TOP-6 forecasts: What a typical Ukrainian city will look like in 2035

The paradigm shift in Ukrainian urbanism and the imperative of regenerative recovery

The large-scale destruction of urban and critical infrastructure caused by military aggression has become an unprecedented catalyst for a fundamental rethinking of approaches to urban planning, spatial organization, and resource management in Ukraine. Traditional Soviet and early post-Soviet models of urban development, characterized by excessive centralization, micro-district development of residential areas, a critically low level of space inclusivity, and a total disregard for long-term environmental standards, have finally exhausted their viability. These outdated concepts are being replaced by the global paradigm of “building back better.” This approach is transforming destroyed Ukrainian cities into leading global laboratories for innovative urbanism, sustainable development, environmental safety, and regenerative architecture.

Today, the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities is viewed by the expert community not simply as a mechanical, linear restoration of lost square meters of residential or commercial space, but as an extremely complex, multidimensional process of integrated spatial planning. Modern international and domestic initiatives, such as the large-scale activities of the “Rozkvit” urban coalition, unite leading Ukrainian and international experts in the field of architecture to develop the latest reconstruction methodologies. This coalition is forming an expert network that develops knowledge and approaches to understand the urgent needs of cities like Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kryvyi Rih, while parallelly assessing their hidden potential. These methodologies aim to finely balance short-term, often critical survival needs with long-term prospects and urban development requirements. Educational programs, such as “Rethinking Cities in Ukraine,” organized by the “Rozkvit” coalition in strategic partnership with the Stockholm School of Economics and Stockholm University with the support of the Swedish Institute, demonstrate a deep, systemic approach to building the capacity of local municipalities. The goal of such programs is to provide community representatives and local stakeholders with the necessary knowledge to solve complex tasks of spatial development in both current and post-war reconstruction.

By 2035, a typical Ukrainian city will inevitably undergo colossal, fundamental changes at all possible levels of functioning: from basic physical infrastructure and energy resource management to the philosophy of mobility, social interaction, and the integration of natural ecosystems. A deep analysis of current pilot projects, cardinal changes to the State Building Norms (DBN), sociological research, and the active involvement of the world’s leading architectural bureaus allows us to form six key, scientifically grounded forecasts regarding the future appearance, structure, and functioning principles of Ukraine’s urban ecosystems a decade from now.

Forecast 1: Synthesis of total security and intelligent management systems

Life safety is forever no longer a secondary or optional function of urban planning. It has become the paramount, basic criterion for any spatial organization. A typical Ukrainian city of 2035 will be a complex hybrid ecosystem, where advanced digital management technologies seamlessly intertwine with unprecedentedly strict physical protection standards for the population. The city of the future is an organism capable of anticipating threats, reacting to them instantly, and guaranteeing the physical survival of its residents in the most extreme conditions.

Intelligent monitoring and predictive data management

According to the official definition of the European Commission, the concept of a “smart city” is primarily characterized by high-tech urban transport networks, deeply modernized water supply and waste disposal capabilities, efficient urban lighting and building heating methods, as well as an extremely high level of interaction between the administration and the community. However, in the Ukrainian context, a critically important, existential component of total security is added to these classic European characteristics.

Continuous monitoring and deep analysis of big data arrays allow shifting the management of urban processes from an inefficient manual mode to a fully automated state. Extensive networks of surveillance cameras, massively equipped with advanced facial recognition algorithms, ultra-sensitive motion and smoke detectors, and automatic fire alarm systems, will become the absolute functional standard for all public municipal spaces. The international experience of London, often unofficially called the world capital of video surveillance where there is at least one active camera for every 13 people, demonstrates the enormous potential of video analytics for controlling the urban environment. However, in Ukraine by 2035, these digital systems will be deeply integrated with algorithms for early predictive warning of aerial and ballistic threats, as well as with dynamic real-time crowd management systems during mass evacuations. This will allow identifying and resolving urban security issues before they escalate into a full-scale crisis.

Physical civil defense infrastructure and underground urbanism

Civil defense will become an integral, visually and functionally integrated part of the architectural landscape of a typical Ukrainian city. The updated and reinforced State Building Norms, specifically the comprehensive document DBN V.2.2-5:2023 “Protective Structures of Civil Defense,” radically and irrevocably change the philosophy of designing any buildings in Ukraine. From now on, dual-purpose structures (DPS) with protective properties and specialized anti-radiation shelters (ARS) must be integrated into every new or reconstructed residential, commercial, and public complex at the draft design stage.

