On October 28, 2024, the analytical report “Economic Modeling for the Recovery and Development of the Borodianka Community” was presented, prepared in collaboration by the Ukraine Support Team, the Office of Effective Regulation BRDO, and Saturday Team.
For the Borodianka community, this research was not merely an analytical document about the consequences of war, demographic risks, or economic potential. Its practical significance lies elsewhere: the report was used by the community as a tool for making management decisions, updating strategic documents, and shaping a new development model.
The Borodianka community is among those Ukrainian communities that suffered significant destruction and losses as a result of the full-scale invasion. However, the challenges it faces are not limited to the physical rebuilding of destroyed facilities. Community recovery requires answers to more complex questions: how many people will live in the area in the coming years, what services will residents need, where will jobs be created, how can the tax base be expanded, how can investors be attracted, and how can an attractive living environment be formed.
It was precisely these questions that the economic modeling addressed. Its primary value lies in the transition from reactive recovery to data-driven development planning.
Research That Went Beyond the Presentation
After the report was presented, its findings were reviewed by the leadership of the Borodianka Village Council and the relevant structural units of the community — not as a formality, but for active use across several areas of work: strategic planning, economic development, education, investment activity, and spatial development.
The most significant practical outcome was that in 2025, based on the findings of this research, the Borodianka Village Council amended the Development Strategy of the Borodianka Village Territorial Community through 2027.
This is a key indicator of analytical effectiveness. The report did not remain an expert recommendation or presentation material. It was integrated into the community’s strategic planning and became part of its official development policy.
What Problems the Modeling Helped Identify
The research enabled a systemic view of the Borodianka community — not merely as a war-affected territory, but as a community that must rethink its own economic role.
Among the key challenges identified by analysts were demographic risks through 2030, the threat of a reduced education network, a shrinking economically active population, the need to create new jobs, and the need to expand the tax base.
A separate issue was the loss of the former role of the Boreks excavator plant as one of the community’s primary economic drivers. For Borodianka, this meant moving away from dependence on an old industrial model and toward finding a new economic foundation.
That is why the research framed the question more broadly: not simply what needs to be rebuilt, but what the community should look like in the future.
A New Model: A Balanced Suburb with Tourism and Recreational Potential
One of the most valuable conclusions for the community was the scenario-based approach to development. The research proposed viewing Borodianka not merely as a “hybrid suburb,” but as a community that could evolve into a balanced suburb with tourism and recreational potential.
This model combines several directions: housing, jobs, logistics, social infrastructure, ecological appeal, recreation, memorial tourism, and local identity.
This matters to the community because it is competing not only for investment, but for people. After the war, communities will have to fight to bring back residents, attract young families, professionals, entrepreneurs, veterans, medical workers, educators, and new inhabitants. Without clear positioning and a quality living environment, that competition will be an uphill battle.
Ecological Positioning as a Practical Direction
A separate recommendation of the research concerned shaping Borodianka as a “green,” ecologically oriented, and comfortable place to live.
This direction is already being applied in the community’s practical work. The Borodianka Village Council, together with UN-Habitat and Urban Reform, developed the Public Spaces Network of the Borodianka Community — aimed at creating modern, inclusive, safe, and ecologically oriented spaces for residents.
This demonstrates that the ecological vision in the research was not merely a communications concept. It became the foundation for concrete spatial decisions intended to affect quality of life, accessibility of public spaces, and the community’s overall attractiveness.
The Zdvyzh Riverfront: From Recreation to Rehabilitation
Another example of the research recommendations being carried forward in practice is the work on a concept for a multifunctional social and recreational space along the Zdvyzh River in the center of Borodianka.
The project, on which the community is collaborating with Thought Group Chile, covers more than 2.7 km of territory. It envisions zones for active recreation, sports facilities, cycling and running paths, fishing spots, children’s play areas, parking, inclusive leisure, and cultural and educational events.
Importantly, this space is envisioned as more than landscaping. Its function is broader — community cohesion, psychosocial rehabilitation for veterans, support for internally displaced persons, and an improved quality of life for residents.
In this way, spatial development in Borodianka is beginning to serve a social, rehabilitative, and integrative purpose.
People as the Foundation of Community Development
A separate section of the research addressed retaining and attracting residents. For Borodianka, this is critically important, as demographics directly affect the economy, education, healthcare, the budget, and development prospects.
The Borodianka Village Council’s response notes that the recommendations regarding population retention and attraction were incorporated into the development of the Citizen Engagement Plan for the Borodianka Village Territorial Community for 2026–2027.
This is yet another example of analytical findings being transformed into a governing document. The community has begun working not only on infrastructure, but on the questions of resident participation, trust, communication, and the engagement of different population groups.
In a post-war context, this is especially important. Veterans, people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, young families, youth, educators, and medical workers need not only services, but a clear sense of what a life in this community can look like.
Education and Jobs: A Connection That Cannot Be Ignored
The research also drew attention to the risks facing the education network should the population continue to decline. For the community, this is not only an educational problem — it is an economic one.
If the population shrinks, the number of children falls, demand for schools and kindergartens weakens, the number of workers decreases, and the tax base erodes. As a result, the community risks losing not just infrastructure, but human capital.
An important recommendation, therefore, was not simply to preserve the existing education network, but to develop modern vocational and technical education aligned with the future needs of the community’s labor market.
This approach directly links education to economic development. If the community wants to attract investors and develop logistics, energy, manufacturing, recreational, and rehabilitation infrastructure, it must understand what specialists will be needed — and how to train them.
Investors and the New Economic Model
Another significant focus of the research was recommendations for active engagement with investors, development of logistics potential, energy projects, and recreational and rehabilitation infrastructure.
As practical evidence of the community’s investment potential, the Borodianka Village Council points to the start of construction of a factory cluster by Epicenter K on a 24-hectare site where the Boreks plant once stood.
This example matters not only as a single investment project. It demonstrates the gradual formation of a new economic model for the community. A territory previously associated with an old industrial center now has the opportunity to become the foundation for a new manufacturing cluster, new jobs, and renewed confidence from major business.
For Borodianka, this represents a shift from the logic of loss to the logic of reimagining assets.
Conclusion
The analytical report “Economic Modeling for the Recovery and Development of the Borodianka Community” stands as an example of how quality expertise can influence the actual policies of local government.
Its significance lies not only in identifying demographic, economic, or infrastructure risks. The central result is that the research findings were used by the community to update its strategy, plan spatial development, engage with residents, attract investors, and shape a new economic model.
For UST, this case confirms an important principle: community recovery must begin with data, scenarios, and an understanding of the future. Only this approach makes it possible to move from chaotic reconstruction to strategic development — one that accounts for people, the economy, space, ecology, memory, and the community’s long-term competitiveness.
