Spatial Solutions in Conditions of Uncertainty: Fundamentals of Urbanism for Recovery Workshop in Kyiv

As part of the Fundamentals of Urbanism for Recovery project, an intensive urban design workshop took place in the format of a “pressure cooker” laboratory — a short but highly concentrated process based on a rapid transition from analysis to spatial proposals through simultaneous work across several interconnected dimensions.
Participants — partly graduates of the previous Fundamentals of Urbanism for Recovery online course, partly representatives of universities and participants selected through an open call — worked with a real site in central Kyiv as a testing ground for integrated approaches to urban transformation. Materials on the site’s history, natural environment, spatial characteristics, and development potential were prepared in advance, allowing participants to engage directly with the context not in abstract terms, but through concrete spatial, social, and resource-related challenges.
The workshop was structured around four integrated dimensions: engagement, design, sustainability, and safety. The aim was not to address these themes separately, but to work with them as a single interconnected process in which every decision affects multiple layers simultaneously. How can spatial design respond to safety constraints? How can inclusivity be approached not only in terms of physical accessibility, but also through participation, representation of different groups, and the ability to influence transformation processes? How can decisions be made under conditions of limited resources, conflicting interests, and the ongoing uncertainty that has become part of the Ukrainian urban context during wartime?
The multidisciplinary character of the groups played a central role throughout the workshop. Participants came from different professional and academic backgrounds, allowing teams to combine diverse approaches, methods, and perspectives. This diversity of experience became an essential part of the process — from site analysis to the development of spatial scenarios and proposals.
Despite the limited timeframe, the teams developed a range of approaches and solutions that may be relevant not only for this particular site in central Kyiv, but also for dozens of similar spaces across Ukraine. The workshop functioned not only as an educational format, but as a practical exercise in working with real conditions, where uncertainty, limited resources, and the need to balance competing demands are not exceptions, but fundamental conditions for urban design today.
We will share more detailed workshop outcomes and proposals soon.

The implementation of the course was made possible with the support of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, acting on behalf of the Government of the Netherlands in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.