Today, the proportion of coal and blood has changed a lot, and it's time to make a new effort to understand - is the turbulence zone suitable for building something more capital than "temporaries"? It is a good reason to evaluate retrospectively how successful the attempts to develop the de-occupied territories were between 2014 and 2022. What exactly was missing to turn them into a showcase of the Ukrainian self-sufficient state: money, strength, desire, time? What mistakes cannot be repeated when the guns fall silent, and is it possible to design a new future for small towns in Eastern Ukraine already today?
Viscous, delusional steppe August, bitter honey of overripe apricot trees, hum of hornets, man-made terrycon mountains, hyperboloids of coal dills and smoky pipes. Black dust and troubled people. The Wild East is a terra incognita for the natives of the puppet European cities of Lviv, Vinnytsia, and Uzhgorod, but it is full of mythology and powerful images that sink into the soul.
Plans for small towns in Donetsk and Luhansk regions are sprawling industrial zones with metastases penetrating into residential areas. City routes have no alternative, like the corridor system of a worker's dormitory: the main street leads from the square to the factory corridor with detours to schools and hospitals. Public electric transport is a disappearing species. In general, the first two decades of the modern history of independent Ukraine for the residents of the eastern regions are full of tangible material losses: they are destroyed once famous factories, contact networks and public electric transport rails, dissolved in scrap metal collection points, destroyed by the mold of library collections. Permanent mourning for the regular victims of man-made disasters — accidents in mines and factories.
The war, which began in 2014 and plunged Donetsk and Luhansk into non-existence and stagnation, gave impetus to the development and revitalization of second- and third-tier cities: Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, Dobropillia, Kramatorsk, Bakhmut, Rubizhny, Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Mariupol. The blood-won territory acquired value in the eyes of even hardened pessimists, who in peacetime considered the slow fading of the depressed region to be an evolutionary course of history. The idea of building a showcase from the conquered cities — to the detriment of enemies and the envy of friends — was still on the surface in 2014.
Creative palette
The scene of the city is its streets. The first who decided to add color to the monochrome palette of de-occupied cities were cultural managers with the initiatives of socio-cultural projects, urban spaces, anti-cafes, street art, music and theater festivals, and art residencies. Interventions were usually implemented at the expense of international organizations, in particular at the expense of the European Union. Their goal was not only to destroy the mental map of stereotypes about the Ukrainian East, but also to offer local residents new scenarios of employment, leisure and lifestyle in general.
Ambassadors of the "City Code" program, which specializes in the creative economy and creating conditions for sustainable development of cities, actively showed themselves. This program, which is implemented in Ukraine as part of the project "Strengthening Public Trust" (UCBI II), with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is focused not only on the cities of Donbass, but right here, in the East, the effect was as vivid as possible and expressive. The result of playing on contrasts.
Anastasia Ponomaryova
Anastasia Ponomaryova from Urban Curators has been researching the cities of eastern Ukraine since 2015, when she came to the liberated Slovyansk to study the general urban situation at the invitation of the "Art-mobilization" organization. Together with Iryna Yakovchuk, she monitored where and how residents of Slovyansk work and spend their leisure time, identified safe, dangerous (mined) urban areas and promising areas.
"I, a resident of Makiivka, never had an idea of the Donetsk region as homogeneous and inhabited by problematic people. That is why, when there was an opportunity to join the "Metamisto: East" project and explore 6 cities of the region, I immediately agreed. The project covered 6 cities: Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Bakhmut, Kostyantynivka, Dobropillia, Mariupol. As part of the Urban Curators team, I acted as a researcher, scanning the city and identifying the most suitable points for acupuncture architectural and design initiatives. Then they were implemented by the architectural studio Formografia, "City Code" and local residents.
The most successful projects, in my opinion, are the transformation of the abandoned cinema "Druzhba" into a center of urban culture and skating in Lysychansk. It was implemented by Formografia together with "City Code" and local residents. And also collaboration with the DRUZI team in Kostyantynivka, where The Most Fest was held, a music festival on the territory of an abandoned industrial zone," says Anastasia.
It would be a global mistake to consider this process a one-sided import of a new Europeanized Ukrainian idea to the mentally backward East. People who came to Donbas with a mission of cultural treachery suddenly found treasures of modernist mosaics, frescoes, reliefs and stained glass in the typical boxes of educational buildings, abandoned sports pools and cold palaces of culture. And the dusty archives of local local history museums, it turns out, hid amazing stories and artifacts.
"Druzhba" is the center of urban culture and skating in Lysychansk.
