INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT LVIV 2030

Integrated concept for the city development. Spatial vision of Lviv

I. Genesis

The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 is a strategic document that sets the conceptual framework for spatial development of Lviv and defines a vision of the city in 2030. It is also an agile management tool, used by all departments within the Lviv City Council, that promotes a multi stakeholder and cross sectoral approach. The key role of the Concept is to be an input for other strategic documents and city’s urban planning policy at least until 2030 and, to some extent, beyond. Sectoral strategies with specific goals and projects have been defined in the Concept in 2017-2019 and approved by Lviv City Council in 2020.

According to the integrated approach, the Concept is developed in close cooperation between Lviv City Council, local and international experts, and active residents interested in the city’s development, which makes it a kind of social contract that coordinates the interests and actions of various authorities, business representatives, professional communities, organizations, and residents. As a result, this document is composed in a way to be understandable not only to professionals but to the widest possible range of people.

The Concept introduces an integrated approach as a framework for urban development in Lviv, covering such topics as: urban planning and housing, mobility and technical infrastructure, culture and cultural heritage, education, science and social sphere, tourism, public space and greenery, economy, and labor market, as well as modernization of governance. The integrated approach implies addressing these principles as interconnected components, which synergy will allow a proactive response to changing conditions and challenges for Lviv sustainable development, and which will utilize the full potential and resources of the city.

The Concept highlighted core principles of sustainable and climate-neutral development of Lviv and have a strong spatial dimension, that make’s it an urban planning document. There are following principles that define the city of Lviv as a sustainable city by 2030 and climate-neutral city by 2050.

city of short distances;
sustainable mobility development;
preservation and development of natural cascade and green links;
sub-centers (centers of business and social activity in different residential areas of the city);
former industrial zones – “belt of opportunities” for local economic development;
housing development based on the public transport axes.

The Concept is based not so much on specific procedures as on values, setting a list of spatial development goals based on clearly defined priorities. The Concept was developed in 2017-2019 and remains relevant being the main conceptual framework every city department addresses in its strategic work. Consequently, this instrument could be considered as a flexible and scalable tool that passed the test of time.

II. Triggers

The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 was developed to solve specific issues linked with the environmental, socio-economic and spatial triggers taking place in Lviv. The following list of them is not exhaustive but focuses on the main tendencies city planners had in mind while deciding to develop the Concept.

The main tendency that had been triggering city planners is that Lviv’s housing sector was developing intensively, fostering the city’s enlargement. It prompted local authorities to critically assess the possibility of their influence on the city’s development processes. The consensus was reached that formal instruments alone have limited capacity to set the common vision of the city development with all relevant stakeholders: an informal instrument of interaction is needed, which would be developed in cooperation with all stakeholders and become a kind of social contract.

The next trigger to be highlighted is the rapid growth of the city’s transit population due to the development of the tourist sector and transportation routes, including air travel. In 2021 Danylo Halytskyi Lviv International Airport was ranked among the top 3 airports in Ukraine in terms of traffic. The number of tourists in the city has increased by more than 50% compared to 2020.

Cargo and Freight transportation volume has also increased. According to the Main Department of Statistics in the Lviv region, exports of goods from Lviv have increased by USD 180,000 thousand in 2018 in comparison to 2011. It forced the municipality to rethink its transport infrastructure and resulted in the establishment of several ambitious projects in cooperation with businesses such as PORT Lviv Logistics Center in the summer of 2021.

Also, the city has opened its doors to an intensively developing IT sector. In April 2021 Development Group LLC received approval from BKG, Poland’s largest state-owned bank, to provide a loan for the construction of an IT park in Lviv, with offices for 10,000 IT specialists. New projects needed more space thus economic development was tightly linked with the spatial triggers mentioned above.

The economic achievements were accompanied by challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in medical infrastructure improvement, and rethinking of the role of public spaces for citizens. City has faced challenges related to climate change. Flooding and heat waves demonstrated the weakness of existing urban structure and management to these climate change issues. The city needed a comprehensive tool to approach those issues and develop not only tactical but strategic solutions.

III. Transformational context

Thinking of solutions to address the challenges

Lviv is the largest city in Western Ukraine, the administrative center of a region, one of the national cultural, educational and scientific centers, as well as a major industrial center and transport hub. In 2019, when The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 was developed Lviv officials had a clear understanding that the city’s development should be framed into wise municipal policy. The challenges described above have prompted a rethinking of different kinds of city systems (from urban mobility to critical infrastructure) and a shift to more holistic and sustainable approaches to urban planning. In this context in 2017 city planners proposed to develop not just another strategy, but to charge the whole approach to spatial planning.

Another contextual aspect that was crucial is the ongoing process of European integration of Ukraine. The Lviv community was interested in the adoption of EU urban planning standards to strengthen cooperation with international organizations and cities and increase its capacity. In the most developed cities that are at the top of the world’s comfort rankings, spatial development is laid out within a two-stage planning system (the informal level offers vision documents, while the formal level puts these visions into the framework of documents laid down in laws, regulations, and norms).

