About URAG

The Ukraine Rebuilding Action Group (URAG) is established by the American Planning Association International Division. As a volunteer-based organization, the URAG's task is to develop and facilitate projects and programs to assist Ukrainian rebuilding through networking, capacity building, knowledge sharing, and collaboration.

The American Planning Association International Division is committed to assist to Ukraine in its recovery in collaboration with Ukrainian planners, architects, builders, government officials, and community members.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and a full-scale military assault in 2022 have a catastrophic impact on Ukraine's cities. However, post-war reconstruction provides opportunities to make Ukraine more modern and competitive than before. Well planned and carried through, reconstruction will ensure a brighter and stronger future for Ukraine.

News

URAG will present at the 2023 American Planning Association National Planning Conference! Session (NPC23): Assisting Ukraine Rebuild: Connect, Collaborate, and Deliver.

URAG in collaboration with Ro3Kvit will present at the 35th Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Congress 2023 Lodz. Topic: The Public Participation Handbook of Urban Planning for Ukraine Recover.

The Start

The URAG started with the session "Brainstorming Ukraine's Post-War Reconstruction" during the 2022 National Planning Conference in San Diego. The session inspired speakers to develop a team of planners to explore the potential to provide planning assistance to Ukraine for post-war recovery. Later, the team developed into the Ukraine Rebuilding Action Group.

Currently, the URAG consists of a team of core members led by Tim Van Epp, FAICP, PP. Over 60 APA members, international planners, and officials have expressed interest in supporting the group.

Workplan

Help institutionalize and support planning education in Ukraine.
Help organize and mobilize an association of Ukraine professional planners.
Collaborate with and influence APA and other relevant key organizations.
Develop publications on Ukraine's recovery and rebuild.
Provide capacity building and technical assistance.

APA National Planning Conference, San Diego. May 2, 2022

2022 Accomplishments

Prepared January 1, 2023

San Diego 2022 National Planning Conference Session and Report. We organized and facilitated a very well-attended session on planning for Ukraine rebuilding, then followed up by preparing a report on the session based on both the speaker's presentations and the audience’s oral and written comments.

White Paper on Pre-Planning for Post-War Reconstruction. We prepared a draft white paper providing humanitarian guidelines for both the rebuilding phase of the crisis response and are in the finishing phase of addressing comments from the World Bank, USAID, and DoD, as well as URAG members.

Communication and Collaboration with other Organizations. We have reached out and/or participated in the webinars/meetings of several relevant organizations, including the UNDP, World Bank, UN-Habitat (World Urban Forum 11), USAID, US State Department, Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), Affordable Housing Institute, Ro3kvit Urban Coalition for Ukraine, and Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection, as well as RTPI, CIP and ULI. URAG membership now includes representatives from UNDP, World Bank (consultants), USAID, and SAME.

Mission Statement and Work Plan. We prepared a mission statement laying out a menu of services that URAG can provide in the coming months (and years), and assigned URAG members to each of the tasks.

SAME Conference Ukraine Rebuilding Session. Three URAG members attended this conference, made a presentation, and helped facilitate two related breakout sessions. SAME has since set up its own Ukraine rebuilding group, two other attendees (one a member of SAME) have joined URAG, and we have committed to coordinating going forward. We did our best to influence the thinking of USAID, State, and SAME/DoD on the importance and nature of the role of planners in pre-planning for post-war rebuilding in Ukraine.

URAG Membership in Ro3kvit. Three URAG members are full members of Ro3kvit and have been contributing to their capacity building, planning education, public participation, and city-specific planning initiatives.

Joint URAG-Ro3kvit Sustainability Planning Work Group. We have set up and developed a mission statement for a new joint URAG-Ro3kvit work group to address regional sustainability planning. We shared the mission statement with USAID and SAME. We need to firm up membership, identify priorities and get to work.

Joint URAG-Ro3kvit Public Participation Guidelines. Another significant joint collaboration with Ro3kvit is the Public Participation guidelines that Jing has authored with input from several others on URAG. We have some excellent comments and further input coming from Ro3kvit on how to make the document appropriate and useful to Ukraine.

Core Members

Tim Van Epp, FAICP, PP - Chair (USA)

Svitlana Biriuk, Ph.D. (Ukraine)

Lyndsey Deaton, Ph.D., RA, AICP, PMP, LEED GA (USA)

Oleksandr Dovbnia (Ukraine)

Kellie Dziedzic, AICP (USA)

Nathan Goldberg, AICP (USA)

Nathan Hutson, Ph.D. (USA)

Michael Kolber, AICP (USA)

Gala Korniyenko, Ph.D. (Ukraine)