Extremely strict requirements for space-planning solutions dictate clear, mathematically precise standards for evacuation routes and special protective hatches. According to the norms, protective hatches must mandatorily be installed directly in the external enclosing structures (such as reinforced ceilings or external walls) of anti-radiation shelters. They must be strategically located on the side opposite the main entrance, providing an alternative escape route in case the main structure collapses. The minimum clearance dimensions of these vital elements are strictly regulated: 0.6 m x 0.9 m for ceiling-mounted hatches, and 0.8 m x 1.5 m for hatches designed in external walls. Structurally, they must open exclusively outwards (in the direction of people exiting to the street) and have reliable locking mechanisms in the open position, especially for ceiling configurations.

In addition, filling door openings in such zones requires the installation of massive protective-hermetic doors. These doors must strictly correspond to the specified protection group of the specific ARS or DPS, with mandatory calculation of entrance and dynamic coefficients, as well as the ability to withstand the minimum equivalent uniformly distributed load from a blast wave. By 2035, the underground spaces of Ukrainian cities—multi-level parking lots, underground shopping centers, expanded subway stations—will be designed with full, one hundred percent engineering autonomy in mind. They will have independent life support systems, ultra-powerful air filtration, drinking water reservoirs, and medical supplies in case of the need for prolonged isolation of large groups of the population.

Forecast 2: Decentralized energy, microgrid scaling, and green generation

The brutal energy terror that Ukraine endured clearly and tragically proved the critical vulnerability of classic centralized power systems. When the destruction of one large substation can paralyze the life of an entire metropolis, the concept of energy infrastructure needs immediate revision. By 2035, the energy landscape of Ukrainian cities will be radically and irreversibly changed through the rapid development of distributed generation and the creation of thousands of autonomous microgrids based exclusively on renewable energy sources (RES). This transition is no longer just a matter of European eco-fashion; it has transformed into a basic strategy for community survival and ensuring the state’s national security for decades to come.

Solar power plants (SPPs) as the foundation of critical infrastructure resilience

Successful pilot projects installing solar power plants on the roofs of critical medical facilities have proven their extreme, undeniable effectiveness during the toughest crises. A prime example is the experience of the environmental NGO “Ecocclub,” which launched the “Solar Aid for Ukraine” initiative during winter blackouts. The project aimed to provide critical infrastructure facilities with an uninterrupted power supply, as the use of diesel generators only solved the problem point-wise, temporarily, and was accompanied by huge logistical and financial fuel costs.

The first such solar power plant was installed in December 2022 on the roof of a city hospital in Zviahel. Its capacity was 32.4 kW, which fully ensured the uninterrupted operation of 11 vital medical ventilators in the intensive care unit. Funding for this project, which cost about 840 thousand hryvnias, was raised through the charity campaign “Sustainable Development for Ukraine” from CSR.Ukraine and Dobro.UA. The economic effect was impressive: thanks to this SPP, the hospital in Zviahel began saving up to 500 thousand hryvnias a year, allowing the city to plan the installation of panels on water utility buildings and kindergartens.

This success became a catalyst for scaling the project. In less than a year, similar solutions were implemented at infrastructure facilities in Sumy, Zhytomyr, Brody, Rivne, Dubno, Nizhyn, and later in Kremenchuk. In Dubno, for example, in the summer of 2023, a 43.6 kW SPP was mounted on the hospital’s roof, covering about a third of the facility’s total electricity needs. The budget for this project was about 1.5 million hryvnias (of which 987,500 hryvnias were allocated by the German Embassy, and 430,717 hryvnias were co-financed by the community), which saves over 154 thousand hryvnias annually at 2022 tariffs. In Sumy, the Central City Clinical Hospital switched to solar energy as a means of survival, since the city is located just 30 km from the border and constantly suffered from grid instability during shelling.

The main advantage of such systems lies in their physical security: distributed capacities generate electricity right where it is consumed. Such an extensive network of thousands of small SPPs is much harder, virtually impossible to destroy with missile strikes, unlike giant centralized energy facilities.

