Designing collaborative platforms for robust emergency management: The case of the Local Rescue Coordination Centres in Norway

Governments around the world are increasingly searching for ways to develop robust emergency management structures that support customized, bricolaged and scaled responses to turbulent problems. In this article, we examine how collaborative platforms can facilitate the execution, adaptation and efficiency of emergency management operations. Based on a qualitative study of six Local Rescue Coordination Centres aiming to facilitate collaboration between authorities and voluntary organizations in search and rescue operations in Norway, we find that the functioning of the platforms depends on feedback mechanisms between their peacetime and operational modes of action. Our findings suggest that collaborative platforms serve as a stable institutional framework for swift, flexible and efficient emergency management collaboration when their design fosters productive interaction between these two modes of action.