“New Work” in the Public Sector: Imke Täufer-Krebs on Administrative Transformation

Cultural Change, Co-Creation, and Spatial Strategies at the SCHULBAU Think Tank Copenhagen on June 3, 2025

Administration as a Future Lab

How can the public service become a place where change is possible? Imke Täufer-Krebs, head of the New Work Competence Team (KNA) at Gebäudemanagement Schleswig-Holstein AöR (GMSH), is pursuing a clear plan: she is co-designing new work cultures – right within the administration.

Schleswig-Holstein has set ambitious climate goals. By 2040, the heated office space in the state service is to decrease by one-fifth. However, this saving is only part of a much larger undertaking. The central question is: How can spaces help enable a different way of working?

On June 3, 2025, Imke Täufer-Krebs will provide insights into this transformation process as part of the SCHULBAU Think Tank in Copenhagen. Her presentation, titled “New Culture in New Work Environments in the Public Sector,” will illuminate cultural change in public authorities from the perspective of space, attitude, and co-creation.

Co-Creation within the System

Imke Täufer-Krebs works with a consulting tandem of coaches and architects. Together, they support departments in transforming their work environments. The goal: spaces that foster identification and processes that enable participation. Space saving thus becomes a lever – not a threat.

What often appears as a mandatory task today is becoming a creative process in Schleswig-Holstein. Employees co-design their future workplaces – they define what good work means to them. This approach breaks with familiar routines and creates new connections between space and organization.

A Danish Perspective on German Challenges

The fact that the lecture is taking place in Copenhagen fits the speaker’s background. Imke Täufer-Krebs is deeply rooted in the region: she has lived in Kiel since her psychology studies. This proximity to Danish culture – with its tradition of participation and trust – also shapes her view of transformation processes. The public service, she is convinced, can learn to shape change from within. The path begins with the earnest question: How do you want to work?

Rethinking Educational Spaces

The SCHULBAU Think Tank Copenhagen is part of the SCHULBAU – International Salon and Fair network. Here, planners, decision-makers, and designers gather to reflect on the future of educational construction. Imke Täufer-Krebs expands this horizon. She shows what becomes possible when cultural change is taken seriously and understood not as a disruption but as an opportunity. The ideas growing in administration have the potential to radiate into educational spaces as well.

Because there, as here, the principle applies: whoever wants to shape change must invite people to co-develop it.