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Ukrainian Urban Forum 2019 in Zaporizhia

Ukrainian Urban Forum 2019 in Zaporizhia

Since 2018, Ukrainian Urban Forum has been facilitating the exchange of experience and networking among activists, researchers, government officials, and all those interested in the equitable and sustainable development of Ukrainian cities. The main goal of the forum is to deepen the discussion on urban development in Ukraine and to strengthen professional and informal ties in the community.

About Forum

“People. City. Factory” was the theme of the 2019 Forum.
Zaporizhia — a city of Cossack freedom and Soviet industry — is large, complex, and fascinating, yet still relatively unexplored by Ukrainian urbanists. Tourism is starting to develop here, but industry remains the dominant force, shaping everything from governance and civil society to the environment, public health, quality of life, infrastructure, migration, and social inequalities. Industrial facilities are so massive and vital — and alternatives so scarce — that transforming the city into a post-industrial hub or repurposing factories into creative spaces isn’t a quick fix.

The Forum’s program included 8 thematic blocks, along with a variety of informal activities: film screenings, a party, guided tours, networking, and even board games.

How can urban movements evolve in industrial cities like this one?
What are local activists and urban professionals already working on?
What can justice and equality look like under such conditions?
And what can people from other cities learn by analyzing Ukraine’s urban issues through the lens of Zaporizhia?

These and other pressing questions were discussed at the second Ukrainian Urban Forum, held in June 2019 in Zaporizhia.

The Forum was supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Office in Ukraine. That year, partners also included the Dzyga NGO and the Zaporizhia Regional Museum of Local Lore.

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Partners

The History of the Forum

The first Ukrainian Urban Forum in a modern format was held in 2018 in Kyiv. Its topic was “What is a fair city?” One of the forum's important features is its traveling component: each year, the event takes place in a new city and allows for the development of a network of regional partnerships.

That is why, in 2019, the forum, which was held in Zaporizhzhia at the invitation of local activists, had the theme “People. City. Plant.”

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the forum switched to a hybrid format. In order to cover the socio-economic problems of Ukrainian cities, we chose the question “Will the Market Solve?” as the topic of the forum and launched a podcast of the same name.

In 2021, the project continued to exist in the form of online discussions, a podcast, a series of articles, and tours in Lviv, Kyiv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. These activities encouraged the community to discuss the future of Ukrainian cities and what it might look like “After Tomorrow.”

In 2022, as a result of the outbreak of the full-scale Russian invasion, the Cedos team decided to cancel Ukrainian Urban Forum. However, in 2023, Ukrainian Urban Forum is already back and heading to Vinnytsia to discuss urban renewal, the right to housing, and how we can create a “Common Home” together.