Photo: Artem Galkin for Ukrainianer. Photo courtesy of "City Code"
Transformation of an abandoned cinema into a public space, Kostyantynivka.
Photo: Marichka Varenikova. Photo courtesy of "City Code"
Space "Nepustir" in Dobropilly.
Photo courtesy of "City Code"
A mural with a quote from a poem by Volodymyr Sosyura in Lysychansk.
Photo courtesy of "City Code"
Iryna Solovei
That's what he tells Iryna Solovei, community development strategist, president of Garage Gang NGO, co-founder of bigggidea.com platform: "We were pleasantly surprised to discover that these cities have a history that not only sets today's cultural microrhythms of life in these towns, but also has cultural value at the national level . The poet Volodymyr Sosyura spent his childhood in Lysychansk, whose "Love Ukraine... with all your heart and all your deeds" is on almost everyone's lips even now. For Pokrovsky, Marko Zaliznyak, the author of documentary photos about the life of the Ukrainian village during collectivization and the Holodomor, is a symbolic figure.
We found that almost every city has a character that grew out of its history, and because of this, it pains me now to think about the fate of the urban communities in the east of Ukraine, which the enemy is now dealing numerous blows to. And because of this, it is very gratifying when you see that the occupiers in their public places are fearfully writing under the photos of the murals with Sausyura's poems in Lysychansk, that there are such graffiti all over the city!" (read the full version of the interview with Iryna Solovei at the link).
Urban discussion in Lysychansk and Kostyantynivka. Photo courtesy of "City Code"
Urban discussion in Lysychansk and Kostyantynivka. Photo courtesy of "City Code"
Urban discussion in Lysychansk and Kostyantynivka.
Photo courtesy of "City Code"
Vitaly Matukhno
The main task of cultural and urban landings was to find and support local agents of influence. As if in a photographic solution in a ditch, the features of new city heroes - activists, ready to give their time, energy and money to the transformation of the environment: artists, musicians, poets, photographers, designers, architects "appeared". "The first years - it was a wind from the west. Cultural landings, cultural missionaries from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv... But since 2019, local initiatives independent of support "from the center" began to prevail. Even the "quarantine" 2020-2021 in Lysychansk and Severodonetsk was oversaturated with new events, initiatives, contexts - I just didn't have time to react to everything, visit everything and see everything," he says Vitaly Matukhno, the founder of the art project with the annoyingly incorrect name "Hareleia neotodresh".
Matukhno's team organized experimental exhibitions, performances and parties in abandoned urban spaces: "Local artists have always lacked a common platform, something that could unite them into a community. That is why they were not presented as a separate art segment on the cultural scene of Ukraine. "Hareleya" provoked the creation of several more projects. The BlindSpot initiative appeared in Mariupol, with the first exhibition in an abandoned residential building. In occupied Donetsk, the "Otherwise" initiative appeared, and in occupied Luhansk, the "Iznanka" initiative appeared, which managed to hold two exhibitions under a bridge and in an abandoned building.
"Gareleya" worked and still maintains contact with artists in the occupation. "This is a very difficult moment, but very important. I don't want to divide Donbas, recognizing and legitimizing the existence of pseudo-formations," says Vitaly.
Squat Galleries. Lysychansk. Luhansk region.
Photo: Yulia Sidorchenko
Squat Galleries. Lysychansk. Luhansk region.
Photo: Yulia Sidorchenko
Squat Galleries. Lysychansk. Luhansk region.
Photo: Yulia Sidorchenko
Squat Galleries. Lysychansk. Luhansk region.
Photo: Yulia Sidorchenko
Squat Galleries. Lysychansk. Luhansk region.
Photo: Yulia Sidorchenko
Squat Galleries. Lysychansk. Luhansk region.
Photo: Yulia Sidorchenko
The first years were the wind from the west. Cultural landings, cultural missionaries from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv... But since 2019, local initiatives independent of support "from the center" began to prevail
"Terrafox" party in an abandoned factory workshop, Severodonetsk.
Photo courtesy of Vitaly Matukhno
Jan Ptushko
Photo: Yuriy Stefanyak for Ukrainianer
Streetart is, albeit controversial, the fastest way to visually transform urban spaces. All the more noticeable were the bright colors in the black and white palette of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. Murals Yana Ptushko can be found in almost every town. In Toretsk, for example, the mural on the wall of a high-rise panel was visible even to residents of the neighboring occupied territories. In his native Severodonetsk, in addition to the walls, Yan also painted trolleybuses — occasionally cleaning them from the many-year layer of rust and layering of factory dust.
