Displaced public spaces in Ukrainian cities: Increasing diversity and inclusion in urban reconstruction through temporary occupation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2024229877

Keywords:

collective urban processes, public space, temporariness, intangible heritage, urbicide, IDPs, urban reconstruction

Abstract

This research engages with the tragic consequences of “urbicide”, the deliberate destruction of urban environments. While urbicide erases physical and cultural heritage, temporary urban phenomena can lead to the development of new tangible and intangible heritage, which could drive reconstruction and transformation. These temporary urban spaces are the result of collective action indicating diverse forms of “agency”, negotiation and decision-making, which may lead to alternative urban development processes characterized by sense of belonging and social participation through “temporality”. Through a case study methodology involving two cities in Ukraine, the research argues that the interaction of the temporary use of space with its informal appropriation may lead to long-term collective leadership and increasing levels of “autonomy” in the making of urban places. These processes of urban transformation, therefore, call for collective actions that respond to local needs and shared heritage, shaping urban spaces and associated cultural values. Exploring the cities of Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv, the research sheds light on the potential for this new intangible heritage, emerging through the temporary use of city center spaces by internally displaced people (IDPs), to contribute to post-conflict urban reconstruction and identify the conditions under which more inclusive and diverse urban development processes can counteract the effects of urbicide.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Maria Soledad Garcia Ferrari, University of Edinburgh

Professor in Global Urbanism and Resilience, University of Edinburgh. Professionally qualified in Architecture and Urbanism in Uruguay, Soledad has extensive expertise in sustainable planning in Latin American cities, with a focus on community-empowerment, participatory and co-creation processes in the production and management of the built environment, towards increasing resilience and adaptation to climate change. She leads action research focused on community-led climate change-related risk management in Mexico and Colombia. She is currently Dean International for the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Dean for Latin America and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Latin American Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Doctor, National University of Kyiv

Professor and Head of the Department of Economic and Social Geography at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. His recent research examines the transformation of post-Soviet urban regions and cities, public spaces and new-build gentrification, suburban development, urban geopolitics, and IDPs issues. He is co-editor of the book Urban Ukraine: In the Epicentre of the Spatial Changes (2017) and has recently contributed to Urban Planning During Socialism: Views from the Periphery (Routledge, 2023). He is involved into the international multi-disciplinary research project Ukrainian geopolitical fault-line cities: urban identities, geopolitics and urban policy (2018-2023)

Nataliia Provotar, National University of Kyiv

Associate Professor at the Department of Economic and Social Geography, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Her recent research interests include post-socialist urban transformations, urban public spaces, suburban development, gender issues, socio-spatial inequality, and migration in Ukraine. She is co-editor of Urban Ukraine: in the Epicenter of the Spatial Changes (2017). She is involved into research projects on Kyiv metropolitan region (2019-2023) and comparative study of changing everyday practices in suburban spaces in Austria and Ukraine (2019-2020).

Maritina Iliadi , University of Edinburgh

PhD Candidate in Architecture, Teaching Fellow in MSc Urban Strategies and Design, The University of Edinburgh. Maritina completed an architectural degree and professional qualification in Greece. She worked as an architect for almost 10 years in Greece, the United States and United Kingdom, in workplaces of diverse sizes and cultural backgrounds. She has been involved in the design of projects of varying complexity and scale, while also offering pro-bono design services to local low-income communities. Maritina has an MSc in Urban Strategies and Design, and is currently a PhD candidate in Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. Her research is focusing on placemaking theories and their potential to achieve resilience.

Nikolia-Sotiria Kartalou, University of Edinburgh

Teaching Fellow in Architecture at the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (E S A L A), University of Edinburgh. She holds a PhD in Architecture and an MSc in Architectural Conservation from the University of Edinburgh and a Diploma in Architecture Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Focusing on historic urban environments, her research and teaching explore methodologies that address and trace correspondences between architecture, heritage, culture and society. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a contributor of the SAWH ‘Schools of Architecture + World Heritage’ network focusing on research and pedagogy.