Scaling the “Green Recovery” at the national level

At the state level, this profound transformation is powerfully supported by the “Ray of Hope” initiative. This is a massive joint program of the European Commission, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, implemented with the financial support of the Energy Support Fund since March 2023. Thanks to this unprecedented support (in particular, a direct tranche from the Netherlands of 35 million euros), solar panels had already been installed in 56 Ukrainian hospitals recently. In addition, active work is underway in another 83 medical institutions, and over 123 are going through the necessary bureaucratic tender procedures.

By 2035, this decentralized approach will inevitably go far beyond purely medical infrastructure, encompassing all spheres of urban life. The technical requirements for roofs, which “Ecocclub” engineers carefully check before every installation, will become a universal building standard. Any new municipal or commercial building project will have to consider the technical condition and structural strength for the additional load, the presence of at least 6.5 square meters of sloped roofing to generate 1 kW of energy, proper southern or east-west orientation, and a guaranteed absence of shaded areas from neighboring structures or trees. The procedure itself for implementing such energy projects, which currently takes about three months and includes performance evaluation, development of design and estimate documentation, engineering surveys, and installation, will be simplified and standardized to the maximum extent.

Residential neighborhoods in the cities of 2035 will en masse form local energy cooperatives connected into ultra-modern smart grids. These systems will be able to instantly and completely isolate themselves from the national power grid in case of large-scale accidents and autonomously balance local supply and demand using powerful battery energy storage. The integration of innovative bioenergy complexes—such as those planned to be built in the Dubno region for the parallel production of biomethane and electricity—will harmoniously complement unstable solar generation, ensuring absolute energy stability for communities even in the harshest winter periods. International donors, particularly European Union institutions, when allocating funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction, are already making the development of renewable energy sources (RES) a mandatory condition , making this forecast the most financially supported one.

Forecast 3: Global transition to a circular economy, regenerative construction, and recycling of ruins

The scale of destruction of Ukraine’s building stock caused by the enemy surpasses any notion of modern conflicts. As of early 2023, over 140,000 completely or partially destroyed buildings were officially recorded, with an average of about 383 facilities destroyed daily. This apocalyptic process generated about 1.4 billion tons of construction waste—colossal mountains of concrete, mangled reinforced concrete, broken brick, shattered glass, wood, and plastic. However, paradoxically, this national environmental and infrastructure disaster has become the most powerful trigger for implementing strict circular construction principles in Ukraine. The circular economy views mountains of construction debris not as harmful waste to be thoughtlessly buried in overcrowded landfills, but as highly valuable, strategic secondary raw materials for creating the cities of the future.

Recycling destruction waste: From problem to resource

The traditional, depleting linear economic model (“take resources, make a product, throw away waste”) is being finally and irrevocably replaced by a closed production loop. The global construction sector is traditionally the planet’s biggest consumer: it uses about 40% of all global natural resources and simultaneously produces about 40% of all global waste. In the context of Ukraine, which has lost a huge share of its industry, reusing materials significantly and radically reduces the burden on ecosystems, stops the influx of new materials, and avoids energy-intensive production processes (such as smelting steel using fossil fuels).

The most iconic, flagship example of this transition is the pilot renovation project by the French company “Neo-Eco” in the city of Hostomel, Kyiv region. Under this ambitious project, with a budget of 45 million euros financially supported by the French government and other international donors, the plan is to rebuild six modern residential buildings with 310 apartments, as well as a school for 1,000 students and a kindergarten in a military town near the airport. As a first step, the company dismantled four destroyed buildings, completing the complex process in just four weeks.

During the work, about 15,000 tons of construction waste were sorted and recycled. This proved to be an unprecedented challenge, because waste from military destruction, unlike ordinary construction debris, is a chaotic mix of materials, household items, furniture, and sometimes even remnants of ammunition. Thanks to careful sorting, 10% of the materials (specifically those containing toxic asbestos or beyond recovery) were safely sent for specialized disposal to certified companies. The remaining 90% of the mass (concrete, brick) was successfully crushed and processed into new building fractions right at the demolition site. This logistical approach eliminates the need for expensive transportation costs. To guarantee quality, “Neo-Eco” sent about 200 kg of samples to laboratories in France for a thorough safety analysis and to develop new concrete recipes. According to the company’s vice president, Bart Gruyaert, reusing materials optimizes Ukraine’s overall recovery budget by a significant 20-25%.

