Ukrainian Architects Plan to Rebuild the Country Post-War with Disability-Friendly Designs

Currently, Ukrainian residents believe that the country's housing system has "no human dignity," and architects are going to change that.

In a report by ArchPaper, a resident complained that every time an apartment's power goes out, it affects disabled people who cannot use the elevator. People have to carry them and their wheelchairs up and down, sometimes up to five flights of stairs.

At the moment, Social Development Direct reported that there are about less than 3 million disabled people in Ukraine. However, this could climb up more as the country endures war with Ukraine, since already 300,000 residents already registered as 'disabled' during the first 18 months of conflict.

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Ukrainian Architects' Disable-Friendly Designs

Now, for Ukrainian architects, there's a way to respect human dignity post-war. 

ArchPaper stated that the priority will be to rebuild Ukraine after the conflict, with disabled people in mind, considering that only about 4% of their urban infrastructure is accessible to all kinds of people.

"There are a lot of people traumatized by the war in different ways, and we have to adapt these spaces for them," Oleg Drozdov, a cofounder of KhSA or Kharkiv School of Architecture, told ArchPaper. Like other Ukranian architects, the KhSA will be opening a graduate-level program to guide architects in designing cities in post-war countries next year.

For instance, to reboot Chernihiv City, a heavily-bombed place, Victoria Yakusha of Ukranian architecture studio, Yakusha Studio, plans to temporarily house disabled people in the area rather than build new yet poorly-designed housing infrastructures. The design will include clear evacuation routes and a more accessible place for them.

Ukrainian architects also hope to learn from Vienna's reconstruction after World War I, which is to build infrastructure that promotes the community, especially marginalized and disabled individuals affected by war impact.

Post-war Ukranian urban rebuilding will not just help the disable, it also aims to address the labor shortage in the country since over 3.7 million Ukranians are currently displaced after finding their homes destroyed.

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