LaRe
LaRe: Building Resilience in Abandoned Landscapes in Ukrainian Polissia
The LaRe project (from the German ‘Landschaften resilient’ – resilient landscapes) aims to restore and ensure the sustainable development of abandoned landscapes in Ukrainian Polissia. Through spatial analysis, participatory workshops and the development of a Web GIS platform, we are engaging the Snovsk hromada in jointly planning the future of their territory. The project is being implemented by TUD Dresden University of Technology in cooperation with the Restart agency, with financial support from the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU).
Location:
Snovsk hromada, Chernihiv oblast
Period:
2026-2028
Type:
Digital landscape plan, Web GIS platform, and creation of a handbook for the restoration of abandoned areas
Snovsk hromada
Snovsk hromada
The purpose of the project
Наталія Макарук
Володимир Крижанівський Андрій Орлов
Олена Пітірімова
Юлія Попова
Вадим Денисенко
Микола Костриця
Анна Уварова
Марія Коробко
Євгенія Кулеба
Ігор Крицак
Юлія Брикульська
Polissia is a key region for the water balance of the Dnipro and Western Bug rivers, with a high proportion of nature conservation areas and significant biodiversity. Due to depopulation, the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster, and Russia’s full-scale invasion, the region has suffered severe ecosystem degradation. Disruption of the water regime and the neglect of agricultural land have posed major challenges to the region’s ecosystem. The Snovsk community in Chernihiv Oblast has become a pilot site for a project to develop digital solutions to improve landscape planning in the region.
The work comprises three consecutive phases: the development of diagnostic GIS tools to assess the landscapes of Polissia, the creation of a digital landscape plan for Snovsk in collaboration with the hromada, and the scaling up of results via a Web-GIS platform. Furthermore, a valuable outcome will be the creation of a handbook for around 200 hromadas in Polissia.
Project objectives
To restore the ecological balance and enhance the biodiversity of the Polissia landscapes by developing tools to assess ecosystem resilience and integrating nature-based solutions into hromada planning
Engage residents and stakeholders of the Snovsk hromada in collaborative landscape planning, establishing a working model of public participation that can be replicated in other hromadas
Develop and launch a Web-GIS platform for interactive landscape monitoring and to support management decisions at the hromada and regional levels
Systematise the methodology and results in a handbook
To restore the ecological balance and enhance the biodiversity of the Polissia landscapes by developing tools to assess ecosystem resilience and integrating nature-based solutions into hromada planning
Engage residents and stakeholders of the Snovsk hromada in collaborative landscape planning, establishing a working model of public participation that can be replicated in other hromadas
Develop and launch a Web-GIS platform for interactive landscape monitoring and to support management decisions at the hromada and regional levels
Systematise the methodology and results in a handbook
Three levels of research
Implemented partnership projects for the hromada's recovery
Future pilot projects
For more project details, visit our partner's website
Project team
Наталія Макарук
Володимир Крижанівський Андрій Орлов
Олена Пітірімова
Юлія Попова
Вадим Денисенко
Микола Костриця
Анна Уварова
Марія Коробко
Євгенія Кулеба
Ігор Крицак
Юлія Брикульська
Founder of Restart
Oleksandr Shevchenko
Lead Researcher, Project Team Lead
Liva Dudareva
Operations Director
Marharyta Borysova
Urban Planner
Anastasiia Popovych
Designer
Margo Garyazha
Project manager
Anastasiia Mahera
Partners
Other projects
Ukraine Urban Lab. Strategic Development Documents for 8 Ukrainian Hromadas
Digital platform for spatial development
