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This paper presents employee perspectives from two German water and wastewater utilities regarding their involvement in providing water and wastewater services for displaced persons in urban emergency accommodations. In 2015, 28 European countries received over two million applications for asylum, almost three times more than the previous year. According to the UNHCR, this rapid increase in population has reached the highest recorded displacement in the world’s history, even greater than that proceeding the Second World War. The German utilities are meeting these new demands; however, we lack knowledge regarding the impacts on the utilities as they provide water and wastewater services to the suddenly increased population. As a result of this gap, this study looks at how water and wastewater utilities perceive their involvement in this process and in what ways they legitimize their provision of water and wastewater services to displaced persons. Understanding this legitimation equips both utilities and other stakeholders to better understand how utilities regard their role in urban emergency response. Results show that individuals use their past experience (comprehensibility legitimacy) and understanding of socially acceptable technical processes (procedural legitimacy) to legitimize their role in the crisis organization. Comprehensibility legitimacy is used to express certainty in managing the technical challenges of providing water and wastewater services, while procedural legitimacy is used to justify improvisation to navigate gaps in design and construction guidelines for water and wastewater connections. Implications of this study suggest that although employees are confident in their ability to handle the situation, there are also opportunities for improving response in the future, such as creating more technical guidance for design water and wastewater connections for displaced persons in renovated buildings and new developments. 

Sudden population influxes in cities place unexpected demands on the urban housing system. During these influxes, decisions made to accommodate displaced persons are often controversial, potentially hindering the ability of organizations involved to respond. Understanding how individuals within those organizations legitimize and delegitimize actions taken to accommodate internationally displaced persons is thus crucial to make decisions that will lead to efficient institutional responses. Existing research relating to the adaptation of urban housing systems for international population influxes in developed countries primarily focus on the long-term response rather than on the short-term response. This study seeks to address this research gap by providing an overview of the perspectives of stakeholders involved in the provision of centralized accommodations for displaced persons during the refugee crisis in 2015 in Germany. A qualitative analysis of interview data was performed to obtain a holistic understanding of the studied institutional response. Twenty-five interviews with employees involved in different steps of the process for providing centralized accommodations for displaced persons were conducted in 2016. Interview content was analyzed to capture the way stakeholders legitimized (1) the provision of centralized accommodations for displaced persons, and (2) the provision of specific types of accommodations commonly used. Results show that interviewed individuals mainly legitimized the process for providing centralized accommodations to displaced persons based on their individual convictions and by using procedural, consequential, influence and exchange legitimacy. They mainly delegitimized this process based on self- interested calculations and by using exchange and influence legitimacy. Finally, results indicate that short-term accommodations, such as sport halls, were the least preferred option, while solutions such as modular housing and the renovation of unused buildings were the most preferred options. 

In 2015, approximately 12.4 million people were forcibly displaced due to conflict or persecution. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees this forced migration, caused by instability in the Middle East, continued into 2016 and continues in 2017. Many of those displaced persons have been hosted in developed countries. In 2015 alone, Germany accepted approximately 750,000 refugees and asylum seekers. This study evaluates how these German hosting communities perceive the impact of displaced persons on their water and wastewater systems. Data was collected in August 2016 via a survey deployed to the general public in Germany. The survey queried whether the additional population was temporary or permanent and whether their impact on water and wastewater systems was thought to be short or long term. Statistical modeling is used to estimate demographic (e.g., income, education) and geographic parameters (i.e., specific states) that affect the perceptions of the hosting communities. Decision makers in charge of trying to integrate displaced persons into their communities may minimize potential opposition by drawing on the implications of the findings of this study. 

In the summer of 2016, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with government agencies in four German cities. Data from these interviews were qualitatively analyzed to discover the various approaches taken by each city’s government. The data describe participant’s perceived challenges, success and priorities involved with coordinating accommodations and present predominant themes within each of these areas, highlighting what needs to be improved, what worked well and what was prioritized throughout the process. Results from this study contribute critical insight to the limited research regarding construction practices and organizational design of infrastructure for emergency accommodation in an urban context. For example, the greatest challenge expressed by government officials were associated with the process of finding available housing and preparing facilities. External coordination with the community and private companies was identified as one of the predominant successes of the housing operation. Lastly, different aspects of the preparation of facilities was expressed as the biggest priority, such as minimizing costs, finding available properties and providing utility upgrades. Describing governments’ organizational structures along with their benefits and drawbacks provides other government agencies with foresight in emergency planning and crisis response techniques, and contributes to increased infrastructure resilience in future emergency response.