References

““Je suis Mariupol” Support Centers Network Operates in Ukraine” (V Ukraini pratsiuie merezha tsentriv pidrymky “IaMariupol”). Mariupol: Official site of the City Council. July 1, 2023. https://mariupolrada.gov.ua/news/v-ukraini-pracjue-merezha-centriv-pidtrimki-“jamariupol”-adresi.

Alirhayim, Rashad. “Place Attachment in the Context of Loss and Displacement: The Case of Syrian Immigrants in Esenyurt, Istanbul.” Journal of Urban Affairs, no. ahead-of-print (2023): 1–23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2023.2180378.

Berman, Marshall. “Roots, Ruins, Renewals: City Life After Urbicide.” Village Voice. September 4, 1984.

Bishop, Peter, and Lesley Williams. The Temporary City. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012.

Bollens, Scott A. City and Soul in Divided Societies: Epic Cultures and Urban Faultlines. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis Group, 2011.

Carrión Mena, Fernando, and Paulina Cepeda Pico. Urbicide: An Unprecedented Methodological Entry in Urban Studies? In Urbicide: the Death of the City, ed. Fernando Carrión Mena and Paulina Cepeda Pico, 3–22. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25304-1_1.

Coward, Martin. Urbicide: The Politics of Urban Destruction. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.

Darling, Jonathan. “Forced Migration and the City: Irregularity, Informality, and the Politics of Presence.” Progress in Human Geography 41, no. 2 (2017): 178–98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516629004.

Dixon, John, and Kevin Durrheim. “Dislocating Identity: Desegregation and the Transformation of Place.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 24, no. 4 (2004): 455–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2004.09.004.

Göler, Daniel. “Places and Spaces of the Others. A German Reception Centre in Public Discourse and Individual Perception.” In Geographies of Asylum in Europe and the Role of European Localities, ed. Birgit Glorius and Jeroen Doomernik, 69–91. IMISCOE Research Series. Cham: Springer Nature, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25666-1_4.

Guinand, Sandra, et al. Co-creative Temporary Use in Public Spaces: The process is Everything. In Unfolding Dilemmas of Urban Public Spaces, ed. Johannes Riegler and Jonas Bylund, 55–74. Recommendations by JPI Urban Europe’s AGORA. Policy paper, 2020.

Hailey, Charlie. Camps: A Guide to 21st-Century Space. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2009.

Halyna, Tereshchuk. ““People’s souls ache, diseases have worsened” said a doctor from Mariupol, describing the condition of Mariupol residents.” Radio Liberty. July 24, 2022. https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/okupatsiya-mariupol-viyna-blokada/31956781.html. (In Ukrainian)

Huxtable, Ada Louise, and Robert A. Gross. “Against Urbicide.” Newsweek. New York: Newsweek Publishing LLC, August 1970.

Kalman, Harold. “Destruction, Mitigation, and Reconciliation of Cultural Heritage.” International Journal of Heritage Studies 23, no. 6 (2017): 538–55.

Khalaf, Roha W. “Cultural Heritage Reconstruction after Armed Conflict: Continuity, Change, and Sustainability.” The Historic Environment 11, no. 1 (2020): 4–20.

Lahoud, Adrian. “Post-Traumatic Urbanism.” Architectural Design 80, no. 5 (2010): 14–23.

Low, Setha M., and Irwin Altman, eds. Place Attachment. Boston, MA: Springer US, 1992.

Madanipour, Ali. Cities in Time: Temporary Urbanism and the Future of the City. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017.

Marfleet, Philip. “‘Forgotten,’ ‘Hidden’: Predicaments of the Urban Refugee.” Refuge 24, no. 1 (2007): 36–45.

Mariia, Lavriv. “The place where they gather. The residents of Kherson opened the Prostir. Coffee cafe in Frankivsk with ‘watermelon’ coffee.” ShoTam. September 25, 2022. https://shotam.info/mistse-de-zbyraiutsia-svoi-khersontsi-vidkryly-u-frankivsku-kav-iarniu-prostir-coffee-z-kavunovoiu-kavoiu.

