A newcomer to Kyiv strolling on Kontraktova Square can hardly imagine that this landmark area used to be a parking lot in 2017.
For three years, it has been an entertainment area where families and students of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy can enjoy the music of buskers and sidewalk cafes. But it might not last for long.
In a major setback for Kyiv’s urban planning and tourist attractiveness, the District Administrative Court of Kyiv on May 18 issued an order revoking the pedestrian zone status of the area and allowing cars to return.
The decision came as a shock for the local community, said Pavlo Kaliuk, activist and manager of Podolianochka, a Facebook group unifying the local community. Kaliuk is ready to fight, and he plans to file an appeal and get the pedestrian zone back for Kyivans.
“If there were some judicial mistakes, let’s address them, but we need to keep Kontraktova Square as it is,” Kaliuk told the Kyiv Post.
Three-year-old complaint
The Kyiv City Council proposed closing the area around Kontraktova Square for cars back in August 2016, and cars were prohibited there starting in August 2017. But a group of six people, whose names were not disclosed, filed a complaint against the pedestrian zone in July 2017.
The court issued its decision on this complaint three years later on May 18, 2020. It reads that the pedestrian zone “leads to the deterioration of transport and operational qualities of streets, as well as to delays and overexploitation” of public transport.
The decision also states that the Kyiv Administration “did not have the authority to completely prohibit the movement of vehicles specified in the disputed area” and that “the disputed order was adopted without public interest and without public hearings.”
Vadym Volodarskyi, a Kyiv-based lawyer, expressed satisfaction over the court’s verdict on May 22, saying he took part in the legal battle to defend the rights of drivers in Kyiv.
Screenshots shared on the Podolianochka group, however, suggest this may be Volodarskyi’s personal cause. His office is in the blocked zone in Podil, and the lack of parking space was inconvenient for people who work there, including him.
The Kyiv Post called Volodarskyi and wrote him on Facebook, but the lawyer could not be reached for comment.
“The block with their offices suffered from the reorganization of Kontraktova Square,” Kaliuk said. ”But they also say we are against the rights of car owners just because we envy them” and not because the local community likes the pedestrian zone.
Local community fights back
The pedestrian zone on Kontraktova Square in the Podil district is overwhelmingly supported by locals. Over 80% of the district’s residents approve of it, according to a poll conducted in Podil in November 2017.
As one of the few pedestrian zones in Kyiv, it is a unique landmark and local residents took to social media to express their desire to keep it.
A video published on May 24 showed activists, local entrepreneurs and residents advocating for the urban space, urging Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko to help appeal against the court decision.
Vladyslava Osmak, director of the Center for Culture and Arts at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, likes the pedestrian zone because “it is much better now in terms of safety and air quality,” she told the Kyiv Post.
Over 400,000 students study at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, which is located in the middle of Kontraktova Square, and Osmak believes that thanks to the pedestrian zone there, the area is more appealing to the students and much safer.
“For students, Kontraktova Square is a place with a different quality of life now,” she said, citing an example of a student who was previously hit by a car when the area was not closed to vehicles.
Over the last three years, the university has also been holding its graduation ceremonies on the square, which makes them “visible.” Osmak said it’s important to keep Kontraktova “human friendly.”
Johannes Andersen, a human rights activist and entrepreneur who runs a food delivery service in Podil, said he was happy to have such an urban space that was safe for kids to play, ride a bike or skate.
“It shouldn’t be up to a formalistic court to decide whether an urban space should be for cars or for people,” Andersen told the Kyiv Post.
No leadership on top
The legal issue with the pedestrian zone is that it was not well-thought-out by politicians, but rather an “accidental decision,” according to Dmitry Bespalov, who used to work as an aide to the Kyiv City Administration.
“There was no political will for this,” Bespalov said. Thus, the reorganization of traffic in the area was not entirely implemented, as “nobody cared about it,” he said.
The lack of progress in remodeling roads for traffic around the pedestrian zone on Kontraktova Square since 2017 is part of the issue, Bespalov said. Still, the former official believes that the zone is likely to stay because, otherwise, it will hurt the image of Klitschko, who hasn’t yet commented on the situation.
Andersen echoed this sentiment.
“The whole issue shows the lack of leadership from the city council and mayor,” the entrepreneur said. In @estern countries, city planners make efforts to limit car traffic through central parts of urban centers, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Valentin Mondriivsky, deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, said on May 23 that he was ready to file an appeal to challenge the decision. But Mondriivsky hasn’t done it yet, according to Kaliuk and Osmak, who closely monitor the situation.
Car-oriented city
Osmak believes that Kyiv still has “a car-centered culture and this should change.”
The real issue is over the proper use of the city’s land, which should be addressed by the Kyiv City Council. It should make more effort to regulate what is being built in the capital: a residential area or another unused parking lot to again favor car owners.
“We have these parking lots, but people don’t use them because they’re too expensive,” she said.
At the same time, she admits that it is a complex problem and that Kyiv is not ready to adapt to it. It is a “mono-center city,” she said, meaning that both business centers and historic neighborhoods that attract tourists are located on the right bank of the Dnipro River. Hence, there are many people and many cars — all in the city center.
The city has to be remodeled with a “balanced policy,” trying to appeal to pedestrians more and to develop public transport while building accessible parking lots, Osmak said.
But taking away the pedestrian zone from Kontraktova Square isn’t balanced at all, she believes, because Podil is already overloaded with cars. Just behind the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, there’s a six-lane highway that pollutes their air with exhaust and noise.
And it seems that the locals, most businesses, the university, and the city administration are largely on the same side — for keeping the pedestrian zone.
