In early July 2024, the Summer School “Shaping the Urban Environment for Tomorrow” was held in the “smart shelter” of the Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
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The event, organized within the framework of the UniCities project, brought together students from four universities that are project partners to not only provide theoretical knowledge in the field of nature-based, sustainable and resilient solutions for community recovery and climate change adaptation, but also to give them the opportunity to develop practical skills and present their own projects.
During the school, the students worked on the restoration of the campus of the National University of Chernihiv Polytechnic. In the hackathon format, the participants developed proposals for sustainable, adaptive, and resilient restoration solutions: buildings, social relations, public spaces, ecosystems, the environment, and the interaction between the city and the university.
The training took place in a mixed mode: online and in person. Face-to-face work was conducted at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and at the Chernihiv Polytechnic National University.
The summer school was organized with funding from the EU's Erasmus+ program. The main goal of this project is to unlock the transformative potential of Ukrainian universities as catalysts and accelerators of systemic change in cities towards sustainable development and climate neutrality through interdisciplinary research, education, and innovation focused on societal challenges and cooperation. The partner institutions of this project are the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain), universities from Ukraine - Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Chernihiv Polytechnic National University, Yuriy Buhay International Science and Technology University, as well as the Association of Ukrainian Cities, СANactions School, the Association of Sustainable Energy Technology Engineers of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute of the DSUNS of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The first day allowed the participants to learn about Sweden's experience in the field of nature-based solutions for cities. Professor Olga Kordas, Director of the Viable Cities Initiative and Sustainable Urban Development at the Department of Sustainable Development of Science and Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology, shared her thoughts and experiences on the New European Bauhaus program and other EU strategic documents in the context of climate change adaptation: key principles, values, etc. She paid special attention to the impact and application of the European experience for the recovery policy in Ukraine. Olga Kordas noted successful projects that have already been implemented and changed the lives of citizens for the better, including in Ukraine. Strategic approaches, solutions, and transformation of cities through strategies focused on global goals were discussed at the Valencia 2030 conference, which the lecturer attended. Thus, she introduced the participants to the Sege Park residential area, which was a test space for the implementation of sustainable solutions. Sustainability, the sharing economy, and urban farming were the main pillars of the construction of more than 1000 new living spaces. The project managed to combine existing old structures with the latest innovative architecture. In addition, Olha and the students were able to discuss the economic feasibility of implementing such projects. Not every experience is relevant to Ukraine, but it is important to study it in order to adopt and improve best practices.
Serhii Bezborodko, Director of the Center for Startup and Innovation Development at Chernihiv Polytechnic National University and founder of the NGO Eco City (Chernihiv), spoke about the specifics of cooperation between universities and municipalities, as well as its importance in the Build Back Better approach and their most successful cases, such as the StartUP startup school, HOPE plastic collection, and many others.
Another lecture was given by Oleksiy Pasichnyi, a researcher at the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the Royal Institute of Technology (he was the head of the Scientific Society of KPI Students and Postgraduates in 2005-2013). The lecture focused on technological solutions to ensure climate neutrality in cities. Special attention was paid to the Swedish experience.
Jaime Moreno Serna, representative of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and Oksana Udovyk, representative of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, shared the existing experience in Spain in building cooperation between universities and cities to implement sustainable development solutions.
Vira Balabukh, Head of the Department of Applied Meteorology and Climatology of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, PhD in Geography, presented a lecture on “Climate Change and Prospects for Ukraine. Necessary principles and solutions”. Vira Balabukh has been researching climate for over 15 years and is convinced that environmental issues cannot be postponed. The researcher notes: “By the end of the twenty-first century, climate change and its impact will intensify, which already requires the development of adaptation and mitigation measures and the use of new potential opportunities that are opening up.”
Oleksandr Kucheriavyi, architect and vice chairman of the international Active House Alliance, introduced the students to an international approach to creating projects worthy of the era of sustainable development.
Konstantin Kuchabsky and Roman Sakh spoke about the experience of cooperation between universities and municipalities within the framework of the Island Platform.
After the lecture and receiving the background information, the students divided into four teams and started thinking about their own ideas for the restoration of the campus of the National University “Chernihiv Polytechnic”. At the same time, each team had the opportunity to consult with experts in a particular field. As a result, six projects were presented: “EcoVance - New type of shelter, M&H - Zone in front of the dormitory for mental health, BarHaus - VertiGreen, Seventeen - Designing a passive, partially autonomous dormitory, Green Future - Eco area in front of the 1st Campus building of CPNU, A1 - Redevelopment Dormitory. According to the jury, all the projects were interesting and unique. At the same time, two works by teams from Kharkiv, “M&H - Zone in front of the dormitory for mental health” and “EcoVance - New type of shelter”, as well as the project “Green Future - Eco area in front of the 1st Campus building CPNU” by students from Chernihiv, were separately noted.
All the presented works will be presented to potential investors for their further implementation or for the restoration of the campus territory at Chernihiv Polytechnic or other similar facilities.