PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA monitors the implementation process of the Kyiv project Vlasne Misto and construction of the first Ukrainian cluster city. In search of a recipe for "how to build trusting and mutually beneficial relations between community residents and developers", we spoke with Yaroslav Korniyachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto, and Taras Didych, head of the Dmitrivska TG. And in order to expand the topic of building a good-neighbor ecosystem, they turned to an expert - Ivan Verbytskyi, head of Sedos, an organization that conducted a number of studies on the topic of local development.
Start of construction of the first Ukrainian cluster town Vlasne Misto in the Kyiv region. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
What prevents the parties from finding a win-win solution?
We previously wrote in detail about what participation is in terms of territorial development and how proposals from local residents help improve the city in the article "Participation: when the community is for everything, but sometimes against it." We talked about the most common mistakes of planners, as well as the fact that local residents often use their right of veto to block even socially significant projects.
A developer cannot build a house, block, district or city in a vacuum, he will have to accept the context and interact with the residents. Whether public participation will play a plus or minus, or whether synergistic relationships will develop, depends on two main conditions:
- whether the project increases the standard of living of indigenous residents;
- how high is the level of trust between the parties.
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, located in the center of Dmitrivka village of Dmitrivka territorial community. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
What does the investor come with?
The problems of rural communities, with minor variations, are the same in all parts of the world. This is a poorly developed (compared to cities) infrastructure; problems with water supply, sewage and household waste disposal; insufficiently developed road network.
The author and ideologue of the Vlasne Misto project, Yaroslav Korniyachenko, is sure that the implementation of the development plans proposed by his team will provide the Dmitrivska community with infrastructural and economic autonomy.
A) Water supply and closed cycle
Yaroslav Korniyachenko: "Almost all settlements around Kyiv use an aquifer at a depth of 80-84 meters. It has practically run out — over the past 5 years, the water column has fallen by 12 meters. The drainage system was built during the Soviet Union in such a way that the water was drained in a cascade: first into the nearest streams, then into the rivers, then into the sea. Now the lakes are half-empty, there is no water retention, and due to chaotic construction there is no natural drainage and filtration, the underground aquifers do not have time to fill up naturally.
Our project envisages drilling 120-meter wells, almost no one uses this horizon. The water will meet all standards and regulations. No, it will not be free, as the centralized water supply requires obtaining a license and rent for the use of this water. However, we are setting up a reserve that can be used by local residents if they so desire or when the water level in the old wells drops. If their water treatment system fails, we will be able to connect them through the bypass. In this way, we will be able to provide water to the residents of Dmytrivka and nearby settlements.
We are planning water purification and water retention measures that will allow the use of technical water for domestic needs and communal enterprises, so that people will stop using drinking water, which is currently extracted from wells. We are implementing a program to restore bogs, which are very good absorbers of CO2 and also naturally perform the function of drainage and filtration. On the territory of Vlasne Misto, we have designed a system for collecting meltwater and precipitation, which will be retained in the landscape elements, reduce the temperature in hot periods and be used as a reserve for fire hydrants, as well as technical water for bathrooms.
In 2025, the launch of the first stage of water treatment of increased capacity is planned, which will make it possible to connect to it, in particular, some streets of existing settlements. The next stage is output to a volume of 5 cubic meters per day, it is planned for 2028."
A multifunctional square with a greenhouse complex and places for public activity is the future center of Vlasne Misto. Visualization provided by the press service of Vlasne Misto
B) Waste management
The first phase of the waste management program will also be launched next year. The Vlasne Misto team wants to solve the problem of accumulation of household waste, disposal, and in the future will receive a stable economic benefit from recycling.
Yaroslav Korniyachenko: "Our goal is not to accumulate garbage, but to immediately process it, in particular, the waste of the Dmitrivska TG, which has already accumulated, for the launch of the first stage of biomethane generation. We develop this program with a local team.
