Territorial reading in Ukraine’s recovery planning and policy: a gap to address

Approaches to Ukraine’s wartime and anticipated post-war reconstruction and recovery, united under a general slogan of ‘build back better’, are currently reflected in multiple policies, regulations, planning tools, and data registers, as well as showcased through a variety of pilot architectural and design projects initiated by the Ukrainian government, international actors, and civil society. Whilst aware of institutional, legal and financial challenges for setting up and governing the recovery process, this short text intends to open a discussion on the notion of territory that is often overlooked in the existing recovery projects and policy frameworks. How should the effects of territorial transformations and reforms, that occurred before or during the war, be presented in Ukraine’s recovery policy? And what should be the reflection of historically defined settlement practices and connection to zemlya, the land?