The ICLD partnership between Jönköping and the Ukrainian city of Berdychiv addresses a complex challenge: how can sustainable, inclusive and democratic urban planning be developed in a context of ongoing war and reconstruction?
The starting point for the cooperation is Berdychiv’s rapid population growth as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the acute need for housing and social infrastructure.
Berdychiv has become a host city for people fleeing heavily affected areas in eastern and southern Ukraine. The city’s geographical location, relatively far from the front line, has made it a safer place compared with many other regions. At the same time, there is access to basic public services, employment opportunities and functioning municipal structures, which enables internally displaced people to begin building a new everyday life despite the strains of war.
War veterans, people injured in the war, pensioners and single parents are groups with particularly extensive needs. At the same time, the municipality has long lacked modern planning data and documentation – basic maps and geographical data have largely existed only in paper form. This has severely limited the municipality’s ability to plan, coordinate and communicate new construction and urban development.
Contributing to the national system
A central part of the project is linked to the major national effort currently underway in Ukraine to compile geographical data into shared systems. Municipalities need to supply information on addresses, streets, buildings and properties to the state service platform DIA in order to enable fully digital public services. Within the partnership, a GIS course has therefore been developed to support both the production and uploading of these data. The solutions are scalable and can, in the long term, be used by municipalities across Ukraine.
Jönköping University, together with corresponding actors in Berdychiv, contributes important expertise in urban planning, geodata/GIS, IT security in crisis situations, and methods for inclusive citizen dialogue. The training programmes and courses provide the project teams with a shared knowledge base, reduce reliance on consultants, and make it possible to work within the same digital environment and using the same planning documentation.
The project initially had a clear technical focus on digitalisation and GIS, but has gradually broadened. As needs have become clearer, democratic working methods and citizen dialogue have now become a central part of the partnership. The ambition is to modernise planning processes in parallel with strengthening participation, transparency and trust between the municipality and its residents.
Citizen dialogue in new forms
The partnership is testing and developing several methods for citizen dialogue. To capture young people’s perspectives, MyPlace is used – a method based on a child and youth perspective in urban development. For adults, digital surveys and other forms of digital dialogue are being planned. Work is also underway to develop an app that brings together functions for citizen dialogue, permit applications, public services and real-time information.
The goal is to create robust and inclusive channels through which residents can take part in planning – including those who are temporarily outside Berdychiv due to the war. It is also a priority that the views collected are integrated into actual planning and decision-making processes.
Mutual learning
For Jönköping, the partnership has generated learning that has ripple effects across other development projects. Work on child and youth engagement, including through MyPlace, has been further strengthened. Efforts to promote gender equality have been advanced through citizen dialogue in Berdychiv in connection with the planning of a residential area. At the same time, the cooperation provides valuable insights into crisis preparedness, such as the importance of well-planned safety points, says Ann-Marie Hedlund, Chair of the City Planning Committee of Jönköping Municipality.
“The group from Berdychiv provided valuable feedback during a visit to the municipality’s first test of a safety point. They also shared experience of planning under extreme conditions—knowledge that is highly relevant in today’s Sweden. This work has highlighted the importance of classifying certain information, such as map materials and GIS-related databases, as confidential,” says Ann-Marie.
The partnership between Jönköping and Berdychiv demonstrates how technological development, democratic renewal, and international cooperation can go hand in hand. In a time marked by crisis and reconstruction, it lays the foundation for more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities in both Ukraine and Sweden.