#7: Reimagining Urbanism in Post-War Ukraine

with Oleksandr Anisimov
Lviv, Ukraine

Hold tight: This episode of Cities Reimagined is PACKED with condensed knowledge on cities and urbanism in (post-war) Ukraine . In a 60 minute conversation with Oleksandr Anisimov, we upack:

🇺🇦 … why the ignorance of NOT knowing about Ukraine(ian urbanism) has to stop

🏙️ … reforming land-use rules and governance modes are essential for rebuilding Ukrainian cities

🧰 … why rebuilding “social cities” after the destruction is essential for attracting people back after the war

⏳ … why it feels like the Russian Federation is stealing time from Ukrainians

⛔ … why the overcoming the ‘post-socialist’ label is crucial for reimagining cities

🌱 … how the war and land destruction increases pressures on the land in the Western parts of Ukraine

💲 … why neoliberalism and defunding local administrations creates a crises of imagination of what Ukrainian cities could be

In February 2022, what many from outside of Ukraine thought of as unthinkable happened: a large scale military attack and occupation of Ukrainian land by the Russian Federation. Now, in December 2023, an end of the war in Ukraine is not in sight. Thousands of civilian Ukrainians were killed. Entire cities put to rubble, 1.4 millions homes destroyed or damaged, infrastructures and historic monuments are destroyed each day. I had many questions on where Ukrainian cities and urbanism goes from here, Oleksandr Anisimov helped me to understand and place current events into a larger context.

Get in touch with Oleksandr Anisimov on LinkedIn.

Books mentioned in the episode:

• Anna Reid - Borderland: A Journey through the History of Ukraine - Click here for more.

• Timothy Snyder - The Road to Unfreedom - Click here for more.

This episode of Cities Reimagined was published in December 2023.