Of course, in rural areas, most residents of the private sector independently compost organic waste on their plots of land. But all the same, Dmitrivska TG currently generates plus or minus 11 tons of bio-waste per year. There is a condition: to ensure sorting of garbage by residents. The leadership of the community supports us in this, but we still need to talk to the people in detail."
C) Clean energy and land use
"On August 2, we received approval from the TG for the implementation of the energy park project within the TG and its placement within the plots owned by Vlasne Misto investors, plots of communal property and the involvement of other willing adjacent landowners in the project. There is constant communication between us and the local architectural authority: we discuss exactly where we can place wind generating substations, solar panels, so that it is optimal. We also received approval from NEC "Ukrenergo" and can place solar panels in the buffer zones of the high-voltage power transmission line, which precisely optimizes the use of land that cannot be built on," CEO Vlasne Misto said.
Yaroslav Korniachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto
Korniachenko would like to create a precedent: if a similar practice of land use in such zones is extended to the territory of Ukraine, it will allow to restrain the increase in tariffs, rational use of land and reduce the costs of cleaning such zones from undergrowth.
"If we talk about the benefits for the residents of Dmitrivska TG, then it clearly refers to taxation, filling the budget, rational use of territories. The second point is the construction of the first island distribution grid using wind, solar energy, as well as biomethane. The backup system will be able to support the network during business load hours and accumulate about 600 megawatts of clean energy, which will be enough for at least 6 hours. Of course, we are planning to update the power grids," Yaroslav clarifies.
D) What else?
We previously wrote in detail about the key components of the project, including plans for the social sphere, entrepreneurship and ecology here, here і here.
Yaroslav Korniachenko: "Let me remind you that our main task is synergy with TG. Therefore, Vlasne Misto enterprises fill the budget of the TG, and residents also pay personal income tax, social security tax to the local budget. With the funds of this joint budget, the community will repair existing roads, develop its educational institutions, and make landscaping. We are interested in raising the level of our project due to the development of the surrounding areas.
We help with local initiatives, for example, we recently financed a kindergarten project in the neighboring village of Petrushki, which, by the way, has nothing to do with Vlasne Misto. We financed and are financing the repair of roads, the construction of a new collector from the village of Mila to the sewage treatment plant."
"If we talk about the benefits for the residents of Dmitrivska TG, then it clearly refers to taxation, filling the budget, rational use of territories. The second point is the construction of the first insular power distribution network"
Community: "What do we need and what do we want?"
Dmitrivska hromada as TG was formed in December 2020. In the spring of 2022, the villages of TG were in the zone of active hostilities, more than one and a half thousand objects were destroyed or damaged. The large-scale aggression forced a review of the development strategy and spatial development plan — in fact, these documents have to be rewritten taking into account the new realities. According to Taras Didych, head of the TG, the strategy has already been practically finalized. It has two focal points: autonomy, energy independence of settlements and their readiness to receive thousands of new residents.
Dmytrivka is one of the most actively developing villages of the Kyiv region. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
A) Autonomy and independence
According to Taras Didych, energy independence is a strategic condition of stability, and in Ukrainian realities, it is literally a matter of survival: "Life has shown that those cities that have energy independence have a much higher level of survival. We agreed that Vlasne Misto could host both solar and wind generation facilities. We are also interested in making it possible to produce electricity at sewage treatment plants using modern technologies.
Additional generation will be particularly useful for business, in particular for farms. After all, due to the power outage, the owners are forced to use generators, and this is a direct loss.
Everyone understands that the cable plant that we operate is a part of critical infrastructure, because a cable is constantly needed for the repair of energy facilities. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the plant with electricity."
Taras Didych notes that the same applies to water supply and water purification: "The Dmitrivska community has its own water and sewerage, unlike neighboring TGs, whose water supply is carried out directly from Kyiv, and in the event of an accident on these networks, residents of such TGs will be left without water. However, our own systems need to be modernized."
