unun.nu

Workshop introduction
What would an ideal neighborhood look like in the 21st century?
This question was at the core of our workshop program, which started at Nieuwe Instituut, where Oleksandra Tkachenko introduced Panorama Ukraine and workshop leader Elena Chevtchenko told all attendees more about the framework for Healthy and Future-Proof Neighborhoods. This was followed by an informal mapping session about the cultural and personal interpretation of neighborhoods, led by Tessa Nauta from CRa. In this way, group leaders and participants could start to get to know each other.

Participants
David Dodman, IHS Director, welcomed the workshop participants at The Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS). 25 participants from different countries such as Ukraine, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, the USA, Serbia, and Germany joined the workshop. They had relevant backgrounds in architecture, urban design or social sсience. Over the next three days they brainstormed and challenged the meaning of neighborhoods within the context of the 21st century as well as post-war rebuilding in order to come up with strategies, building blocks and concrete solutions.

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).
Of the six Ukrainian group leaders, four were able to come to Rotterdam and the other two joined online. All six groups had both a Dutch and 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 thirteen 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 to 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 think tank for social development CEDOS was available for online consultation. Roman Puchko from ReThink (a 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 Ukraine, 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.

Case studies
Each group was working on a case study in Ukraine in direct collaboration with representatives of the local municipality. Workshop leader Julian Chaplinsky (UA) outlined the broader context of current neighborhoods in Ukraine and helped out with getting in touch with some of the Ukrainian municipalities. For the six case studies that we worked on, we 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, the representative of Klesiv municipality, was present in Rotterdam and actively participated in the team’s work.

On Friday afternoon, this intensive 3-day workshop culminated in a presentation of the research results, moderated by IABR General and Artistic Director Sakia van Stein. 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.