A new city: who creates and how to create a comfortable public space

What should a modern Ukrainian city be like? Is it possible to make it convenient for residents and guests? How does it effectively interact with various interested parties for its development? These issues were discussed at the Festival of Ideas – 2021, which Aspen Institute Kyiv held in partnership with Impact Hub Odesa, during the panel discussion “New city: who and how creates a comfortable public space.”

Speakers of the panel discussion were:

• Oleg Drozdov, architect and founder of the architectural office Drozdov & Partners and Kharkiv School of Architecture, author of the latest project of the Podol Theater in Kyiv. Winner of the Grand Prix and first prize in the “Commercial Interior” category of the Ukrainian “Best Interior of the Year” competition;
• Taras Kaidan, co-founder, and editor-in-chief of the online journal «HMAROCHOS», a graduate of the “Values and Society-3” seminar at Aspen Institute Kyiv;
• Petro Obukhov, deputy of the Odesa City Council and developer of the Bond taxi service application, programmer and ideologist of city Internet projects, creator of the project on energy monitoring of budget buildings of the Odesa region to save gas and coal consumption.

At the beginning, the moderator of the event, Nataliya Morozova, the executive director of Havas Group Ukraine, recalled a quote by Winston Churchill: “First we build buildings, and then they build us.” In her deep conviction, our space shapes us as individuals, and citizens, and influences our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. And it is the creation of comfortable public places that is the key to the development of a truly civil society.

We highlighted the key theses that the speakers expressed during the discussion:

• The fate of public spaces depends on the interaction of citizens, authorities, and developers. It is necessary to develop a culture of dialogue between all parties in the process. Taras Kaidan spoke about this in more detail: “Unfortunately, protest today is the most effective form of communication with the city authorities. This tool should be a discussion. But residents should influence not so much the final result, the architectural project, or the project of the transport engineer. This is the work of specialists. They must influence the technical task. They must express their interests and needs, according to which something will be projected, shown, and presented. First, it eliminates conflict. Secondly, the place that will be built will be used.”
• Thanks to the strategy for the development of public places, it is possible to simplify the solution of most of the problems associated with illegal buildings and the low quality of completed works. Pavlo Obukhov noted: “Formally, we have a strategy for the development of architecture. There is a master plan. However, in reality, so far all decisions are made rather chaotically.”
• The city must evolve along with the lifestyle of its inhabitants. Now our city is tall residential buildings and supermarkets on every corner. Such infrastructure contributes to motorization, and therefore to traffic jams and citizen dissatisfaction. Our cities are not adapted to a different way of life. Oleg Drozdov reminds everyone that “in Britain, in the 80s, highways began to be dismantled after the era of motorization. It was a counterattack by pedestrians and public transport in the city. But we are just getting there.”

The Aspen Institute of Kyiv team is already planning the Festival of Ideas – 2022, and also invites you to watch the full recording of the discussion at the link: New city: who and how creates a comfortable public space – YouTube