The head of the TG confirms the words of Yaroslav Korniachenko that the modernization of sewage treatment facilities and waste management is a joint mutually beneficial idea: "We need to build sewage treatment facilities that will clean not a thousand cubic meters, but 10 thousand cubic meters per day. Dry waste can also be used, as is done today in other countries. Then they go to fertilizers and are sold. If the treatment plants are modernized and loaded at least by 80-90%, then it will have a pretty good return, particularly in the financial sense. This is an example of a project that, in addition to ensuring livelihoods, also has economic prospects. This profit must be shared. We must understand that the community must not lose control over this issue.
It is necessary that complete recycling of both dirty water and garbage takes place. If all this is closed, then we get a really ecologically clean territory. But the community will not pull such projects by itself, as always, a "locomotive" is needed to help make a push. It's great that Vlasne Misto also shares this environmental ideology. And the community is ready to work together in this regard."
Visualization from the improvement project of green public spaces between the blocks of Vlasne Misto. Visualization provided by the press service of Vlasne Misto
B) Parallel construction of housing and social facilities
Taras Didych perfectly understands how attractive for development the areas 20 minutes away from the capital are, and he also agrees that the demand for housing in the Kyiv region will only grow.
"We understand that millions of people are looking for a place to settle, where to live. Our community is metropolitan. Young, able-bodied people look not only at where to live, they look at where they can realize themselves and educate their children.
We have a very promising territory, we are the western gate of the capital. But we did not set ourselves the task of building 12-20 floors here. Believe me, we could run into them here a lot and very fast.
This is already my basic position. I had the opportunity to visit abroad and see how people develop suburbs. Yes, new housing is needed, but let it be up to five floors, three to five floors, so that a person can see the clear sky."
According to the head of the TG, it is important for him not to repeat the mistakes of other capital villages, where the territories were built up with residential quarters without any support from the social sphere. There is also his own experience, about which Taras Didych diplomatically expresses himself as follows: "There are different experiences, but this is normal, it only teaches you how not to step on the same rake."
In negotiations with the Vlasne Misto team, one of the points emphasized by the head of the TG Taras Didych is the construction of housing at the same time as household objects, schools and kindergartens, or at least with a slight delay
"In the first stages of development, Vlasne Misto will need close interaction with our existing social sphere, kindergarten, school, etc. I understand that in the future they will have their own. But at the first stage, we need ours. I realize that it will be very difficult for us without each other."
Vlasne Misto schools will meet all modern design and functionality requirements. Visualization provided by the press service of Vlasne Misto
A strategy for building trust
Mutual trust allows society to come together in times of crisis and face long-term challenges. Since 1981, politicians, economists and sociologists have been guided by the data of the European Values Study (EVS) and the World Values Survey (WVS). The assessment of values provides insight into the current ideas, beliefs, preferences and opinions of citizens around the world, and also shows the dynamics of change. All figures from the polls, which are conducted at intervals of ten years, are open and stored at GESIS, the Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences in Cologne. A separate block in the study assesses social capital, trust, and organizational membership. When assessing the reliability of a person or institution (institution, company), respondents invariably focus on three characteristics: competence, benevolence and honesty. It is these qualities that determine the degree of trust. That is, if an investor who decided to implement a project in a Ukrainian village is open, friendly and demonstrates competence, it will be easier for him to come to an agreement with the village community.
Yaroslav Korniachenko believes that the most serious mistake an investor-developer can make is to start communicating with the community without careful preparation. Any pause, uncertainty in behavior, vagueness in wording can cause people to consider the authors of the project to be unprofessional and unreliable at best.
"Now we are participants in the development of the TG development strategy, we communicate with the responsible departments of the village council. Already in the winter-spring period, meetings with residents are planned. Yes, we agree that openness and communication are the solution. But communication should be tactically prepared. This is when I, or another colleague of mine, or an employee can immediately answer any question. Each of our meetings should form the foundation of mutual trust.
