On 18 November, a working meeting on the Concept of Integrated Territorial Development and the Drohobych Hromada Strategy was held in the chamber of the Drohobych City Council.
The discussion took place with the involvement of representatives of UN-Habitat, including the Habitat project curator in the Lviv Oblast, leading architect Dmytro Matviyishyn, the Drohobych City Institute, represented by the working team headed by Director Volodymyr Kondziolka, the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture, the Department of Investment and Economic Development, the Department of Social Protection of the Community, the Department of Culture and Tourism Development, starostas, the city’s TIC and others.
At the beginning of the meeting, Volodymyr Kondziolka, head of the Drohobych City Institute, noted that the city had recently approved a new version of the Sustainable Development Strategy of the Drohobych City Territorial Community until 2030. Specifically, it refers to changes in youth policy. A thorough analysis and collection of data and proposals from the community and young people of the city was carried out. Consequently, other provisions of the Strategy were analysed and areas to be worked on and improved today were identified. One of these is the city’s education sector. According to Volodymyr Kondziolka, today 2/3 of budget expenditures are spent on education. Therefore, it is necessary to work actively to optimise the network, as a clear class size should be maintained, and the funds allocated from the city budget for the education sector should be directed to the development and replenishment of the material and technical base of schools, rather than to “eating away”, said Mr Kondziolka.
Then they talked about the Concept of Integrated Territorial Development of the Drohobych Community. The Head of the Department of Urban Development and Architecture of the City Council, Head of the Working Group on the Concept Development, informed the audience about why the community needs the Integrated Development Concept and how it will affect the further spatial development of individual territories and the community as a whole.
According to him, the Integrated Development Concept is a relatively new format of a strategic planning document approved by the Government in 2022. It defines both the development directions and the space where they will be implemented. Conventionally, it is a development strategy “superimposed” on a community map.
The concept gives an understanding of how different spheres of life will be coordinated with each other in space. This will allow us to draw conclusions about where there is too much activity in the community and where there is a clear lack of it. The Concept also aims to propose a more even development of the community territory in the context of war and post-war recovery.
In addition, the Concept of Integrated Development is the basis for the development of urban planning documentation, which is the basis for community development, land issues, zoning, transport, community safety, environmental issues, public spaces, green areas and water bodies.
It is worth noting that the Drohobych City Institute developed a special questionnaire to collect information for the development of the Concept. The questionnaire was published on the website of the Drohobych City Council, and everyone was able to fill it out and submit their proposals to the Concept. The collection of proposals lasted until 4 November. By December, the community should develop a preliminary draft of the Concept. The final document, which will include proposals from the community residents and the work of the working group in the community, should be approved in February 2025.
In the second part of the working meeting, the starostas of the Drohobych community shared the problems and changes that have taken place in their villages since the establishment of the ATC and outlined a long-term development plan for their territories.