#NEF How can shelters be used after the war? MetaLab researched the existing practices of equipping bomb shelters around the world

     One of the first and main security challenges after February 24, 2022, was the threat to human life, which led to the search for shelters to protect against missile attacks and bombing. From the first days of full-scale war, such shelters were facilities of various types: from rooms in municipal, and public institutions (schools, universities, offices of state-owned companies, subways stations and existent bomb shelters, etc.) to commercial and residential buildings, in the basement floors (the basements of private and residential buildings, supermarkets, underground parking lots). For a long time, bomb shelters have been irrelevant for Ukrainian cities and there was no urgent need to keep them in usable condition.

     The "New economy of Ivano-Frankivsk" project, financed by the European Union's "Mayors for economic growth" program, involves the partial repair and re-equipping of a shelter located in Ivano-Frankivsk on the territory of Promprylad.Renovation, an innovation center based on an old factory. During the repair, the team will apply the practices of sustainability, universal design, and circular economy – the sustainable construction cluster is one of the three priority areas in the "New economy of Ivano-Frankivsk" project.

     To do this, the team of the urban laboratory METALAB, as one of the project partners, researched the practices of arranging bomb shelters around the world and, importantly, their use in peacetime. Varvara Yagnysheva, an architect and project manager at METALAB, analyzed the experiences of countries that used, built, or modernized shelters during World War II, the actions of military regimes, and the Cold War, and re-equipped, changed their functions, or renovated them in peacetime after direct military threats disappeared. The purpose of this research is to analyze sustainable approaches of other countries in the re-equipment, modification, or addition of functions to existing bomb shelters to show how Ukraine and Ivano-Frankivsk in particular can change their approach to policies for the construction, arrangement, repair, and maintenance of existing and new shelters in the period of post-war reconstruction, guided by the principles of sustainable construction, universal design, and circular economy.

     The full study is available here.

     The publication was created within the framework of the "New economy of Ivano-Frankivsk (NEF)" it is a project that envisages the process of transformation of the city into a competitive innovative economic center. The project is implemented by a consortium of partners: The executive committee of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, Promprylad.Renovation innovative center, METALAB urban laboratory, agency of economic development PPV Knowledge Networks and Teple Misto platform.