Democracy at its fullest is when we give the opportunity to discuss issues and everyone has the right to express their opinion. This is great, but when there is no organization, there is no answer to all possible questions that may arise during communication, everything happens chaotically and does not lead to a concrete result. A public hearing turns into a debate in which everyone is right, but everyone has their own truth.
It is necessary to develop technology to give clear answers, how the issue will be resolved and what the community will get from it."
Modernization of the existing schools of Dmitrivska TG is a joint program of Vlasne Misto and the local administration. Photo: Yuriy Ferendovych
Dmitrivska TG is probably not a typical community for Ukraine. She already has a serious experience of business partnership with large investors
"We are one of those few communities where there is not enough work, but workers. Dmytrivka was once a 60% subsidized community. But already for the next year, 2025, a reverse subsidy is planned — 14 million hryvnias will be withdrawn from the community budget. This happened because we were able to negotiate and locate the central office of Winner Imports Ukraine, place the German AKUTRON cable plant, the Interkabel plant, the Cyber Clinic Spizhenka medical center, and a number of other enterprises that came in, were built, and became operational. and started paying taxes to the budget. Therefore, we have experience of cooperation with investors, including foreign ones," says Taras Didych.
The village head believes that transparent relations are the key to such success: "Openness is the first thing. We have contacts with the German agency Health4Ukraine, which helped us with materials for warming the hospital. Recently, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany wanted to come and see the result - no problem, everything was shown. Everything is transparent. Now they and we are ready to work for the future. The credit of trust is earned that way."
Taras Didych assures that during the 8 years of acquaintance and partnership with the Vlasne Misto team, there have been no conflicts with the residents of the community.
"If there were minor misunderstandings, then, perhaps, the reasons lay in the work of the apparatus of the executive committee and the village council. We are a young community, we still do not have time to cover everything competently. And if people don't know something, they will figure it out themselves. For example, they are looking for a subtext: "the village council sold the land under the farm." People have a farm, there is a plot under the farm for rent, and the owners of the farm have, according to the law, a priority right to buy it. Or construction has started, cars are driving on the streets. The question arises, they say, why are they driving on our street? When people came to us, we turned to the management of Vlasne Misto and offered to change the route of the trucks so as not to cause discomfort to the residents of the old part of the village. We solved this logistics. That's all for now."
Taras Didych, Chairman of Dmitrivska TG, and Yaroslav Korniyachenko, CEO of Vlasne Misto. Visualization provided by the press service of Vlasne Misto
Trust, but fix
In business relations, CEO Vlasne Misto and the head of the TG are used to relying on legal documents.
"When we talk about the creation of a joint venture or the reconstruction of treatment facilities, it is clear that we need guarantees of the involved investments," explains Korniyachenko. - Legally, of course, the indigenous population will not be co-owners of objects on the territory of Vlasne Misto - this is a private territory, we do not build on communally owned land. But people will have access to them and the opportunity to use the infrastructure. As for the objects that will be built on the territory of communal enterprises or on the territory of the TG, it is clearly collective property."
"The village council cannot enter into agreements that contradict the current legislation of Ukraine. The main tool that the current legislation gives us is the public-private partnership agreement, which already stipulates how to do what and how to jointly develop certain objects. We signed a memorandum of cooperation with Vlasne Misto as a strategic document. And more specifically, there should be a detailed agreement for each case, where the issues of attracting investments and the responsibilities of the parties are resolved," concludes Taras Didych.
Still, Yaroslav Korniyachenko believes that the concept of "partnership and good neighborliness" has a wider scope than can be marked on paper: "Of course, we want local residents to have a sense of involvement in our project. For example, we are developing a central park project for the Dmitrivska TG, which we plan to offer to the community. Communication takes place constantly, but the main thing is yet to come. I am sure that the implementation of our first joint programs will be a decisive argument in favor of building a fruitful relationship of trust."
