Yaryna Onufriv, Associate Professor at the Department of Urban Planning and Design, the Institute of Architecture and Design, Lviv Polytechnic, conducted research at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany, as part of the DAAD scholarship program. The trip included research on the topic «The experience of participation in urban planning and architecture in Germany and its relevance for the reconstruction of Ukraine».
The Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, where the research was mainly conducted, is located in the city of Cottbus in eastern Germany. During her work, Yaryna Onufriv collaborated with researchers from the Department of Urban Planning and, in particular, Professor Christoph Wessling, who advised her. As part of the research, interviews were conducted with prominent German architects and urban planners who had experience with participatory design and involving people in the design process (in particular, Professor Heinz Nagler in Cottbus, and Professor Inken Baller in Berlin), as well as with urbanist and participatory design expert Sally Below. Based on these interviews and site visits, a research report was compiled.
During her stay at the Brandenburg University of Technology, Yaryna Onufriv attended lectures and seminars with students, and got acquainted with the educational process at the Department of Urban Design. She also took part in the international student workshop «Integrated Urban Development. Planning and Design» (Chernivtsi/Mannheim 2024) in Mannheim, during which she cooperated and exchanged experience with colleagues from other German and Ukrainian universities in a friendly atmosphere.
At the end of her research stay, Yaryna Onufriv also had the opportunity to talk to Professor Silke Weidner, Head of the Chair of Urban Management at the Brandenburg University of Technology, who helped organise two more meetings with experts in participatory urban planning in Leipzig. The experts shared their experience, which Yaryna Onufriv intends to integrate into her lecture course «Participation and Cooperation in Urban Planning» for master’s students at the Department of Urban Planning and Design at Lviv Polytechnic National University.
In the future, further cooperation in the scientific and educational fields between the Departments of the universities is planned, including the exchange of students and teachers under the Erasmus+ academic mobility agreement between the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and Lviv Polytechnic National University. In the next few years, joint student and professional workshops will also be held.
