UNECE attends the preparatory conference for the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 on 6-7 March 2024 in Berlin, Germany
Urban Transformation Preparatory Conference: New Models of Housing for Ukraine, Berlin, Germany
A World Bank assessment conducted in cooperation with the Government of Ukraine, the European Commission and the United Nations released on 15 February 2024, estimates that as of 31 December 2023, almost two years since the onset of the conflict, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine will be $486 billion over the next decade. Supporting Ukraine and its reconstruction process has been a key priority for the international community since the onset of the ongoing conflict in February 2022.
On 6 and 7 March, 2024, the German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building and the Ukrainian Ministry for Restoration hosted the preparatory conference for the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 “Unlocking opportunities, creating momentum: Transformative Urban Reconstruction in Ukraine”, in Berlin, Germany. The conference was part of preparations for the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024, which will take place in Berlin in June 2024. Representatives from the municipal and national levels in Ukraine as well as civil society and academic implementing partners, met with international architects and urban planners to exchange approaches to urban development practice, providing them with an opportunity to examine these practices for their own needs. As there has been a growing aspiration of local architects in Ukraine to became active participants in the reconstruction process, the conference provided engaging discussions.
On the first day, Ms. Paola Deda, Director for Forests, Land and Housing Division, UNECE, introduced the UN4UkrainianCities project, which was established at the request of the Ministry for Communities, Territories Development and Infrastructure of Ukraine in April 2022, to support national and local governments with the urban recovery process. The project, which is led by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, focuses on the development of concept master plans to support the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv to “build back better”.
The second day hosted panel discussions on several topics of urban development, such as housing, the governmental and financial architecture of recovery and transformation, local self-governance and recovery, how to plan for recovery and transformation, and sustainable and energy-efficient construction and renovation. During the housing panel “New Models of Housing for Ukraine", Ms. Oleksandra Kirian, Head of the Sector of Cooperation with International Financial Partners, International Cooperation Department of Kharkiv City Council, highlighted that “affordable housing is a necessary mechanism for the return of citizens and the stabilization of the economy of Ukrainian cities" – an objective supported by the UN4UkrainianCities project through the Kharkiv City Municipal Housing Program. Having drawn inspiration from a similar initiative implemented in Germany, Kharkiv Mayor Mr. Ihor Terekhov initiated the program to provide access to affordable housing for both Kharkiv's residents and internally displaced populations in Ukraine.
In addition to local initiatives, UNECE is supporting the formulation of Ukraine’s new draft Law to replace the Housing Code of 1983, under the UN4UkrainianCities project. UNECE experts have highlighted the importance of embedding the core principles of the UN Charter on Sustainable Housing into Ukraine's housing policy legislation, including the principles of environmental protection, economic effectiveness, social inclusion and participation, and cultural adequacy. The new draft Law aims to ensure that those in need can be the recipients of loans, social housing or temporary housing (for IDPs).
Livable neighborhoods can only be achieved through strong municipalities with support from the regional and national levels. The UN4UkrainianCities project supports revisions of the national policy framework for housing and urban development at the country level, as well as housing initiatives at the city level. Grounded in the new concept master plans for Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, housing will be a key focus throughout the project.
The Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 will be held from 11 - 12 June 2024 in Berlin, following the Ukraine Reform Conferences that have been held annually since 2017 in London, Copenhagen (2018), Vilnius (2019, 2021), and Toronto (2020). The conference will bring together key Ukrainian and international actors from politics, business and civil society and drive a sustainable, transformative and inclusive reconstruction of Ukraine.