Despite typical bureaucratic hurdles, such as critical delays in approving urban planning conditions and restrictions and land allocation, which temporarily stall the development of sketch projects by architectural bureaus (like “Blau” and “Nhood Ukraine”), such projects are inevitably scaling up. For example, the Israeli company “GreenMix” is developing a pilot project to build a powerful construction waste recycling plant in the Kyiv region, responding to the situation in the Bucha community, where the volume of debris after clearing rubble is estimated at over 2 million tons. The analytical report “Analysis of the problem of recycling destruction waste: the military dimension,” created by the public union “Stop Poisoning Kryvyi Rih” (authors Y. Orekhanova, A. Ambrosova, K. Taran), emphasizes the acute need for legislative regulation of this sector. Ukraine still lacks specific regulations for handling destruction waste. To stimulate the industry, it is necessary to adapt European experience: for example, the Netherlands recycles 90% of waste thanks to a legislative ban on taking it to landfills, and the UK has a tax on the use of primary natural raw materials. By 2035, such regulatory tools will become the norm in Ukraine, and processing clusters will operate around every metropolis. Domestic companies, such as “Hammel Ukraine” and “Olnova,” which currently mainly supply crushing and screening equipment, will evolve into powerful players in the recycling market.

Innovative and eco-friendly materials of the micro-circular economy

The regenerative approach to construction involves using not only recycled reinforced concrete or secondary crushed stone, but also using the latest biomaterials. According to the ambitious concept of the same “Neo-Eco” company, three types of recycled concrete (structural, lightweight, and insulating-structural) will be used to build the load-bearing structures of new buildings, while wall panels will be made from innovative blocks containing natural wood and compressed straw. Despite the fact that in France such materials are often treated with prejudice due to fear of fires, Ukrainian local committees have demonstrated a high openness to environmental innovations.

In parallel with large international investments, a grassroots micro-circular economy is activating and gaining momentum at the local level. In Kharkiv and the region, which suffered horrific destruction, architects are already putting these principles into practice. Architect Oleksandr Bilnyi designed a second floor for an old late-19th-century estate in the village of Ruska Lozova using old bricks from a dismantled Soviet extension, and also created quality cladding material by crushing brick remnants into a fine fraction and pouring them with white cement. Famous architect Oleh Drozdov, when rebuilding a damaged house on Chernyshevska Street, refused to buy new materials, arranging to use high-quality old bricks from a dismantled neighboring one-story house. He applied a similar approach when rebuilding a showroom and service station in Pyatykhatky, using steel elements from a destroyed Soviet industrial building.

Public initiatives play a huge role in this evolution. The organization “Kharkiv Zero Waste” founded a special circular construction zone, the “CC Yard” site in Ruska Lozova, where building materials from destroyed buildings (like the village council) were brought. Activists freely distributed plumbing, furniture, windows, doors, wallpaper, and drywall to residents to restore their homes. Later, due to the escalation of hostilities, this site was moved to Kharkiv to the base of the local Ecohub, which in a year and a half handed out over a thousand salvaged items to people. By 2035, this volunteer practice will be institutionalized: every city will have an extensive network of official municipal banks of secondary building materials, and detailed material passports will become a mandatory, legally enshrined requirement when designing any new buildings, making it easy to dismantle them in the future without harming the environment.

Forecast 4: Structural polycentricity and the evolution of the “15-minute city” concept

The spatial, macro-architectural structure of a typical Ukrainian city in 2035 will radically and irrevocably move away from the Soviet model of a hypertrophied, overloaded monocenter surrounded by a ring of depressive, isolated, and monofunctional “sleeping districts.” Future urban planning will be based on the ideas of polycentricity and a deeply adapted concept of the “15-minute city,” developed by Professor Carlos Moreno. The city will turn into a set of self-sufficient yet interconnected clusters, where every resident can satisfy all their basic needs within walking distance.

Adapting urban theory to the Ukrainian survival context

Although the 15-minute city concept often becomes the subject of aggressive conspiracy theories (which even led Moreno to receive death threats and require police protection in Argentina) or cynical marketing manipulations by unscrupulous developers, for Ukraine, it holds a completely different, existential meaning. The loudest global example of the mutation of this idea is the Saudi megaproject “The Line” in the desert (170 kilometers of mirrored skyscrapers 500 meters high for 9 million residents), presented by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (part of the massive “Neom” complex). In essence, this authoritarian project, with its forced evictions of the Al-Huwaitat tribe, the imprisonment of activists for 50 years, and total secrecy, is a complete denial of the organic evolution of city neighborhoods, and as of early 2026, its implementation is practically frozen.

