Ro3kvit launches “The City Between Us”, a podcast about decolonizing our relationship with the city.

What if we looked at decolonization as a way of unpacking an old relationship? Of figuring out where our habits come from, what we still put up with out of inertia, what we want to hold on to, and what it’s long past time to let go of.
Five conversations about cities, space, and how the imperial past continues to shape our everyday urban lives — from learning to recognize its traces to exploring what we can do about them.
The conversations are curated by Svitlana Usychenko and Mariam Naiem.
The audio podcast was created by the Ro3kvit Urban Coalition and is produced as part of Vidnova Lab 2026, a programme created by Commit gGmbH with the support of Robert Bosch Stiftung.
All episodes are available in Ukrainian.
Project team: Svitlana Usychenko, Albina Chasnyk, Oksana Hrabchak, and Oleksandra Shekhyreva.
Episode 1
Relationships with a Complicated Past
Imagine you have an old building you love. Love at first sight, and everything is wonderful for years. Then you discover that its façade tells a rather ordinary imperial story. What now? Love it a little less, cancel it, or try to understand it?
With Dasha Korba, we talk about our complicated relationship with historic buildings: what actually makes heritage imperial, whether everything created under an empire automatically belongs to it, and what we can do about it today. And how not to end a relationship along with the façade.
After the Conversation
Try this: Before you start exploring a city, simply spend a little time with it. Choose a place where you feel comfortable, sit down, and take a moment to look around and listen to what’s happening. Only then go and discover its history — through publicly available sources, archives, and, of course, the local library.

Episode 2
Together, As Long As It Suits Me
We live in the city, go away “into nature” for a holiday, miss the village where we used to spend our summers, and call all of it ours. It seems we’ve figured out what we want from these relationships. But when does loving nature turn into a right to control it?With Maria Smirnova, we talk about our relationships with rivers, landscapes, and the other species we share these spaces with. Why do we still see nature as a resource? And what can decolonization change in the way we see, value, and transform the environment around us?P.S. This episode turned out to be a little more immersive than we’d planned. Maria recorded her part outside the city, so our conversation about relationships with nature came with its own soundtrack. We hope it won’t distract you from the conversation 💚
After the Conversation
Read: On Time and Water by Andri Snær Magnason — a book about climate change, water, and our relationship with nature. The author weaves scientific data together with personal and family stories, mythology, and the history of Iceland.