In other words, the Concept was seen as a relevant and flexible planning tool based on relevant principles and values of sustainable development, which would introduce a two-stage planning system in Lviv, fostering the shift from the outdated approach to urban planning that could not meet all the challenges the city faces, to more holistic and democratic approach.

How the Challenges are Being Addressed

The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 is a successor and logical continuation of the Integrated Concept for the Development of the Central Part of Lviv. The latter can be considered as a pilot that demonstrated its effectiveness and advocated for the next step – development of the Integrated Development Concept for the whole city. As far as it was expected to become the main strategic document of spatial development for the city it was designed in a way to combine measures of other strategies, concepts, and programs related to the strategic development of the city and sectoral topics.

Following the principles of integrated approach which are vertical, horizontal and territorial integration city planners ensured multisectoral and multilevel engagement of stakeholders – structural units of Lviv City Council, local and international experts, and active residents. Participatory democracy, cross-sectoral partnership and human-centered decision-making were among the core principles in the process of the concept development.

Since The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 was approved the city has multiplied the channels of citizen participation and developed the culture of extensive involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the projects of urban development. The Concept, as was expected, helped to reach a social contract between diverse city actors (from developing companies and house owners to representatives of civic society and municipal authorities) on core trajectories of city development.

Approaches for Addressing Future Challenges

Covid-19 pandemic was the first challenge of the Concept durability and resilience and it managed to remain relevant. For instance by including strategies and projects for sustainable mobility city planners ensured efficient transportation of people for medical purposes and provided alternatives for usage of multi-passengers vehicles. This case proved that the concept proposes universal principles, resilient to constantly changing conditions of the contemporary world. That is why its principles became the base for every other strategic document developed by the city.

In 2021 Lviv city was amalgamated with other 19 settlements and a Lviv Territorial Community was established as a result of the decentralization reform. Larger community needed an extended vision of its development. Thus, the City Council started to develop the Concept for Integrated Development of the Lviv Community based on the principles and goals of the Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030. The Concept will be scaled up to the whole community – this evolution proves the durability of this “urban planning tool”.

In 2022 the full scale invasion of russia to Ukraine began and new challenges need to be addressed to meet the sustainable and climate-neutral city development under the risks of war. The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 as a long term strategy with principles for spatial development has flexibility to adapt these principles to face challenges of war, in particular, the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure using the principle “build back better”, integration of internally displaced people to local community, medical facility development and social housing, relocation of businesses from other regions of Ukraine and limited financial resources.

IV. Action journey

The Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 created an image of the city in terms of its spatial characteristics. It brought the shared vision and common goals that were further reflected in thematic strategies that detail various areas of urban life such as economy, culture, social infrastructure, etc.

The process of the Concept development took 2 years and was comprised of a comprehensive analysis of the General Plan indicators and its prognosis, analytical surveys, diverse stakeholder engagement practices: multidisciplinary meetings in working groups, meetings with expert groups, discussions with citizens during practices of civic engagement at the urban festival “Maisternia Mista”. The first version of the Concept was formed after 21 months of work in June 2019, the final version was ready in 4 months in October 2019.

The document is developed by municipal authorities based on the principles of publicity with the active involvement of the representatives of institutions within Lviv City Council, civic society, business, sectoral experts, and other stakeholders. Apart from principles of urban development mentioned above, the Concept sets the city’s development goals and aligns them with resources and available mechanisms for their achievement.

Mobility transformation

The Concept advocates for the traffic flow distribution model and control over the number of cars, which enables free space in the city center with narrow streets for public transport which carries more people. It proposes the transformation of the public transport system to form diagonal public transport routes passing through the city center and in the future – introducing an urban electric train that may improve connections with neighboring settlements.

The Concept also suggests further development of the cycling network and the formation of bicycle and pedestrian Green Links – those priorities gained value after the start of Covid 19 Pandemic, which caused a shift from usage of public transport to single-place vehicles like bikes and scooters. Thanks to the city’s investment in the cycle and pedestrian lines (advocated by the Integrated Development Concept) this transition felt natural.

Spatio-social transformation

The Concept considers the load off the city center, and proposes to develop new places of attraction, so-called ‘sub-centers’. These places should grow into hubs of business and social activity with concentrations of new jobs. They will also shape the identity of each district and may become city landmarks. The Concept underlines that by investing in the development of the public transport system, the city can increase real estate prices, make districts more attractive, and transfer activities from the center to urban sub-centers. Moreover, a permanent infrastructural connection could then be created, which integrates remote areas into the overall fabric of the city. This vision proves it right in the northern part of the city, where in 2022 the project UNBROKEN caused formation of a new subscenter with high quality infrastructure and prompting innovative solutions developing the area and attracting new inhabitants to newly developed estates.

