Urban development amid war: architects from Sumy shared their experience with residents of Lutsk
- Publication date
Today, no city in Ukraine remains unaffected by the war. And in certain areas – the border regions, specifically – this reality hits particularly hard. Yet, despite the constant shelling, air raid alarms, and the uncertainty, people there are living, creating, innovating, transforming, and building their future.
To share how even in such challenging times one can work for the benefit of their city and seek opportunities for its development, young architects and urbanists from Sumy — Ihor Tytarenko and Yurii Leonets — came to Lutsk.
On Wednesday, May 7th, they held a lecture titled "The city against the odds: urban planning in Sumy during the war" in one of the buildings of Lesia Ukrainka Volyn National University. The meeting took place as part of the second season of urban lectures, Urban Talks 2.0, which is part of the Urban Vision Lutsk project. The event was attended by students, historians, architects, representatives of local self-government, public activists, and simply caring residents.
Ihor and Yurii shared with the audience their unique experience of developing a city that lives alongside the war. They spoke about how, in times of constant air raid alarms and drones overhead, they create interesting and needed projects.
"Sumy of the Future"
This is a network of community associations that unite creative, proactive, and imaginative residents: stand-up comedians, artists, and musicians. They regularly organize various cultural events, festivals, lectures, and other activities in the city.
In particular, the community "Sumy of the Future. Architects" was founded in July 2023 by Ihor Tytarenko and his like-minded colleague Oleksandr Babych. Its members actively seek and implement interesting ideas for improving the urban space.
"It is very important for us that our city changes for the better. Therefore, we promote various public initiatives in the field of urban planning, implement projects, organize public discussions, bring successful cases from different cities of Ukraine, research local heritage, create spaces, and generally try to take our city to a new level,"
“POHRIB” (“Сellar”)
This is a cultural space that also emerged from the initiative of Ihor and Oleksandr after the founding of "Sumy of the Future." This particular location became the starting point of the project, a place of strength in its first years of existence. This is where the first communities, events, and new talents emerged.
The guys managed to independently tidy up an unremarkable cellar on Voskresenska Street and transform it into a real creative shelter. Thanks to its underground location, it was safe to be in "Pohrib" during enemy threats.
"Our city is under constant shelling. The air raid alarm doesn't even need to be turned off, as a missile's flight takes just 40 seconds. This makes it almost impossible to reach a shelter in time. That's why all events in Sumy have moved underground. And "Pohrib" became the place where concerts, performances, and lectures could be held even during alarms,"
Unfortunately, "Pohrib" has currently paused its activities. But the founders have already found a new underground space where the cultural space will get a second life.ʼ
"Sumy 1915"
This project aims to visually demonstrate what Sumy was like over a hundred years ago. "Sumy 1915" was founded by Ihor Tytarenko and Yurii Leonets in cooperation with historical motivator Yevhen Murza, and the entire "Sumy of the Future. Architects" team is working on its implementation.
The participants investigate the city's historical heritage from the early 20th century: they study the architecture and urban planning of that time, and process archival photographs and documents. Their goal is to create a virtual model of Sumy that will show what the city looked like during its "golden age," as well as what losses the urban development suffered over the century.
"Besides recreating what has been destroyed, we also want to preserve what currently exists. This year on Palm Sunday, the whole world heard about Sumy when two ballistic missiles hit the historic city center. Ihor and I participated in the scanning and inspection of all these damaged monuments. That made us realize: if we don't scan everything now, there might be nothing left to scan in a year,"
Currently, the project is gradually moving out of the research phase, so the systemic development stage will begin soon.
"Forest Park 'Ostriv' ('Island')"
Within the framework of this project, architect-urban planners want to transform a neglected wooded area in Sumy, located on a peninsula between the Psel River and its old riverbed, into a modern forest park. This territory will serve for hiking, camping, cycling tourism, and other types of recreation. Furthermore, they propose to locate a modular town here for the rehabilitation of veterans and their families.
"This is a really great recreational area; animals and birds live there, and there's beautiful flora. It's something very similar to Hnidava Marsh in Lutsk. People don't go there much because of its desolateness, so we decided that this area needs to be improved and transformed into a place for recreation. Yes, many residents now insist that tourism is not timely. But believe me, people in the city also need somewhere to go out, to unwind, to relieve stress – especially when drones are flying overhead every day,"
The concept for the future location was developed by the members of the "Sumy of the Future. Architects" community in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Tourism, and Religions of the Sumy Regional State Administration. While work has not yet begun, there is already a clear action plan: to clear forest paths, establish suitable infrastructure, and build a modular rehabilitation center town.
"Litnychka"("Summer spot") and "Courtyard by the Cellar"
These are open-air locations, implemented by Ihor and Yurii, along with the entire "Sumy of the Future. Architects" team. They are spaces where they organize cool gatherings, lectures, concerts, stand-up performances, and many other events.
Today, the goal of these architects and urban planners is to create many such places in the city, transforming Sumy into a completely comfortable and tidy space for its residents, even despite the war.
Urban Talks are urban lectures and discussions initiated by misto.reboot NGO within the Urban Vision Lutsk project, supported by the Algorithm of Actions platform. Invited architects, urban planners, and public figures from Ukraine and Europe come to Lutsk to share their experience and best practices on urban development.
