News

8 March 2023

New webinar series explores digitalisation as an approach to build urban resilience in Ukraine

With the ongoing war in Ukraine, thousands of people have lost their lives, with economic, environmental and social stresses putting the country’s local communities, cities and regions under pressing challenges that have forced millions of people to leave their homes. This has initiated wider conversations about the ways to best support resilience-building efforts in Ukraine – and the conversation has turned to digitalisation as a crucial new approach.

The recent UNDRR MCR2030 Digital Resilience Webinar Series on the role of Digitalisation in Emergency Response and Post-war Recovery explored what it means for local communities to build digital resilience. The discussion mapped the use of digital technologies in building cities, and took a whole-systems approach to resilience, especially in terms of governance in the face of emergencies and conflict. As technology should unite, not divide people, the webinar participants emphasised that the use of digital technology must protect people’s rights, support democracy, and ensure that all digital players act responsibly and safely. With that in mind, resilience can be boosted by fostering the digitalisation of local and regional public administrations with appropriate funding opportunities, legislative measures, and policy tools through strategic thinking and coordination across networks.

Embedding the principles of agility and transparency in risk governance and resilience decision-making, the speakers explored the means to harness the potential of data and technology in various areas such as cyber defence, disaster damage and loss remote-based assessments, social media analytics, data mining, reconstruction modelling and urban neighbourhood regenerations, to ensure the effective implementation of digital resilience in Ukraine’s conflict settings, while creating the enabling environment for building back better. Equipped with these types of digital tools, emergency response and recovery in Ukraine can be made more agile and transparent.

This examination of the digital side of resilience is part of wider efforts to support the recovery and reconstruction process for Ukraine, and taps into Digitalisation as part of ICLEI Europe’s current Work Plan. As a member of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, and a co-chair of the MCR2030 Initiative European Regional Coordination Committee for Europe & Central Asia, ICLEI Europe formed a Ukraine Task Group to help cities to take urgent action in the wake of the crisis. This Task Force has helped to foster lesson sharing from European Resilience Hubs to determine what actions and technical assistance might be required in post-war emergency responses, aiming to help pave a path forward for Ukraine’s long-term recovery and reconstruction. The Alliance outlined five key principles including support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty; support for Ukraine's European integration; the empowerment of local self-government; a reconstruction strategy built on integrated planning at the municipal and regional levels; and the modernisation of the countryside; good governance; regional business development. Aligned with these principles, ICLEI defined its approach in supporting Ukrainian cities under the following five themes:

  • Cities’ demand-driven advisory role on sustainable development, financing and adaptive risk governance
  • Building capacity within Ukrainian cities and form networks to share knowledge and develop mid-to-long term solutions
  • Support the implementation of the Ukraine mid-to-long term Strategy for Research and Innovation
  • City-to-City knowledge exchange to share expertise and technical assistance for reconstruction recovery to build back better
  • Support integrated, resilient, green recovery and economic diversification to low-carbon in association with the Mission Adaptation

Following on the European Urban Resilience Forum 2022 (EURESFO) key outcomes, the ICLEI Ukraine Task Group, together with regional and global partners, will continue to support Ukrainian cities by mapping protracted urban displacement challenges and the impact of damage and loss. The Task Group will also operate as a facilitator to coordinate existing efforts, and align technical expertise and capacity building with Ukrainian cities’ strategic visions, providing the tailored type of advisory services required to empower local self-government and multi-level decision making.