U4Us: Ukraine4us

U4Us is connected to Coast4Us, an EU project funded by the Interreg Central Baltic programme. The EU project seeks to develop new methods for environmental and spatial planning in the Baltic Sea region.

Ukraine is in a phase of decentralization. Considerable amounts of authority and budget is being transferred from the state to local governments. Yet, according to the U4Us project, many Ukrainian governments have little knowledge and experience in sustainable planning of communities and villages. Locals are rarely involved in the planning processes and therefore people do not feel that their voices matter.

This project connects a Ukrainian region to the EU project. The idea is to explore new methods to involve local citizens in the process of decision-making. The U4Us project wants to promote activities developed in the EU project, such as community plans or planning laboratories. One ambition is to explore various methods and increase the level of knowledge in these methods. The activities include trainings on spatial planning, elaborations on so-called village/community plans and an international conference in Ukraine.