Ukraine From Afar, Weitzman Students Make Planning Recommendations for Ukrainian Recovery

Bucha, a small city in Ukraine about 30 kilometers from Kyiv, was one of the first to be hit by the Russian invasion in the spring of 2022. Hundreds of people were killed, some with their hands tied behind their backs, their bodies left in the street. As Ukrainians continue to fight, they’re already working to rebuild cities like Bucha and memorialize the victims of the war.

For the Fall 2023 semester, a group of Master of City Planning students at the Weitzman School of Design worked to create a framework for Bucha’s future development as part of a partnership with the US Department of State. The research was solicited by the Department through its Diplomacy Lab program, a collaboration with US universities which organizes courses around State Department priorities. Working with limited data, changing conditions, and no chance of visiting the city in person, the students proposed a network of green infrastructure—trails and bicycle paths knitting various parts of Bucha together—and a series of recommendations for developing the city according to “green and just” principles. The course—it was a course rather than a studio because of students’ other commitments—was led by Eugénie Birch, the Lawrence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research & Education, and David Gouverneur, associate professor of practice in landscape architecture and city and regional planning, and was co-sponsored by the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR). Students will present their work in Washington to the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, representatives from the State Department and Bucha (via Zoom) later this month.

Read More Here