The Concept also introduces the principle of housing development based on the public transport axes. This is a resident-oriented approach, as it is more convenient for them to live near public transport lines. It also prevents the creation of additional burden due to construction on the periphery.

Innovative economy

The Concept sets the framework for the innovative economy with setting the principle of the belt of opportunities development – a strip of former industrial, transport, and low-density development along the railway. This area has enormous potential – convenient location, utility networks, and the possibility of connecting with the railroad ring. It is here that strategically important facilities for the city and industry of innovation can be developed.

Good environmental governance

There are two principles in the Concept that contribute to the establishment of good environmental governance in Lviv: Preservation and development of natural cascade and green links and City of short distances. City acknowledges the role of natural assets in mitigating climate change, building resilience to natural disasters and supporting the residents’ health. Accessibility of green zones is guaranteed by the principle of short distances which sets the aim of maintaining a compact city, where all facilities are accessible by public transport. This principle is also aiming to reduce CO2 emissions – a symptom of a car-oriented city planning structure.

The Concepts defines the following objectives for environmental governance:

Strategic preservation of green spaces on the outskirts as an important natural resource.
Transition to renewable energy sources.
Creation of green zones and public parks within walking distance of dense residential areas.
Restoration and beautification of water bodies. Rainwater management.
Increased high-quality landscaping in the city.
Air quality improvement.
Waste recycling.
Creating a humane environment for animals and reducing the number of stray animals.

Among the proposed projects are: providing green links between intensively developed areas in the neighboring settlements and the city, energy-efficient modernization of the buildings, establishment of a waste collection and processing system, and construction of a waste processing plant. Since the development of the concept the city has made a huge step forward in improvement of the waste management system through extending the separate waste collection system, conducting the landfill remediation and starting the construction of a new waste processing plant.

Disaster resilience (utility infrastructure)

The concept highlights the threat of global climate change in Lviv. It states that according to assessment findings, of all potential adverse effects of climate change, Lviv is most susceptible to heat stress (15 points out of 24 possible). Urban development patterns, small areas covered with water bodies and their uneven distribution across the city, and the lack of green zones in the central part of the city – all these factors contribute to the formation of a heat island in the center and increase the city’s susceptibility to heat stress.

The concept foresees opportunities to mitigate the risk by the following actions:

Renovation of the existing infrastructure and construction of new infrastructure with account for climate change adaptation (use of porous materials, reduction of artificial surfaces in the city, etc.).
Reduced energy consumption by water drainage facilities.
Installation of local wastewater treatment facilities on industrial premises.
Development of a rainwater management system.
Preservation of natural areas around the city of Lviv and development of green links within the city.
Improving the efficiency of existing energy supply systems.

Other sectors of the city’s development that were considered in the Concept are: historic preservation and tourism, universities and science, business, services, IT, trade, industry, culture, education, healthcare, social infrastructure, and sport. For each sector SWOT analysis was conducted, which means there was a primal risk assessment and there were recommendations on avoiding or mitigating them. Thus, the aspect of resilience was integrated in each sector’s description, yet it was not a separate topic to be considered.

V. Future

Since the start of the russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the implementation process of the Integrated Development Concept: Lviv 2030 was adapted to meet new challenges. Integration of disaster resilience became a priority for all projects of integrated urban development and it will remain relevant in future. In this field resilience of critical infrastructure is on the top of the objectives list. It implies integration of a range of sustainable solutions to energy, heat, wastewater and healthcare systems. For instance Lviv is aiming to decentralize the city’s district heating system to make it more resilient to destruction. In order to use natural resources sustainably and improve the resilience of infrastructure the city has an ambition to develop a spatial energy plan and a strategy for decarbonizing the city’s heat supply.

Consequences of the full-scale invasion are experienced by all the population of Ukraine, which reflects on their physical and mental health. Thus Lviv started implementing an integrated approach to urban development and the principles set by the Concept to help them get qualified medical help and complex rehabilitation. Future urban planning objectivesimply provision of new spaces for rehabilitation facilities, building barrier-free environment and development of therapeutic green areas.

Challenges of martial law have brought attention to the importance of the tech industry so the city plans to continue the development of the “belt of opportunities” focusing on support for IT, military tech, medical tech, green tech industries.

Prioritizing military hazards Lviv considers risks from social, economic and environmental fields as well. Good environmental governance is an essential part of the city’s strategies which is planned to be implemented through the project and concrete actions of preservation and development of natural cascade, green links and green areas, which is expected to help the city reduce the effects of climate change.

As was previously mentioned, the Integrated development Concept is planned to be scaled up to cover the whole Lviv community. It will form the basis for a Сomprehensive Plan for the Spatial Development of the community, which is both urban planning documentation and land management documentation at the local level, that the city is obliged to develop according to national policy. Previously mentioned challenges and those transformations that happened after the start of the full–scale invasion of Ukraine (such as the fact that Lviv has become a hub for IDPs and one of the main logistic centers for Eastern Europe) will be reflected and considered in those two spatial strategic documents.