In Ukraine, the concept of short distances is not just a trendy ecological tool for combating excessive car emissions or a whim of urbanists; it is a strategy to preserve torn urban communities and physical survival under the pressure of unprecedented threats. According to thorough research by the “Cities of Nature” platform, Ukrainian cities paradoxically already have a much higher 15-minute density potential than their external chaos suggests. By 2035, this hidden potential will be fully unlocked through a qualitative, systemic rethinking of infrastructure, ensuring barrier-free pedestrian accessibility to educational, medical, recreational facilities, and workplaces.

Master plans of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv: Practical realization of the future

A clear and the most massive illustration of this inevitable transformation is the work of authoritative international architectural consortiums on new master plans for the most war-torn cities, conducted under the auspices of the UNECE task force based on the principles of building back better.

The international company “One Works”, together with the UNECE task force and local experts, is developing an innovative master plan for the southern city of Mykolaiv. The strategy is based on six key macro-directions: green networks, affordable housing, sustainable mobility, industry and innovation, effective governance, and community development. Since industry will remain the backbone of the city’s economy (with a forecast of 27,000 employed people in 15-20 years), the master plan makes a revolutionary bet on its territorial relocation. Outdated factories and port areas that for decades occupied premium, ecologically valuable territories along the Buh Estuary and rivers will be moved far beyond residential developments. The vacated premium waterfront lands will transform into large-scale recreational and public spaces. Drawing on sociological survey data, which revealed critical dissatisfaction among city residents with the state of sidewalks and infrastructure (especially in the isolated Korabelny district), the master plan aims for the priority development of the street and road network, pedestrian zones, and the restoration of educational infrastructure, taking into account the high intellectual potential of the city (28% of the population has higher education). The project enjoys strong support from international donors, particularly Germany and the Danish government, which took patronage over the region’s reconstruction.

Even more ambitious are the processes in Kharkiv, where British experts led by Lord Norman Foster, together with local specialists (such as architect Ihor Lialiuk and the Open Institute of Kharkiv), have developed five large-scale conceptual directions and pilot projects for the future city :

1. Cultural heritage and symbolism: The historic center will be restored with deep respect for the past. They plan to give a new life to the destroyed building of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration (RMA). Foster conceptually compared its restoration to the rebuilding of the German Reichstag in Berlin after World War II, turning a wound into a new iconic architectural landmark that will serve as a parallel reminder of what was experienced and a symbol of the future.
2. New type of housing sector: Soviet high-rises, which make up a horrific 80% of the city’s housing stock, will not just be repaired, but will undergo deep modernization on a closed-loop principle (with the recycling of local waste). This involves radically improving insulation to boost energy efficiency, updating vertical circulation, and even adding modular superstructures. Regarding new residential developments, the developers insist that Kharkiv must categorically abandon skyscrapers and build exclusively mid-rise housing (6-7 floors), forming autonomous, safe neighborhoods with jobs directly within the blocks.
3. Industrial transformation: Huge, depressive territories of former industrial giants are being repurposed. For example, the territory of the Kharkiv Tractor Plant is being considered for the creation of an ultra-modern large-scale information technology cluster. For zones like the “Sickle and Hammer” plant and the State Aviation Enterprise, projects are being developed to create cultural parks, community centers, and eco-friendly mixed-use enterprises.
4. Science block and commerce: The area of the giant “Barabashovo” market has been identified as the ideal place to implement a pilot science city project. This space will be partially rebuilt into a revolutionary science and technology park and innovative multi-apartment complexes that will promote eco-friendly development through advanced research. At the same time, it is critically important that retail spaces for entrepreneurs are promised to be preserved, bringing commercial zones to a qualitatively new, modern level.
5. Rivers as communication arteries: The four rivers of Kharkiv, which have been in a state of neglect for years, will undergo a complete redesign. Three selected river sections will be transformed into high-quality public spaces with pedestrian and cycle routes, returning to the rivers their function as the city’s main communication eco-arteries.

These monumental projects vividly demonstrate a key shift in the urban planning paradigm: Ukrainian cities of 2035 will become polycentric, multifunctional clusters, where work, comfortable living, high-tech industry, and natural recreation are inextricably linked and located within convenient walking distance.