"Yes, the history of such towns is the factories and everything connected with them. As for Severodonetsk, in my opinion, the city went through the process of transition from the stereotype of an "industrial zone" and developed very confidently in all directions, such as business, infrastructure. Severodonetsk lacked places of leisure for young people and opportunities for development, so I actively involved young people in the development of the city. For example, by holding the festival last year. Unfortunately, after losing the city, I realized that we had all the opportunities for development and were moving in the right direction," says Ptushko.
"Hipster initiatives", according to Richard Florida, the father of the theory of creative economy, should provoke a revitalization of the economic situation - convince local entrepreneurs to invest in their hometown, district, street (PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA previously wrote in an article about the positive and negative aspects and nuances of gentrification "No Gentry? Gentrification: Pros and Cons"). Sometimes the cultural artillery beat in vain - grant support, focused on the implementation of a specific project, brought a single result. Activists won a grant, successfully held a festival, a concert, a contest, an action and... everything. "The circus was going", and the clowns sadly washed off their make-up. The experimental theater was closing, and the owner of the premises where the anticafe was located raised the price tag, forcing the young tenants to take their pallet furniture, colored pillows, paintings and move out. It was like growing seedlings of annual flowers instead of hardy perennials. The inert swamp of the wild Ukrainian east did not react so quickly to models from sunny California.
"In the process of painting a wall", Severodonetsk.
Photo: Yuriy Stefanyak for Ukrainer, 2020.
"Graffiti on the street", city of Severodonetsk, painted with partner Zoltan Nade.
Photo: Yan Ptushko, 2020.
Painting of the roller coaster trolleybus as part of the "Colors against Grayness" project with the support of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection, Construction and Safety of Nuclear Reactors of Germany, Severodonetsk.
Photo: Artem Bryukhanov, 2017.
The mural "Between the letters" as part of the "ARTIFAKE" project with the support of the NGO "Internews-Ukraine" in Bakhmut.
Photo: Vitaly Shevelyov, 2021.
Capital and capital construction
The mantra "we will restore only after a complete victory", which President Poroshenko's team repeated for 5 years, became entrenched in the narrative and turned into lost time in the struggle for minds and hearts.
Between 2014 and 2019, due to decentralization, local budgets in controlled territories increased more than four times. However, local communities have not actually received the authority to implement any project slightly larger than a new public transport stop. Budget allocation teams, as in the bad old days, came from above — from the level of the regional leadership or from Kyiv. No one counted the number of "buried" initiatives - commercial, socio-cultural, infrastructural - for this reason. But if you pay attention to the qualitative leap made by the controlled territories over the last three years, it can be assumed that the losses are large.
Oleksandr Melanchenko
What changed then? "They began to steal less. Plus, the "big construction", which was only in words under Poroshenko, began to take place under Zelenskyi, explains Oleksandr Melanchenko, regional budget consultant of the Association of Cities of Ukraine. - It is necessary to understand that much of what started to be done even earlier, Zelensky was simply taken over and completed, that is, the long-term plans were completed. It's no secret that long-term is long-term money. Under Zelensky, they simply stopped sucking the continuation of construction and money laundering. For example, the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska. It was simply taken and made without inventing various improvements. Perhaps Zelensky needed quick victories, but it benefited the people."
The worse off the city was at the time of 2014, the more noticeable was the progress on its streets from the point of view of local residents. The Luhansk agglomeration of Severodonetsk–Lysychansk–Rubizhne, with its industry destroyed back in the 90s, visually developed faster than the northwest of the Donetsk region, where enterprises were in close contact with the Russian market, and the war forced these ties to be severed and production to be reoriented.
Between 2014 and 2019, thanks to decentralization, local budgets in controlled territories increased more than four times. But the local communities never got the powers
Dmytro Prudov
Dmytro Prudov, an architect from Severodonetsk, calls the period 2014-2022 a "golden time" for the city, which suddenly found itself in the role of a regional center: "In my opinion, this is the peak of the development of the city and its residents. Despite the fact that the demarcation line with the occupied territories was 40 km from the city, Severodonetsk was developing, building and turning into a modern, promising, developed city!
As an architect, designer, I can say that there was a lot of work. Private housing was built, there were many reconstructions of buildings that had been abandoned for a long time, and then turned into some entertainment facilities, business centers, educational institutions, modern parks and squares for recreation. There were many progressive and promising young people who did not leave the city, but on the contrary, tried to bring something new and interesting to it. There was healthy competition in all areas! If someone has made a beautiful shop or cafe, his neighbor will no longer graze behind and will do even better. The urban fabric was very soft for transformations, and the population responded positively to something new."
Projects of the architect Dmytro Prudov, developed for Severodonetsk.
