Tactical Urbanism in a War Zone: Lessons for Cities Everywhere
What can cities learn from a place where urban life has been disrupted by war?
For urban designer Mikael Colville-Andersen, the answer is not another complicated smart-city system. During his time volunteering towards relief efforts in Ukraine, he saw people rely on bicycles, volunteers, temporary public-space projects and improvised infrastructure to keep daily life moving. He also helped deliver a number of tactical urbanism projects himself, from a Nordic therapy garden in Kyiv to a major transformation of the iconic Kontraktova Square – the largest tactical urbanism project in the world.
In Episode 34 of Talking Place, Mikael speaks with host Tanisha Raffiudin about tactical urbanism, resilience and why cities should be more willing to test new ideas instead of waiting for perfect conditions.
Tactical urbanism under extreme conditions
Mikael's work in Ukraine began with a request for bicycles.
In April 2022, urban planners in Lviv contacted him for help. The city had received around 200,000 internally displaced people almost overnight, putting pressure on public transport and roads. By July, the first shipment of 100 bicycles had travelled from Copenhagen to Lviv.
The bikes initially went to displaced people who could use them for everyday needs, from shopping to job interviews. The programme later expanded, with social workers using bicycles to deliver food, water and humanitarian aid to vulnerable people in remote parts of the country.
Kontraktova Square, located in the heart of Kyiv’s historic Podil district, had been made car-free in 2017, but plans for a permanent redesign had not materialised. The result was a large, paved space that became extremely hot in summer and exposed in winter. Mikael saw an opportunity to demonstrate what the square could become through a temporary intervention
Working with a team of volunteers from 18 countries, Mikael and his team built temporary benches, large planters with trees, green areas, climbing structures, ping pong tables, exercise equipment and outdoor chess. At around 11,000 m², he describes it as the world's largest tactical urbanism project and it was funded entirely by private donors.
What makes the project particularly striking is that it was built in a city under siege. Volunteers worked while air raid sirens sounded and after nights of attacks. Yet the purpose of the project was not to ignore the reality of the war, but to give people a place where they could briefly step away from it. For Mikael, if the project could give someone a better place to spend 30 minutes, or give children an hour to play and forget about the war, it had done something useful.
That is an important part of tactical urbanism. A temporary intervention does not have to solve every problem in a city. It can make one space work better now, while also showing what could be possible later. It can provide useful evidence for future decisions.
Resilience does not always require more technology
Mikael's experiences in Ukraine have also changed how he thinks about resilient cities.
His conclusion: cities need to be prepared to function when sophisticated systems fail.
In Kyiv, damaged energy infrastructure meant generators became a common part of the streetscape. In Mykolaiv, where the water supply had been disrupted, trams were repurposed to carry large water containers along their usual routes so residents could collect water.
These examples point to a broader principle. Resilient cities need to be adaptable. Infrastructure should be useful in normal conditions, but cities also benefit from having systems that can be adapted when circumstances change.
Mikael argues that many of the things people need during war, disaster or other crises are basic and analogue. That does not mean cities should abandon technology. It means they should avoid becoming so dependent on complex systems that they struggle when those systems are unavailable.
Why cities need to experiment
If a city under war conditions can respond quickly during a crisis, why do other cities struggle to address crises during normal times?
Mikael believes municipal governments are naturally conservative. They have budgets, political pressures and elections to consider. As a result, change often happens slowly.
He points to Copenhagen’s unique approach: the city has had a pilot project culture for decades. It tests ideas for a limited period before deciding whether they should become permanent. That model reduces the risk of trying something new. A project does not need to be perfect from day one. It needs to be useful enough to test.
Tactical urbanism can provide a practical way for cities to experiment with public space without committing immediately to a permanent redesign.
The approach is especially relevant to cities dealing with long-standing problems such as car-centric planning, climate crisis, and underused public spaces. Instead of spending years discussing what a space might become, cities can sometimes test a smaller intervention and learn from how people actually use it.
Citizens are part of the city-making process
Mikael's projects also demonstrate how much residents can contribute when they are given an opportunity.
When he began creating a therapy garden in Kyiv, he posted a call for volunteers to help clear around 5,000 m² of forest. He expected roughly 30 people to turn up. Five hundred did, accelerating a process that would otherwise have taken three weekends to complete.
Mikael saw the same citizen-led energy in the stories featured in his television series, The Life-Sized City. He found that some of the most compelling examples of urban change came from ordinary residents who were tired of waiting for politicians to act.
People closed streets on the weekend for children to play, planted trees where the municipality has cut down trees, and reclaimed neglected spaces because they needed those changes in their own neighbourhoods.
People closed streets on weekends for children to play, planted trees where the municipality had cut them down, and reclaimed neglected spaces because they needed those changes in their own neighbourhoods. That is why, across four seasons of his series, Mikael’s goal was to bring these citizen stories to a wider audience.
The lesson for cities elsewhere
Ukraine cannot provide a template that every city can copy. The circumstances are completely different. But the response to those circumstances offers useful questions for cities facing their own challenges.
Are we making it easy enough to test ideas? Are residents being invited into the process? Do our infrastructure systems have alternatives when something fails? And are we waiting for a crisis before making changes that could be tested today?
For Mikael, change happens street by street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, city by city. His experience suggests that resilience is not only about preparing for the worst. It is also about giving people the freedom and resources to improve their surroundings before a crisis arrives.
If people can transform public space with volunteers in a war zone, cities in safer conditions can find reasons to experiment too.
They can start on a Tuesday, in practical, visible ways.
Listen to the full episode with Mikael Colville-Andersen on Talking Place, Season 3 Episode 34, available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and all major platforms.
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Tanisha Raffiuddin is Creative Director at Concept Culture and host of Talking Place. Conversations on placemaking, branding, sustainability and culture across the built environment.