Ro3kvit team presented a research study on housing for internally displaced people from Bakhmut

Last week, the Ro3kvit team presented a research study on housing for internally displaced people from Bakhmut as part of the project “A Shared Vision of a New Home” — a pre-design discussion of a residential quarter for IDPs from Bakhmut.

At the center of the conversation was a key question: what should housing for people from Bakhmut be like? Not a temporary shelter, but an environment for rebuilding a community. The discussion focused on what fundamentally distinguishes this type of housing — preserving social ties, the ability to live alongside people with shared experiences, and the balance between private living space and areas for collective life. Particular attention was given to the legislative frameworks within which such solutions are currently possible, the community values that should be embedded in the spatial structure of the quarter, and scenarios for the gradual integration of people from Bakhmut into the host community without losing their identity.

Representatives of the Bakhmut and Hostomel communities joined the discussion, alongside experts in urban planning and law, and specialists working with IDP issues at the national level. Participants spoke openly about legal constraints, long planning horizons, and the fact that the “housing issue” for IDPs cannot be resolved through short-term programs.

A separate part of the event was the Bakhmut Before exhibition — personal photographs and memories of residents depicting the city before its destruction. It served as a reminder that this conversation is not about abstract housing, but about the continuation of a community’s life.

The project was an attempt to articulate a “shared vision” before an architectural design takes shape — so that housing solutions grow out of people’s lived experiences, rather than the other way around.

The project “A Shared Vision of a New Home: Pre-Design Discussion of a Residential Quarter for IDPs from Bakhmut” is implemented within the framework of the Impulse Project, carried out by the International Renaissance Foundation and the East Europe Foundation, with financial support from Norway (Norad) and Sweden (Sida). The content of this material does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation, the East Europe Foundation, the Government of Norway, or the Government of Sweden.