WHO ARE WE?
The CityFace research initiative was founded in 2018 by faculty members of V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University. Its main objective is the interdisciplinary study of cities in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, primarily Dnipro, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, and Kharkiv.
CityFace is an open network primarily consisting of faculty members and students from Ukrainian universities. Our team actively collaborates with researchers from the EU, Canada, and the USA. The initiative includes several thematic groups, whose members are working on developing new approaches to ensuring the sustainable development of the cities under study.
WHAT ARE WE INVESTIGATING?
The research focus of the CityFace team is directed toward the study of cities in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, from their founding to the present day. Special attention is given to the status of these cities during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The main research issues are:
- protection of urban cultural heritage (both material and immaterial, movable and immovable);
- preservation and reinterpretation of urban historical and cultural landscapes (symbolic spaces, monumental and memorial environments, etc.);
- transformation of urban community identities (professional, social, ethno-confessional, and others);
- construction of self-representation practices in cities (urban celebrations, commemorative practices, traditions, symbols, contemporary art, etc.).
Currently, the CityFace team is working on several research projects focused on the history and heritage of cities in Eastern and Southern Ukraine.
HOW ARE WE DOING IT?
The CityFace team uses a variety of sources in its research, including visual and cartographic materials, memoirs and oral testimonies from city residents, local periodicals, official documents, and more.
Given the heterogeneous nature of cities in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, particular attention is paid to gathering the opinions of experts (academics, museum, archive, and library staff, journalists, writers, artists, photographers, etc.).
The core principles of our work are objectivity, attentiveness, creativity, and professionalism.
Members of the initiative organize expert discussions and participate in various academic and informational events.
The initiative is made possible by the financial support of the Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada).
*We sincerely thank Serhii Solonskyi and Roman Minin for graciously granting permission to showcase their works on the CityFace website. The website also features images from Wikimedia Commons and Unsplash, which are available for free use.
