Ruda Project: Urban Residency

Illustration

Application deadline: September 13, 2026
Where: Kryvyi Rih / across Ukraine
Residency dates: October 11–13

Kryvyi Rih is a city where industry directly shapes everyday life: the structure of its neighbourhoods, distances and routes, the environment, the ways people use urban space, and the connections between them. At the same time, the city is constantly changing, and with it, the familiar spaces and everyday practices of its residents are changing as well. These relationships between the industrial environment, urban infrastructure, and everyday life will be one of the areas of exploration during the residency.
The full-scale war has added new experiences of change and adaptation to these processes. We are interested in how residents rethink and adapt urban spaces to new needs, how their routes and ways of interacting are changing, and how new communities and practices of mutual support emerge. During the residency, we invite participants to look at Kryvyi Rih through these everyday transformations — exploring how people respond to change and find their own ways of coping.
We invite residency participants to explore these processes through the following questions:
● How do people adapt the city to their needs?● Which places become important to communities?● How are neighbourhoods, routes, and ways of interacting changing?● How is industrial heritage being reinterpreted today?● What kinds of solutions emerge not from ready-made models, but directly from the experience of living in Kryvyi Rih?
We are particularly interested in the encounter between an outside perspective and local experience. Someone arriving in Kryvyi Rih for the first time sees the city differently from someone who experiences it every day. At the same time, participants from other cities bring their own experiences of change, adaptation to new circumstances, and finding solutions in different urban environments. The residency aims to become a space where these experiences can meet and where participants can reflect on how similar challenges and ways of coping manifest themselves in different urban contexts.
We therefore do not expect participants to arrive with ready-made answers or prescriptions for the city. Instead, we invite them to observe, listen, talk to people, explore different neighbourhoods, and allow Kryvyi Rih itself to influence their initial ideas.
During the residency, participants will get to know the city and its local communities, meet residents and experts, and work on their own research-based or artistic projects. Possible topics include industrial heritage, architecture, mobility, ecology, public spaces, local memory, culture, the everyday life of neighbourhoods, and other aspects of contemporary Kryvyi Rih.
To participate, applicants should complete the application form, briefly describe their practice, and propose a question or area they would like to explore in Kryvyi Rih. We do not expect a fully developed project. We are more interested in the question you bring to the city — and in how that question might change after encountering Kryvyi Rih. At the end of the residency, participants will have an opportunity to present their observations and work in a public presentation. The project will also cover participants’ accommodation and travel expenses to and from Kryvyi Rih.
Project curators:
Mariia Hryshchenko is a sociologist and urban researcher who works with public participation in Ukrainian communities in the context of spatial development. She is a co-founder of Cit`e Participatory Planning Bureau and the Urban Reform School of non-formal education, as well as a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She has over 10 years of experience in urban research, urbanism, and community engagement in decision-making processes. She has contributed to the development of informal spatial development concepts for communities and public spaces and has collaborated with CEDOS, CANactions School, GIZ Ukraine, the Council of Europe, the Center for Urban History, and others.
Mariia Korobko is a researcher and facilitator specialising in human-centred and participatory design. She has led research projects at Agents of Change and the NGO Misto-sad, including research on cultural infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and public spaces in Kyiv. She has collaborated with the Ukrainian Institute, Cedos, GIZ Ukraine, and IOM. Her work focuses on building decision-making processes based on qualitative and quantitative research, with empathy and a deep understanding of people’s lived experiences, while actively involving them in the process.

Ruda Project: Urban Residency is implemented as part of the Re: Kryvyi Rih project with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
The Kryvyi Rih Center for Contemporary Culture / KRCC is a civic initiative dedicated to developing culture, art, and the creative industries in Kryvyi Rih. The Center’s mission is to strengthen the city’s cultural potential and create an environment for the development of the local cultural and creative community.

Public initiative designed to develop Kryvyi Rih

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Public initiative designed to develop Kryvyi Rih

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