Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine

In global discussions on land use amid increasing land scarcity, municipal-level decision-making remains underexplored despite municipalities playing a crucial role in regulating land competition. This gap is particularly notable in supranational policies aimed at  reducing land consumption which d...

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Main Authors: Oleksandr Anisimov, Yegor Vlasenko, Dominic Stead, Maria Smirnova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Politecnico di Torino 2025-07-01
Series:European Journal of Spatial Development
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.polito.it/index.php/EJSD/article/view/467
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author Oleksandr Anisimov
Yegor Vlasenko
Dominic Stead
Maria Smirnova
author_facet Oleksandr Anisimov
Yegor Vlasenko
Dominic Stead
Maria Smirnova
author_sort Oleksandr Anisimov
collection DOAJ
description In global discussions on land use amid increasing land scarcity, municipal-level decision-making remains underexplored despite municipalities playing a crucial role in regulating land competition. This gap is particularly notable in supranational policies aimed at  reducing land consumption which do not account for the diversity of conditions at the municipal level. This article addresses land use decision-making in Ukraine, where pre-existing pressures on land are intensified by the impacts of war and rising demands for land conservation and reduction of land take. Using a new analytical framework, we investigate the relationship between land use  pressures, local authorities' perspectives, and policy responses at the municipal level. Focusing on the case of Vinnytsia municipality, we examine current land use measures, supplemented by a Q-methodology study to capture municipal perceptions of prospective land use and the role of municipalities in governing the land. By combining these methods, we explore how three distinct perspectives held by municipal stakeholders inform local policy actions and assess their responsiveness to both current and emerging pressures. The  findings highlight that municipalities are often unaware of their long-term role in achieving sustainable land use and further suffer  from localism and ineffective multi-level governance arrangements. This points to the need for a more grounded and context-sensitive  approach in supranational land use goals and regulations.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1650-9544
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Politecnico di Torino
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series European Journal of Spatial Development
spelling doaj-art-2e4fa6a1f0c5475abea76a9a432341e42025-08-20T03:34:31ZengPolitecnico di TorinoEuropean Journal of Spatial Development1650-95442025-07-0122310.5281/zenodo.16635072Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in UkraineOleksandr Anisimov0Yegor Vlasenko1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0698-6600Dominic Stead2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8198-785XMaria Smirnova3https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3975-3971Aalto University / Kharkiv School of ArchitectureÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneAalto University, School of EngineeringSpatial Development Agency (Vinnytsia) In global discussions on land use amid increasing land scarcity, municipal-level decision-making remains underexplored despite municipalities playing a crucial role in regulating land competition. This gap is particularly notable in supranational policies aimed at  reducing land consumption which do not account for the diversity of conditions at the municipal level. This article addresses land use decision-making in Ukraine, where pre-existing pressures on land are intensified by the impacts of war and rising demands for land conservation and reduction of land take. Using a new analytical framework, we investigate the relationship between land use  pressures, local authorities' perspectives, and policy responses at the municipal level. Focusing on the case of Vinnytsia municipality, we examine current land use measures, supplemented by a Q-methodology study to capture municipal perceptions of prospective land use and the role of municipalities in governing the land. By combining these methods, we explore how three distinct perspectives held by municipal stakeholders inform local policy actions and assess their responsiveness to both current and emerging pressures. The  findings highlight that municipalities are often unaware of their long-term role in achieving sustainable land use and further suffer  from localism and ineffective multi-level governance arrangements. This points to the need for a more grounded and context-sensitive  approach in supranational land use goals and regulations. https://journals.polito.it/index.php/EJSD/article/view/467land scarcityland use governanceNo net land takeUkraineQ-methodology
spellingShingle Oleksandr Anisimov
Yegor Vlasenko
Dominic Stead
Maria Smirnova
Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine
European Journal of Spatial Development
land scarcity
land use governance
No net land take
Ukraine
Q-methodology
title Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine
title_full Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine
title_fullStr Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine
title_full_unstemmed Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine
title_short Caught Up Between War, Localism and EU Land Policy Regulations. Unravelling Local Land Use Decision-Making in Ukraine
title_sort caught up between war localism and eu land policy regulations unravelling local land use decision making in ukraine
topic land scarcity
land use governance
No net land take
Ukraine
Q-methodology
url https://journals.polito.it/index.php/EJSD/article/view/467
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AT yegorvlasenko caughtupbetweenwarlocalismandeulandpolicyregulationsunravellinglocallandusedecisionmakinginukraine
AT dominicstead caughtupbetweenwarlocalismandeulandpolicyregulationsunravellinglocallandusedecisionmakinginukraine
AT mariasmirnova caughtupbetweenwarlocalismandeulandpolicyregulationsunravellinglocallandusedecisionmakinginukraine