Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform

Concept

Team

Mission

1st release

Contact

April 28
First Release

When the team perceives the pain of their hometown of Kharkiv and Ukraine as personal, such a project arises. It was difficult for us to realize everything that started happening in Kharkiv in the first days of March. And on March 21, 2022, we returned to communication with two tags
#RebuildUkraine #UkraineUnitesWorld

Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform is the pioneering digital solution for participatory architecture.
Today we are ready to tell more about Rebuild Ukraine: PAP. This is an unexpected product for us, which we probably would not have come to. But the war changed a lot. We at Business Architecture Lab have decided not to be on the sidelines of rebuilding our hometown of Kharkiv and Ukraine. We decided to create a simple and clear mechanism for the interaction of all stakeholders in the process of developing architectural solutions.
Rebuild Ukraine is the world's first digital environment for communication and collaboration of all actors in the process of developing architectural projects.

The purpose of Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform is to involve key players of the eco-system in the development of architectural projects for the open call competitions.

Architectural bureaus will be able to interact with community members and have information on current open competitions from the municipal government.

Community members will even be able to remotely participate in the creation of spaces for themselves in their hometowns and residential areas. This is especially necessary given the scale of migration of Ukrainians around the world. We hope to return Ukrainians back to Ukraine!

Big idea|mission of Rebuild Ukraine is co-design for co-membership in the local community.
3C: co-design, co-membership, community.
Me is the part of Community. Me means We. We means Me.
To develop the responsibility of Me for the society in the present and future. The World depends on Us.
The concept of We/Me is presented in logo design in particular.

Rebuild Ukraine is an international digital platform, which welcomes both Ukrainian and architectural offices and universities from around the world. The open call competitions will increase the quality of architectural projects and environmental design.

Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform focuses on two key areas: media and co-architecture. Communications help to Co-Creation.

This is our contribution as volunteers to the development of Ukraine after this war. Of course, as people from business, management, and marketing, we at Business Architecture Lab focused on the concept, of communication with many actors in the process of public spaces design. This is a project of multi-collaborations. That's why we invited IT architects from Sitecraft, who agreed to such volunteering for the sake of the civic society development in Ukraine. Exactly for what our legendary ЗСУ – the Armed Forces of Ukraine – are fighting now! For the sake of the best cities in Ukraine, for the sake of rebuilding our native Kharkiv!
We are in the process of development, involvement of stakeholders, communication, and testing.

What?
Rebuild Ukraine is the pioneering digital solution for decision-making in civic society.

Rebuild Ukraine is the digital platform for the interactions of 5 key stakeholders: local community members, architecture bureaus, municipality members, investors, developers, and experts.

The aim of these interactions is the co-creation of public spaces for the local community via open call competitions, and transparent decision-making in civic society.

The mission of Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform is co-design for co-membership in the local community. In other words, 3C: co-design, co-membership, community.
The community members as the users and crucial decision-makers in the society based on democratic values are co-architects and responsible for the present and future of the spaces around.

We are ready to start to talk about Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform. What do we do? Who we are? What do we expect? Who is next to us? How to join?...

The team of Business Architecture Lab in collaboration with Sitecraft company launched Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform.

Business Architecture Lab is a management consulting company. Business Architecture Lab designs the solutions for business systems of the clients, and business modeling in particular. The intersection of consulting, research, and educational activities allows the team to implement the latest research results in the architecture of clients' businesses.
SiteCraft is a provider of enterprise-grade IT solutions. SiteCraft supports clients over the glob in their cloud and digitalization journeys.
Two Ukrainian-based partners share the same democratic values: we need to do all that we can to help #RebuildUkraine as a country where the opinion and voice of the residents are significant in architecture and urban planning.
It is a volunteering project for both partners which is growing and changing its scale every day. We believe that we will create a change, rebuild our cities, and strengthen society. We are open to collaboration! Please, feel free to contact us if you want to be a part of the Rebuild Ukraine project.

May 25
Ambassadors of Rebuild Ukraine

Over the past three weeks, we have conducted a series of in-depth and structured interviews with leading Ukrainian architects: Sergiy Ilchenko (Kharkiv), Julian Chaplinskyy (Lviv), Oleksandr Popov (Kyiv), Katerina Kublicka (Kharkiv), Yuriy Ryntovt (Kharkiv), Oleksii Obraztsov (Dnipro), Oleg Azovskiy (Dnipro), Mykola Chepelev (Odesa). With Cees Donkers (Eindhoven, Netherlands) we began such communication with world architects. We aimed to dive deeper into the environment, and the product, to clarify its functionality.

