(C) U.S. State Dept This story was originally published by U.S. State Dept and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Architecture students tackle how best to rebuild Ukrainian cities [1] ['Noelani Kirschner'] Date: 2023-12-29 05:06:26+00:00 Some students at U.S. universities have spent the recent semester creating proposals to rebuild Ukrainian cities destroyed by Russia’s war. They are undergrads and graduate-level students studying urban planning, architecture and environmental design at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and the University of Virginia (UVA). Thanks to a partnership arranged by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab, the students and their professors have connected to foreign-policy experts at the department to offer new ways to help the cities of Bucha and Izium, respectively. And the students have been working without computer-mapping capabilities and with only limited data about the cities’ traditional infrastructure, much of which has been destroyed by Putin’s attacks. According to Penn urban-planning student Alex Leland Nelms, whose graduate-level class is focusing on rebuilding Bucha, “You’re stepping into a city that a year and a half ago was devastated and experienced a massacre … how do you deal with that?” “We have been very respectful and aware of our foreignness when looking at Bucha,” says his classmate Delfina Vildosola. “We could not go out and walk the streets or talk with people — so when working with the studio, we were aware of what we didn’t know.” Meanwhile, at UVA, a class that comprises undergrads and grad students from several disciplines has just tackled a plan to rebuild the small city of Izium. Heidi Egan Hahn, for instance, who studies environmental planning, has been grappling with how to make locally sourced renewable energy and clean water available there, even in the event of ongoing conflict. The class on rebuilding Izium has been “one of the most challenging and exhilarating things I’ve ever done,” says her professor, Suzanne Moomaw, chair of Urban and Environmental Planning at UVA. As the semester closed, she looked back: “We were all learning together. It was this incredible experience in a short period of time.” Each class was charged with producing a comprehensive proposal for rebuilding a city ravaged by Russia’s war. Their proposals seek to help Ukrainians to rebuild what is possible in the short term and more fully in the long term. Moomaw chose Izium — which has lost 80% of its buildings and 70% of its infrastructure — for the project because it is similar to the layout of Charlottesville, where UVA is located. “Izium is about the same size of Charlottesville and also has a river,” she says, so students can understand its scope and landscape. Hahn, the UVA grad student who focuses on environmental issues, grew up in Charlottesville, and the Izium project helped her see her hometown in a new light, especially its Rivanna River and smaller creeks. She says that she and her classmates want Izium to be more walkable and to be built back in a way that incorporates natural features within the city’s layout. Izium relies on the Donets River, for example, which runs past the edge of town. Residents historically have used boats to cross it. The UVA students hope that, going forward, Izium’s residents will be able to easily connect to areas across the river by bridge. “How do you make the bridge as accessible to the city as possible?” Hahn asks. Penn’s Professor Eugenie Birch, who leads the class working on Bucha plans, says the rebuilding project has been an extraordinary experience for the students, teaching them to work in unfamiliar situations. “I’ve always been a big-city girl,” says her student Vildosola, who grew up in Buenos Aires and has lived in London and Philadelphia. “Bucha is very different, a very different urban shape and scale. It challenged my notion of how I think about aspects of planning, adapting to different landscapes.” Students at both schools have been intent on preserving Ukrainian identity and history, consulting Ukrainian city officials as much as possible about historic sites. UVA’s class presented its final projects at the State Department December 15, while Penn students will present January 26, 2024. In the coming year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University plan similar courses. What Ukrainian cities do with the proposals is entirely in their hands, says the State Department. Follow ShareAmerica for more information about studying in the U.S. and campus life, as well as getting the most out of a U.S. education. [END] --- [1] Url: https://share.america.gov/architecture-students-tackle-how-best-rebuild-ukrainian-cities/ Published and (C) by U.S. State Dept Content appears here under this condition or license: Public Domain. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/usstate/