Forecast 5: Total barrier-free environment, inclusive urban design, and new social justice

The tragic appearance of tens, and possibly hundreds of thousands of amputee veterans and civilians who acquired disabilities as a result of military aggression has changed Ukrainian society’s attitude toward spatial organization. If previously inclusivity was often perceived as a formal, burdensome requirement, by 2035 a barrier-free environment will become not just a recommendation, but the highest, unquestionable moral and strict legal imperative of any reconstruction.

National strategy and the evolution of State Building Norms (DBN)

The foundation for these changes was the government’s “National Strategy for the Creation of a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine for the Period up to 2030.” This framework document, the implementation of which is actively covered at local levels (for example, by city council portals, as in Kherson), forms the ideological and practical basis for eradicating any physical, psychological, and social barriers in the urban environment.

The most important tool for realizing this strategy was the substantial update by the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of the requirements of DBN V.2.2-40:2018 “Inclusivity of Buildings and Structures. Basic Provisions.” Starting from September 2025, these radically updated requirements become absolutely mandatory for application in the design, construction, or reconstruction of any facilities on the territory of Ukraine. The urban space of 2035 will be uncompromisingly designed so that a person using a wheelchair, a person with severe visual impairments, older people, or parents with strollers can absolutely independently and seamlessly overcome any urban routes without outside help.

In particular, the updated building norms strictly and meticulously regulate spatial separation:

1. Separation of transport and human flows: From now on, pedestrian paths must be clearly, physically separated both from motor vehicle driveways and from the rapidly growing network of bicycle lanes. To avoid dangerous collisions, especially for visually impaired persons, a bicycle lane is obliged to radically differ from the surface of the pedestrian zone not only visually (by color) but also tactilely (by material texture).
2. Streamlining micromobility: Places for the chaotic parking of micromobility vehicles (rental bicycles, electric scooters, mopeds), which used to turn into obstacles for pedestrians, must now be strictly arranged exclusively outside the main pedestrian paths.
3. Infrastructure for rest and recovery: Special attention in the new DBNs is given to rest areas. Along all main pedestrian routes, on the territories of public institutions, and adjacent territories of residential areas, it is mandatory to arrange platforms with benches for rest with a strictly set interval every 30–100 meters. Moreover, next to each bench, designers are obliged to provide a free asphalted or paved space at least 1.2 meters wide. This is done so that a person in a wheelchair or parents with a stroller can comfortably accommodate next to the bench without blocking the movement of other pedestrians.

Such meticulous approaches, complemented by the ubiquitous use of tactile paving, an extensive system of audible traffic lights, gentle ramps, and the complete absence of high curbs at intersections (the creation of so-called shared spaces), will fully and forever change the ergonomics and aesthetics of Ukrainian cities. The capital’s steps in this direction are indicative: Kyiv’s greening departments have already begun massive installation of inclusive swings and adapted playgrounds in the largest parks (specifically, in the popular “Natalka” park), which by 2035 will become an everyday standard for every city, town, or village.

Forecast 6: Blue-green infrastructure, regenerative systems, and adaptation to climate change

The last, but strategically no less important forecast concerns a cardinal change in the philosophy towards natural ecosystems within the urbanized space. For decades, Soviet urbanism viewed nature exclusively as a utilitarian resource that humans had to “conquer” and subordinate to their needs. This approach manifested itself in the harsh confinement of living rivers into concrete channels, the mass felling of trees to expand highways, the asphalting of soils, and the creation of unnatural, geometrically perfect but ecologically dead squares. Ukraine’s urban planning of the 2035 model will completely abandon these practices. It will be based on the advanced principles of regenerative system planning, which considers the metropolis and its adjacent territories not as a conglomerate of concrete and asphalt, but as a single, extremely complex, interconnected living system.

Restoration of natural cycles and fighting “heat islands”

Leading global researchers of regenerative urbanism, such as American experts Scott Edmondson (researcher of biophilic city programs) and Charles Kelley (author of sustainable development projects in the US and Japan), emphasize the unique ability of properly planned urban areas not only to passively reduce environmental harm but also to actively restore depleted resources, degraded landscapes, and water cycles. For Ukraine, whose economy is heavily dependent on climatic conditions, this is vital. A deep analysis of satellite images of southern Ukrainian cities (particularly the study of Mykolaiv’s green networks) showed a catastrophic reduction in the area of green spaces from 1990 to 2021. This led to a significant increase in soil temperature and the formation of dangerous urban “heat islands,” where in summer the air temperature is several degrees above the norm, critically affecting the health of residents. In Mykolaiv, the area of green zones is currently 1.5 times smaller than generally accepted European standards, covering only 66.8% of a sufficient level per person.

