UN-Habitat has started activities in Ukraine to support the country’s urban recovery efforts, including sustainable and inclusive urban recovery planning across the country. Interventions started in December 2023 with a series of workshops in the municipality of Makariv, in the region of Kyiv, with technical experts and local authority representatives discussing and mapping out recovery needs and priorities for the area.
“The success of reconstruction depends not only on the rapid pace of recovery but also on what priorities we set for future development,” said Anatolii Karbovskii, Deputy Head of Makariv Territorial Community.
This first initiative will be followed by a participatory and consultative process to support urban recovery in the short, medium, and long term.
“The support and assistance of our partners in developing a document that will contain an action plan or recommendations on ways to achieve sustainable development is very important for us. This document will give us opportunities to solve the main problems that inhibit the sustainable development of our community,” Karbovskii said.
A future country office in Ukraine
UN-Habitat is in the process of establishing its office in Ukraine to provide innovative responses to the recovery efforts. The organization is bringing to the table its extensive expertise in urban crisis response and digital solutions for cities through its United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC). This is a partnership between UN-Habitat, the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology, and HafenCity University Hamburg.
UN-Habitat aims to support Ukrainian cities and regions to build back better by connecting the ongoing humanitarian response to sustainable and inclusive urban recovery. Together with its partners, UN-Habitat will assess the recovery needs of cities in all affected sectors – including the provision of housing, basic services, and employment – and develop holistic urban recovery plans.
The deployment of an Urban Lab
The technical support to municipalities will be undertaken through an Urban Lab, which UN-Habitat is also currently establishing in Kyiv. The Urban Lab aims to become a hub of urban expertise and knowledge for practitioners, experts, academia, NGOs, and other organizations to discuss urban recovery issues in Ukraine, provide inputs to ongoing initiatives, and produce and share knowledge on other urban issues in Ukraine.
UN-Habitat works closely with the Ministry for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine to understand priorities and identify needs that can be supported by UN-Habitat’s engagement in the country. This work is funded through financial contributions from the governments of Germany, Slovakia, and the United States of America.
Cities in Ukraine are under high pressure to respond to and recover from the severe disruptions to housing, basic services provision, the economy, and other essential areas of life. Physical damage and the hardships of displaced families are exacerbated by the harsh winter conditions in the country.
UN-Habitat’s engagement in Ukraine is aligned with the requests of its Executive Board to support the efforts to reconstruct human settlements affected by conflict and disaster through a comprehensive system-wide response and to continue to assist in urban crises.
