordinator and later as the Localisation and Liaison Officer, focusing on housing humanitarian assistance. 2024-2025 support was provided to the NRC Program in Ukraine and neighbouring countries impacted by the Ukrainian crisis, as Green Recovery and Reconstruction Coordinator. Elena is trained as an architect and urban ecological planner. She practised as an architect for six years. For the last twelve years, her focus has shifted towards sustainable development, humanitarian emergency response and reconstruction in urban and rural settings. She has been deployed to the emergency missions, work with local and national governments and has been teaching and conducting research in: Norway, Ukraine, Uganda, Kenya, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, ROC, Angola, DRC, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Lithuania with focus on: humanitarian assistance in emergency shelter and settlement planning; coordination and development of city strategies in emergencies; development of national territorial strategic planning frameworks; working for Lithuanian government on long term vision 2050 and comprehensive territorial planning 2030, by leading and coordinating governmental, multifunctional, multidiscipline technical experts teams (30-100 staff); facilitating design and co-creation processes of affordable, incremental housing strategies; engaging in research projects based on publicness of space in informal settlements and participatory planning approaches; mediating conflicts and stakeholders' engagement at various levels and stages of the urban development projects.