Under the title “The Residential Heritage of the Soviet Union in Times of Multiple Crises,” the consortium cities.building.culture continues its research in cities in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and the Baltics with another three-year funding phase, from October 2024 to September 2027.

The Kick-off meeting of the second phase of the project was hosted by our colleagues at KIT Karlsruhe, and took place on Friday, February 14, 2025. The event featured an intensive, two-part workshop designed to align research agendas and foster collaboration among subprojects.

In the morning session, each subproject presented its research agenda, outlining theoretical aspects of resilient sustainability, research frameworks, and working plans. The discussions also covered key case studies (e.g., Odesa (Ukraine), Vilnius (Lithuania), Narva (Estonia), Gyumri (Armenia)) and potential avenues for cross-collaboration. In the afternoon session, the focus shifted to common initiatives and events, including a doctoral school in Tallinn, expert workshops, and the development of the competence network "cities.building.culture". 

The meeting concluded with a lecture by Prof. Thomas Will (TU Dresden) on “Current Challenges for the Preservation of Architectural Heritage and Urban Planning.”

On this occasion, we also welcomed Anastasiia Bozhenko from Kharkiv, Ukraine, who will be joining the team at GWZO Leipzig.

The next meeting of the consortium is scheduled to take place at RWTH Aachen in September 2025, with the participation of the Advisory Board. We look forward to fruitful collaboration in our shared research endeavors. 

© Liliana Iuga, 2025