POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION AND URBAN PLANNING IN THE KAKHOVKA RESERVOIR DISASTER REGION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2413-7154/2025.93.31-49Keywords:
Russian-Ukrainian war, Kakhovka reservoir disaster, post-war reconstruction, water supply, infrastructureAbstract
The article offers the results of studying the ongoing post-war reconstruction efforts and designing alternative post-disaster spatial strategies in the Kakhovka Reservoir disaster region. The methodology of this interdisciplinary research includes the synthesis of information from the systematic expert discourse on the environmental and socio-economic consequences of the Kakhovka Reservoir disaster, conducted by the Department of Ecology and Geography of Kherson State University, as well as open data from digital platforms. It has been determined that implementation of any recovery strategy in the Kakhovka Reservoir disaster region primarily depends on ensuring security and liberation of the temporarily occupied territories, but one of the key conditions for the people's return and restoration of well-being in de-occupied hromadas is the basic service of stable water supply. The experience of existing projects to restore water supply and water infrastructure in the disaster-hit hromadas of Kherson Oblast has shown that the projected water supply capacity is designed only for minimal household water supply and is characterised by extremely low rates of funding and implementation. Along with the scenarios for rebuilding the reservoir and restoration of the natural ecosystems of the Velykyi Luh, an alternative model of comprehensive agricultural and economic transformation of the disaster region was suggested. This model is based on the redesign of pre-war hydrosocial networks, the promotion of small-scale farming with a focus on innovative irrigation practices, optimal technologies for minimising water consumption, and the redesign of agro-ecosystems for returning to the dryland farming pattern. This post-catastrophic spatial strategy will ensure social and environmental sustainability of hromadas and inclusive urban development.
First received: 19 May 2025
Accepted: 9 June 2025
Published: 12 June 2025
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