Images courtesy of Dmytro Prudov
Projects of the architect Dmytro Prudov, developed for Severodonetsk.
Images courtesy of Dmytro Prudov
Projects of the architect Dmytro Prudov, developed for Severodonetsk.
Images courtesy of Dmytro Prudov
Kramatorsk was the leader among the settlements of the north-west of the Donetsk region in terms of the number of construction cranes on the horizon. In the fall of 2021, new multi-apartment housing even began to be built in the city (for the first time in 29 years!). The construction of a new multi-storey residential complex "Palace quarter" has started. If we leave behind the pretentious name and the gloomy typical project from the Kharkiv developer "Zhytlobud-1 Trust", the very fact of such a construction was already a positive breakthrough. The City Hall announced its intention to build 50 square meters of residential space per year. This became possible thanks to the fact that in 2021 the government unblocked mortgage lending for residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Six Ukrainian banks have announced their willingness to lend to residents of Kramatorsk for up to 20 years under the guarantee of the city budget.
A 12-story building with service apartments was to appear near the "Palace Quarter", the construction of which was planned to be financed from the regional budget. Another residential complex with 250 apartments with social and rental housing was being prepared to be built with the funds of international organizations. And another project — housing for SBU employees.
Andriy Romanenko
However, in my opinion Andrii Romanenko, coordinator of the Center for Public Control "DIY-Kramatorsk", the processes taking place in the city cannot be called "sustainable development". "It was not development, but the development of money. For example, the "Sad Bernatskyi" project. About a quarter of a billion budget funds have been spent. But is it effective? If you look at the map, it is a park located between the industrial zone and the private sector. Most citizens can get there only by public transport, and since public transport in Kramatorsk runs only until 9 o'clock in the evening, there is only one option left - a car.
The design itself is quite poor. They buried a lot of money, but got a waterfront where you can't go near the water. There is a complete lack of a single design code: four options for lamps, paving — a mixture of paving stones and asphalt, three options for street furniture. The park does not exist as a single integral architectural and landscape complex. And this park is an illustration of everything that has been done in Kramatorsk in recent years," Romanenko believes.
According to the activist, despite the strategy developed at the expense of USAID and the transport concept, the local "fathers of the city" moved only in the direction where they saw profits for themselves personally.
"You can't even compare Kramatorsk with Mariupol. Of course, only Kramatorsk could be the regional center from the point of view of logistics. Only 6 hours on the Intercity from Kyiv. But in terms of maintenance, Mariupol had more rights to be called the regional center. There, the population was twice as large, and a comfortable urban environment was created.
There was a man in Mariupol who needed this development, and he personally paid for it. Yes, through the fund, but everyone knows that the foundation of this fund is Akhmetov's personal money. At urban planning meetings and conferences where the allocation of European aid was discussed, the mayors of cities showed what they were planning to build, "on their fingers", and the mayor of Mariupol Boychenko brought two suitcases of ready-made projects: high-quality polygraphy, visualizations, descriptions. So all the grants went to Mariupol. No matter how we feel about Akhmetov, he has a tradition of creating a more or less comfortable environment for his serfs since the days of Donetsk. There was no such tradition in Kramatorsk."
Freedom Square with interactive lighting installations, Mariupol, 2021. Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko
What's next? Such different algorithms
Sustainable development is not so much the physics of solids as it is a paradigm. And in this sense, projects are alive as long as people are alive, believes Anastasia Ponomaryova: "All projects had a participatory basis, so after the war they can be continued if our agents of influence are involved. It was not so much the physical realization, implementation of projects that was important to us, but the strengthening of the community, support of individual people and joint work."
"You can take the city of Detroit as an example and develop street and modern art through the creation of street galleries, which will further lead to the growth of tourism in the region," Severodonetsk artist Jan Ptushko believes in the creative power of art. But it will no longer be possible to use the old techniques, as the war changes the spaces not only physically, but also mentally, warns Vitaliy Matukhno: "For the residents of Lysychansk, the "tramps" of the 90s have become something commonplace, they simply did not notice them. And we tried to draw attention to these objects. Buildings destroyed by war are a different context. It is unethical and cruel to hold such events in spaces where people died... Let's assume only if this exhibition or art product will work specifically with the theme of war, reflecting all the pain experienced. Although there is enough of it there anyway. For me, it's like walking on too thin ice."
