Rebuild Ukraine Forum 2026 / Panel VIa / 22 October 2026

The discussions centered on sustainable urban development, affordable housing, energy efficiency, cross-border partnerships and the strategic use of available European funds. Opening the panel, Monica Dinu emphasized that rebuilding goes far beyond physical restoration and requires structural modernization and community resilience. Mayor Bohdan Andriiv outlined the immense challenges faced by Uzhhorod, a city originally designed for 100,000 to 110,000 residents that now hosts hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons. He described the difficulties of the first days of the war, when housing had to be found and facilities built from scratch, thanked Romania and local communities such as Satu Mare and Târgu Mureș for their humanitarian assistance, and pointed to administrative hurdles related to grant restrictions and budget surpluses.

Sharing a successful model of municipal transformation, Mayor Constantin Toma described Buzău’s reinvention through a long-term strategic vision, digitalization, administrative reform using the Kaizen method to cut waste and boost efficiency, and urban modernization aimed at making Buzău a magnet for people and investment by 2030, despite demographic pressures and labour migration. Complementing this, Eduard Dumitrașcu underscored that smart cities and urban infrastructure are ultimately about people, and warned that reconstruction could bring millions of people back to Ukraine while losing sight of their basic human needs. He praised Buzău as a prime example of a Romanian community that has successfully reinvented itself.

Finally, Olha Tomkiv highlighted the role of international municipal cooperation through networks such as “Cities for Cities”, citing partnerships like Poltava and Kalmar or Kherson and Norrköping, along with concrete support from Swedish partners, including firefighters. She stressed that reconstruction has to be done right the first time, which makes trust-based municipal cooperation essential for encouraging young people to return and for securing a resilient urban future for Ukraine.