Sergiy Ilchenko, Kharkiv, Ukraine. He described himself as a "practicing architect who teaches and researches the city"
“The definition of participatory practices in the UK (Localism Act 2011) is a summary of the European experience. Participation or practices of participation contribute to the removal of contradictions in society, taking into account the unique features of the place. Involving citizens in urban planning is a common/established practice in developed countries. The leaders in this regard are probably the Netherlands. I hope that the digital platform Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform will allow us to use the benefits of technology for effective and public interaction of all stakeholders in the development of architectural projects and rebuilding of Ukraine."
Julian Chaplinskyy, Lviv, Ukraine. Architect, urban planner, public and political figure
"It is necessary to organize a good architectural competition indisputable in a participatory way. It is desirable to create a supervisory board, which should include all stakeholders. For example, if it is a competition for a school, then the supervisory board must include representatives of the education department, which has figures on how many children will study at a school. Heads of schools have an idea of what a modern school should look like. Non-local architects should participate in the board, parents of children who are studying, and residents of the areas next to future school.
A number of round tables should be held in the city with an open discussion of the project to a joint setting of task for the project. The competition task is 50% of the success of the competition. It is necessary to achieve maximum integration of different communities. This is where the digital Platform for participatory architecture (ed. - Rebuild Ukraine) should help.
An independent operator of the competition has to assist in the preparation and holding of good architectural competitions, in particular, the development of tasks and work with the selection committee. And Lviv already has such a successful experience. "
Oleksandr Popov, architect, co-founder of achimatika, Kyiv, Ukraine
“Co-creation requires establishing a dialogue with community members and other stakeholders at all stages of architectural project development: from task setting, discussion during the project dynamics, and project acceptance. Participation for architects is the ability to listen and to be tolerant. The Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform will help to structure the process of stakeholder interaction in a digital way for the best architectural solutions in society.”
Katerina Kublicka, Kharkiv, Ukraine. Architect, restorer, heritage protection expert
“The most important thing in the preservation of immovable cultural heritage is how it is perceived and understood by society. We currently have a huge gap in this sense. Unfortunately, our society does not understand what cultural heritage is, why it is, and what to do with it. In fact, the behavior of communities, officials, politicians, developers, and investors is a reflection of this misunderstanding. It is essential to convey to people the value and the need to preserve it. When the community understands the importance of this issue, then we are likely to see an understanding of this issue at all levels of society. Therefore, the community participation is the way of promoting also the safekeeping of immovable cultural heritage.”
Oleg Azovskiy, Dnipro, Ukraine. Architect, creator of spaces for people
“An architect works for people, whether it's an apartment project or city planning. Feedback is very important and valuable.
Interaction with local community members allows you to identify their needs more clearly, and add the necessary functions to the architecture. Communications via the digital platform Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform will make the interaction process easier and faster.”
Oleksii Obraztsov, Dnipro, Ukraine. Architect, head of ArchObraz bureau
“The purpose of the architecture and urbanism contests is quality ideas and proposals. It is important to develop shared values in the process of discussing the subject at all stages of the competition among a wide range of specialists and community members. It is impossible to discover better without having a consensus on which world a successful and happy society will live in.
The functionality of the Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform should be a democratic process without deliberate selectivity.”

What does it mean? That each of us is a part of We, a part of civic society. We all influence the environment around us.
Therefore, We depend on Me, and Me depend on We.

The environment we create affects us and shapes our personalities as residents of cities, towns, and Ukrainians. As said Jan Gehl, Urban Design Consultant and Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen, Denmark: “First we shape the cities - then they shape us”.

Rebuild Ukraine is based on the concept of We / Me: We are a reflection of Me and, conversely, Me is a reflection of We.
This concept has become a source of inspiration for the development of visual identity and logo design.

May 27
Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform

Co-creation - the opinion and indifference of residents are essential for the development of the community, street, house, and playground nearby
Human-centered design - the environment that surrounds us should be comfortable and necessary for the people who use it. Architectural projects must be built around Humans.
Sustainable solutions - the harmony of Humans with the environment, present and future of the world around us depends on us; what inheritance we leave to future generations depends on us now. How do we combine the forces of nature, and the use of materials for architectural projects to help restore Nature itself.
Public decisions - democratic values include transparency of decision-making, open discussion of architectural projects
Social connections for cultural development - we all felt how important social connections, the local community that moves forward, supports and allows each of its members to develop, caring for the culture of cities and towns, Ukraine as a whole. And architectural solutions should help the cultural development of local communities.
Each pillar complements the system of stakeholders’ participation in the development of the local community and Ukraine as a democratic society.

5 pillars on which the Platform is built

The top topic of the recent World Economic Forum, Davos 2022 (May 22-26) was The war in Ukraine. Ukrainian breakfast at Davos 2022, Switzerland was held under the theme "This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom".

On June 2, 2022, the Forum "reVIVEd Ukraine - reVIVEd communities" took place in Kyiv, where representatives of the European Union emphasized the participation of the community in decision-making about its future, in particular, in architectural projects.

And these events are a continuation of Ukraine's application for membership in the European Union and the possible acquisition of candidate status in June 2022. There are two key requirements for candidates: the democratization of social processes and the democratization of economic processes.

On the other hand, foreign states, cities, foundations, and institutions will take part in the rebuilding of Ukraine. Therefore, it is about cash flows from foreign donors, which will require transparency and publicity in decision-making by the community and systemic change in the development of democratic values.

The context needs practical solutions to democratize the processes in society, create a community not only on paper, and simplify the organization of stakeholders’ interaction processes in the development of architectural projects using digital technologies.

This context determines Rebuild Ukraine: Participatory Architecture Platform.

The Digital Platform for Interaction, or Participatory Architecture Platform, is just one of the results. This tool will not change our cities for the better if each of us does not want to see a better public and private space next to him/her, his/her family, in his/her native country, in Ukraine.
Today, June 17, 2022, Ukraine received recommendations from the European Commission on granting the candidate status of the European Union. Speaking in the language of architecture, this is the first sketch project of the future of modern Ukraine as a member of the EU.
The inevitable European vector of Ukraine presupposes the democratization of processes in society. When the opinion and voice of every citizen are important for decision-making. When each of us understands that we are part of the Ukraine family. When we understand that the well-being of the family depends on us. And without hoping for other people's decisions and gifts, we can be involved in determining the characteristics of a small park nearby, playground, planning the street where we live, schools where children study, the neighborhood, where in 15 minutes will be all services nearby and opportunity to know and communicate with neighbors… This dream city depends only on the civic engagement of each of us, INTER-ACTIONS.

Outcomes