It is important to discuss scenarios for many cities of Donetsk and Luhansk regions with people who were born there, grew up, worked and gained important life experience in these cities
It is necessary to find out what their residents want to see their cities after the end of the war: both those who remained and those who evacuated. Even those who have already decided not to return have the right to express their opinion. Iryna Solovei considers this to be the main condition: "It is important to discuss scenarios for many cities of Donetsk region and Luhansk region with people who were born there, grew up, worked and gained important life experience in these cities. Without the participation of these people, trying to think about the scenarios for these cities is probably useless. With the involvement of these people, anything is possible."
Fashionable multifunctionality does not deny the preservation of the lion's share of production, particularly heavy production, in the economic structure of cities. The deindustrialization and eco-lifestyle course looks good, but even hundreds of creative street cafes are unlikely to allow the city to escape recipient status.
Wind farm near the village of Yasnohirka, Donetsk region, 2021.
Photo: Yevhen Honcharenko
The Most Fest festival, Kostyantynivka, 2018
Photo: Formografia design studio. Photo courtesy of "City Code"
"Rainbow" Park, Mariupol, 2021
Photo: Yevhen Honcharenko
Reconstructed city park, Pokrovsk, 2021.
Photo: Yevhen Honcharenko
"The strategy written by USAID for Kramatorsk envisaged the development of an IT cluster in the city. Very good, but no one understood where he would appear here. At the same time, the topic of industrialization ended up on the black list. He said that factories are bad, because they are such mega-enterprises that infuse workers with ideology. Let's grow the business. And which one?..." - Andrii Romanenko asks rhetorically.
We must be prepared for the fact that the brand of the "region where the war began" will remain with Donbas for a long time, if not forever. This will inevitably hinder private investment and the inflow of specialists. Residents of Sloviansk and Mariupol felt this stigma for the previous 8 years. Without powerful financial infusions from the state and donor countries, without political security guarantees, cultural initiatives and activist efforts are doomed to failure. Heavy artillery destroyed the metabolism, and no cultural saturation of the environment will save it.
"I think that the policy of the state after the large-scale forest fires of 2020 in Severodonetsk, when whole villages were burned en masse, can be considered an anti-example, an unsuccessful rehearsal of the recovery process. And all that was given to people was compensation, it seems, about 300 thousand hryvnias. Compared to the loss of a private house, this is almost nothing. If the post-war reconstruction follows the same path, there will be no development," Vitaly Matukhno believes.
Vitaly is sure that it is almost impossible to remove their industrial essence from the body of eastern cities: "All my life I looked at the horizon with the pipes of the Azot plant." And now, when I live in Lviv, I cannot feel at home without this industrial landscape, I miss it. For the people who were born and lived there, all these factories are a part of their lives. If people are offered a completely different scenario, unfamiliar to them and historically foreign, will they accept it?".
Any general approach to the restoration of Donbas will not work, Anastasia Ponomaryova believes. Her experience shows that the cities of eastern Ukraine are too different. "If we talk about Soledar and Bakhmut, then they have a huge potential to become cities with developed production: there is a champagne wine factory, salt production. The salt mines themselves are also interesting, and there is a sanatorium with underground chambers. This is a strong tourist potential. Slovyansk also has tourist and recreational potential with lakes, forests, and cultural objects. It will be more difficult for monocities that were formed around industrial enterprises and after their disintegration never found any other economic model. It makes sense to consider the development of this region on the scale not of cities, but of agglomerations, where the core will support the satellites."
The building of the Lysychansk city hospital is a unique example of neo-Gothic architecture of the beginning of the 2010th century. It has been abandoned since 2022. It was destroyed by shelling in the spring of XNUMX. Photo: Kladkov.ru. Photo courtesy of Vitaly Matukhno
10 billion, 10 years - that's how the experts assessed the mission to restore and integrate the occupied settlements of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2021. Today, these numbers have increased many times. The war in the active phase does not allow even an approximate calculation of losses. No one knows what will be the point of reference, the very ground zero from which the recovery began after the end of the Second World War. For many, the question of the fate of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is not even rhetorical, but existential. And yet.
The search for development scenarios different from the definitions of "provincial post-industrial zone", "transit territory", "frontier" for the small cities of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is a task with an asterisk, but it cannot be postponed for a long time. As well as a discussion about how to preserve the multi-layered identity of regions with a complex destiny. It is good that the very fact of the existence of this identity and its value is no longer in doubt, and this is precisely the merit of all cultural agents and activists. But the discussion should be started yesterday, without waiting for the zero stage and the results of the audit. This is how strategies for the reconstruction of European cities were developed in the midst of World War II. When the moment comes for specific project proposals, there simply won't be enough time for it.
This publication was created with the financial support of the European Union. The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of DW Akademie / Mediafit Program for Southern and Eastern Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
