Norman Foster Foundation and Arup office in Berlin schemed a master plan for Kharkiv, Ukraine, to guide future urban regulations and prepare professionals for the city's reconstruction. In collaboration with a local advisory board, the outline is defined by a series of pilot projects to develop aspects such as heritage, infrastructure, and rivers. The initiative follows a request from the Kharkiv Mayor to the Foster Foundation through the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, weeks after the Ukraine War started in February 2022.
One of the most devastating effects of crossfire is the destruction of urban and rural environments. Since the War in Ukraine started in early 2022, UNESCO has verified damage to 227 sites, including 101 religious sites, 79 buildings of historical and artistic interest, and 19 monuments around the country. After the Donetsk Region, Kharkiv is the second most affected area, with more than 11,000 buildings wholly or partially destroyed, according to Ukrainian officials.
Facing forced displacement and the loss of cultural and architectural heritage sites, advisors, locals, and stakeholders had over 100 meetings and working sessions to scheme a pro-bono basis plan developed through a bottom-up approach. For over nine months, the team has delivered public questionnaires for Kharkiv citizens with 16,000 replies and weekly working sessions with the Kharkiv Group of Architects, composed of ten architects, urban planners, and historians from the city. In addition, the UN4Kharkiv task force has led four capacity-building workshops on affordable housing, electric transportation, circularity, and bomb shelters. The entire program was presented in San Marino during the UNECE conference and at the MIT City Science Summit in Boston, USA.
This exhaustive work has led to the definition of the masterplan approach, which will be developed through five core projects: industry, heritage, housing, rivers, and the science neighborhood:
- The industry project will repurpose the polluting coal plant into a clean energy and food center to inform industrial modernization across Kharkiv.
- The housing project will retrofit existing panel-housing blocks to generate safe, modern, and energy-efficient housing across the city.
- The heritage project will create a new architectural landmark in the city center, promoting a respectful approach to rebuilding historical constructions and humanizing surrounding public spaces.
- The rivers project will transform a 6km long strip between the Kharkiv and Nemyshlya rivers into an ecological, pedestrian, and biking connector that will evolve into a city-wide mobility network.
- The Science Neighbourhood pilot project will introduce high-technology industries, research, and start-ups to revitalize the city's industrial base.
A comprehensive summary document is being prepared by the Kharkiv Group of Architects and the Norman Foster Foundation, which will be published in early 2023.
The war in Ukraine has empowered a new generation to position the country on the frontline of innovation, technology, and urbanism. Namely, Zaha Hadid revealed a Masterplan's design with Reusable Pavilions for the Odesa Expo 2030 in Ukraine. Likewise, WZMH Architects, in collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada, are working on designs that serve resilient communities by developing a prefabricated- modular system for salvaging thousands of partially or fully destroyed structures during the war.
