Dr Dmytro Legeyda
Funding period: 15 September 2025 – 15 December 2025
Type of funding:
Seminar Series
Partner organisations: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University (Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom), Private Clinic Doktor Aleks (Kharkiv, Ukraine), Your Baby/ Your Family (Kharkiv, Ukraine), Kharkiv Choreography School (Kharkiv, Ukraine), Oleg Drozdov Kharkiv School of Architecture (Kharkiv, Ukraine), V.A. Afanasiev Kharkiv Puppet Theatre (Kharkiv, Ukraine), and Theatre P.S. by Stepan Pasichnyk (Kharkiv, Ukraine)
Events: roundtable one (October 2025, Newcastle University), roundtable two (November 2025, Newcastle University), roundtable three (December 2025, Newcastle University)
Organisers: Dr Dmytro Legeyda (Researcher at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, United Kingdom), Professor Ben Bridgens, (Professor of Regenerative Architecture, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, United Kingdom), and Dr Alina Legeyda (Researcher, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University, United Kingdom)
Contact: Dr Dmytro Legeyda
Abstract:
The Phoenix-Nomenon of Kharkiv roundtable series features a collective of the established UK and Ukrainian scholars and the representatives of Kharkiv architectural, academic, medical, theatrical, ballet and business communities and organisations/institutions to address the phenomenon of de-urbanisation of a frontline/borderline city at times of war. The series takes a multimodal and multi-channel approach Kharkiv de-urbanization case studies to mobilise conceptual categories and shape different pathways towards researching the mechanisms of regaining of the lost (fully or partially) multidimensional significance (scientific, architectural, industrial, cultural, educational, academic, etc.) of Kharkiv as a frontline city as well as strategies to guarantee the heroic city survival (Vale, Campanella, Rozario, Linenthal, 2005; Yaldiz, 2014; Grivina, 2025; Otto, Reckhaus, Kuhlicke, 2025) and revival – hence, Phoenix-nomenon of Kharkiv.
Kharkiv Deurbanization-decrease scenario examines three iconic Kharkiv institutions: private Kharkiv clinics: general-profile Doktor Aleks Clinic, founded in 1994 and supervised by its Head GP Irina Krivtsova, MD, paediatrics-profile clinic Your Baby founded in 2011, supervised by its Head GP Andriy Volyansky, MD and Kharkiv Choreography School and Children’s Ballet Theatre, supervised by its Principal Natalia Rzhevska. Doktor Aleks Clinic, Your Baby Clinic and Kharkiv Choreography School have not relocated since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and have remained in wartime Kharkiv at all times facing a substantial decrease in a number of patients and school students (especially Your Baby – given its paediatric profile) showcasing urban survival under active military conflict.
Kharkiv Deurbanization-relocation scenario examines the private Kharkiv School of Architecture founded by Oleg Drozdov. The school relocated to Lviv in early 2022 due to the active military conflict and Kharkiv’s rapid advancement to the frontline. The School managed to preserve its students and staff, and it launched revolutionary, cutting-edge new projects and MA programs, facing the wartime challenge with courage and dignity, setting a high level of professionalism and stoicism for the world.
Kharkiv Deurbanization-split scenario examines two Kharkiv iconic theatres – V.A. Afanasiev Kharkiv State Academic Puppet Theatre and Stepan Pasichnyk P.S. Theatre invariably associated with Kharkiv thriving cultural life. The above theatres have experienced relocation within or beyond the city of Kharkiv.