Marko, Petra, and Radim Lisa. Meanwhile City: How Temporary Interventions Create Welcoming Places with a Strong Identity. Bratislava, Slovak Republic: Milk, 2022.

Melis, Alessandro., et al. (eds). Temporary Appropriation in Cities Human Spatialisation in Public Spaces and Community Resilience. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020.

Mezentsev, Kostyantyn and Oleksii Mezentsev. “War and the City: Lessons from Urbicide in Ukraine. Czasopismo Geograficzne, 93 (2022): 495–521. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12657/czageo-93-20.

Milligan, Melinda J. “Displacement and Identity Discontinuity: The Role of Nostalgia in Establishing New Identity Categories.” Symbolic Interaction 26, no. 3 (2003): 381–403. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2003.26.3.381.

Mykhailyshyna, Daria et al. “Refugees from Ukraine: who are they, how many are there and how to return them?” Final report, Centre for Economic Strategy. August 29, 2023. https://ces.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bizhenczi-z-ukra%D1%97ni.-finalnij-zvit.pdf. (In Ukrainian)

Nunez-Ferrera, Isis et al. Idps in Towns and Cities – Working with the Realities of Internal Displacement in an Urban World. Submission to the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement by IIED, JIPS and UN-Habitat, 2020. https://www.un.org/internal-displacement-panel/sites/www.un.org.internal-displacement-panel/files/published_iied_jips_unh_submission.pdf.

Oswalt, Philipp et al. Urban Catalyst: The Power of Temporary Use. Berlin: DOM Publisher, 2013.

Pain, Rachel. “Geotrauma: Violence, Place and Repossession.” Progress in Human Geography 45, no. 5 (2021): 972–89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520943676.

Romic, Ivana Krmpotic, and Bojana Bojanic Obad Scitaroci. “Temporary Urban Interventions in Public Space.” Prostor 30, no. 2(64) (2022): 178–87. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31522/p.30.2(64).4.

Sanyal, Romola. “Urbanizing Refuge: Interrogating Spaces of Displacement.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38, no. 2 (2014): 558–72.

Scannell, Leila, and Robert Gifford. “Defining Place Attachment: A Tripartite Organizing Framework.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 30, no. 1 (2010): 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.09.006

Staničić, Aleksandar, and Milan Šijaković. “(Re)building Spaces of Tolerance: A ‘Symbiotic Model’ for the Post-War City Regeneration.” Architecture and Culture 7, no. 1 (2019): 113–28.

Susser, Ida, and Jane Schneider. Wounded Cities. In Wounded Cities: Destruction and Reconstruction in a Globalized World, ed. Ida Susser and Jane Schneider, 1–24. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003. Retrieved August 24, 2023, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474215985.ch-001.

Szaton, Karolina Marta. “The Temporary Use as a Strategy for Transforming the Space of Contemporary Cities. Space Transformations Supported by the Purposeful Application of Temporary Use, Based on a Case Study.” Miscellanea Geographica 22, no. 4 (2018): 231–36. DOI: 10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0031.

Travlou, Penny. “From Cooking to Commoning: The Making of Intangible Cultural Heritage in OneLoveKitchen, Athens.” In Cultural Heritage in the Realm of the Commons, ed. Stelios Lekakis, 159–82. London, United Kingdom: Ubiquity Press, 2020.

UNESCO. Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Paris, 1972.

UNESCO. Convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Paris, 2003.

United Nations. Ukraine: Regional refugee response plan and flash appeal. 2022. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/92258.

Downloads

Published

2024-06-27

How to Cite

Garcia Ferrari, M. S., Mezentsev, K., Provotar, N., Iliadi , M., & Kartalou, N.-S. (2024). Displaced public spaces in Ukrainian cities: Increasing diversity and inclusion in urban reconstruction through temporary occupation. ZARCH. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, (22), 76–89. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2024229877

Issue

No. 22 (2024): In between permanence and temporariness. On camps, urbanity and time

Section

Topic papers