According to the new urban master plans, huge but geographically distant parks (to which one must travel by public transport) will partially give way to integrated, continuous blue-green infrastructural networks. The strategic priority becomes the creation of local, small recreational zones and micro-parks directly inside each residential block, ensuring the walking accessibility of nature for every citizen.

Water resource management, rain gardens, and local biodiversity

The outdated, often dysfunctional and clogged systems of traditional storm sewage from the last century will be massively replaced by natural elements. On the streets of Ukrainian cities in 2035, rain gardens will become a common sight — specially designed landscape depressions densely planted with moisture-loving, deep-rooted local plants. These gardens act like natural sponges: they collect, effectively filter heavy metals, and retain rainwater for a long time, preventing destructive street flooding during heavy downpours, which are becoming increasingly frequent due to global climate change.

In parallel, the European practice of greening tram tracks with strong, drought-resistant meadow grasses will become widespread. According to Kyiv specialists, this practice not only significantly reduces the level of noise pollution from rail transport and absorbs fine urban dust but also actively contributes to the local reduction in the temperature of hot air during the summer heat. Municipal utility services of the future cities will abandon monotonous lawns in favor of complex thematic compositions that support local bird and insect biodiversity. Flower panels based on classic and avant-garde works of Ukrainian artists (such as Taras Shevchenko’s painting “Kateryna” or motifs by artist Sonia Delaunay “Rhythm”) are already being created, for which begonias, salvias, marigolds, and ageratums are grown in proprietary greenhouses. This synthesis of ecology and national culture will define the face of new public spaces.

Special, unprecedented attention will be paid to urban water arteries. If previously riverbanks were given over to industrial zones or paved with asphalt, now water is becoming the main recreational value. As part of developing the master plan for Kharkiv, British and Ukrainian specialists are developing a concept for a complete redesign of three key sections of local rivers. Embankments will be uncompromisingly freed from outdated industrial facilities. They will turn into high-quality public spaces that will restore to the rivers their historical and ecological function as natural communication corridors, fully integrated with extensive pedestrian and bicycle routes.

Synergy of resilience, innovation, ecology, and profound humanism

A detailed analysis and synthesis of current urban, economic, and architectural trends, which are actively initiated today both at the state level and in close cooperation with leading international partners and institutions (such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Norman Foster foundations, global bureaus “One Works” and “Neo-Eco”, “Rozkvit” coalition, European diplomatic missions), allows us to draw an unambiguous conclusion. A typical Ukrainian city in 2035 will differ cardinally, at the genetic level, from its pre-war analog, having completely thrown off the burden of Soviet industrial heritage and inhumane spatial planning.

The national tragedy and unprecedented crisis caused by brutal military aggression and massive destruction have paradoxically become a powerful impetus for a leapfrogging evolutionary transition of our state into a new era. Instead of patching outdated systems for decades, Ukraine received, albeit at a terrible price, the opportunity to skip several stages of development. Cities will become much more resilient and autonomous in energy terms thanks to the massive implementation of distributed solar generation, microgrids, and bioenergy, making their de-energization by external forces impossible. The reconstructed building stock will be entirely based on advanced circular economy principles, where millions of tons of yesterday’s ruins are already becoming eco-friendly building materials today to erect new, sustainable, and energy-efficient residential neighborhoods.

The development of polycentricity and adaptation of the short-distance city concept will forever negate the need for daily exhausting commutes across the whole city, forming harmonious, self-sufficient hubs with a high quality of life, where work, science, recreation, and housing exist in symbiosis. Unconditional, one hundred percent spatial inclusivity, legally enshrined by strict norms, will guarantee dignity and comfort for every citizen, regardless of their physical abilities. And the large-scale integration of blue-green infrastructure, return to natural water cycles, and the creation of ecological corridors will finally return the urban space to humans and nature, saving cities from climatic cataclysms.

Binding all these elements together, ultra-modern systems of intelligent digital monitoring, in indissoluble combination with a reliable, extensive underground dual-purpose civil defense infrastructure, will guarantee society the highest possible level of physical security. Thus, by 2035, Ukraine has every chance of transforming from the country that suffered the greatest destruction in Europe since World War II into a global, benchmark model of regenerative, resilient, innovative, and uncompromisingly human-centric urbanism of the twenty-first century.