Thematics

The neighborhood is the ideal civic unit for urban design: small enough for a close-knit community and large enough for leadership and change. Ukrainian Cossacks lived in democratic communities, the stanitsas, which symbolize resistance against Russian domination and Soviet collectivism. Russia tried to replace the neighborhood with the anonymous rayon, undermining community life. In rebuilding Ukraine, the neighborhood must be central, not only for housing but also as the foundation of a renewed society.

Framework

For healthy and future-proof neighborhoods, we will work with six case studies: Drohobych, Ohtyrka, Kherson, Voznesensk, Kramatorsk and Klesiv. The Panorama content team, together with our extensive network of Ukrainian and Dutch experts and designers, has identified a number of subthemes it sees as crucial for exploring the neighborhoods. These subthemes can be found in the workshop framework.

For more information about the workshop, please check the Global Brief. 

Case studies

During the workshop, six groups worked on a concrete case study in Ukraine in direct collaboration with representatives of the local municipality. Dutch workshop leader and urbanist Elena Chevtchenko (PosadMaxwan/UNUN) elaborated on the framework and setup for the workshop and how these fit in the broader Panorama Ukraine project. Ukrainian workshop leader Julian Chaplinskyi outlined the broader context of what constitutes current neighborhoods in Ukraine and played a pivotal role with getting in touch with some key figures in the Ukrainian municipalities. Participants actively collaborated with the municipalities of Kherson, Voznesensk, Kalush, Drohobych, Okhtyrka, and Klesiv. The case studies represent diversity in terms of urban condition, geography, and distance to the front line (see image). Nadia Grutskevuch, representative of the municipality of Klesiv, was present in Rotterdam and actively participated in her team’s work.   

Livestreams van de workshop

- Workshop Introduction - Healthy and Future-Proof Neighborhoods (12 June 2024)

- Final Presentations: Introduction (14 June 2024)

- Drohobych - reQUEST for the better city (Final Presentation)

- Kalush - From Shelter to Healthy Neighborhood (Final Presentation)

- Kherson - Water Hub (Final Presentation)

- Klesiv - From Extraction to Regeneration (Final Presentation)

- Dachny, Okhtyrka - People and Community First (Final Presentation)

- Voznesensk - Segregation vs Integration (Final Presentation)

Participants  

Twenty-five participants from different countries such as Ukraine, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, the United States, Serbia, and Germany joined the workshop. They all had relevant backgrounds in architecture, urban design, or the social sciences. Over the next three intense days lectures, brainstorms, and debates were held to challenge the meaning of neighborhoods within the context of the twenty-first century as well as postwar rebuilding, in order to come up with strategies, building blocks, and concrete solutions. For each case study, the groups came up with a vision for future development for a specific district in the municipality, based on local input and needs in combination with their own knowledge. The workshop ended in style as the groups shared experiences over some drinks and delicious Ukrainian treats from Lila Bakery.  

Panorama Ukraine group leaders 

The participants of this workshop were supervised and supported by Ukrainian and Dutch architects and urban planners from multiple offices, including Archimatika (UA),  ATO-Bel Architects (UA),  Breus Oleksii (UA),  Bright (NL), College van Rijksadviseurs (NL),  GA (UA),  KCAP (NL),  Orange Architects(NL),  PosadMaxwan (NL),  Prescription (NL),  Urban Curators (UA),  Urban Reform (UA), and ZUS (NL). From the six Ukrainian group leaders, four were able to come to Rotterdam and the other two joined online. All six groups had a Dutch/Ukrainian group leader duo, to further knowledge exchange and complement different perspectives. 

Experts 

To make sure our participants and group leaders had input from various sources, we also invited 13 experts to share their knowledge and expertise. Among the Dutch experts was the Dutch Chief Government Architect Francesco Veenstra, who emphasized the importance of these kinds of workshops and gave a short introduction speech for the participants. Another expert was architect and teacher Bengin Dawod, who stopped by all six groups to discuss the reconstruction of post-conflict cities. In addition, representatives from the municipalities of Rotterdam and Breda came by to share their experience in urban planning and strategies.  

Three of the experts were visiting from Ukraine and one expert from Ukrainian independent thinktank for social development CEDOS was available for online consultation. Roman Puchko from Rethink (platform for promotion of sustainable and circular economy in Ukraine) stressed the importance of a sustainable approach for future-proof Ukrainian neighborhoods. Anastasia Popovych, an expert from NGO ReStart, a partner of Panorama Ukraine, joined to observe and collect information. ReStart will use this to conduct an analysis and provide the results tailored to the Ukrainian context for future use. 

Conclusions and Follow-up: Next Workshops 

After the Second World War, it was normal to rebuild in a very centralized and structured way. However, as workshop leader Elena Chevtchenko reflected, the proposals from this workshop show that there are different ways to approach rebuilding. ‘You can rely on the different scales and stakeholders and various engagement tactics for bringing amazing change and improvement.’ This is something that we will certainly take with us in the continuation of Panorama Ukraine. You can watch the groups’ presentations of their proposals for the different case studies on our YouTube channel.   

Panorama Ukraine: Healthy and Future-Proof Neighborhoods will continue with a follow up workshop from 9 to 11 September in Lviv (UA), which will be organized by our partner Ukrainian NGO Urban Reform. The next Panorama Ukraine workshop on the topic of Sustainable Energy Production will take place at the end of the year in the Netherlands.  

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