Internal Migration and Cities in Ukraine: Challenges and Development

For decades now internal migration has been increasing in many countries as people respond to an uneven development of different regions, inequitable distributions of resources, social services, lack of working places and other opportunities. 

Around the world the changes in the structure of economy, unemployment, deindustrialization, militarized conflicts, and extreme weather events cause internal migration. According to the UN, internal migration prevails over international migration. However, it is difficult to define the exact number of internal migrants. 

In 2009 the UN presented an estimate of 740 million people and this figure presents only a partial picture of internal migration. It’s impacts on regional development are diverse: On the one hand, internal migration has contributed to a rapid growth of some cities. On the other hand, it caused a shrinkage of others. 

We invite you to discuss trends, aspects, and motives of internal migration in a context of local development in Ukraine. What do we know about internal migration in Ukraine? What are the benefits of internal migration for cities? How does internal migration impact regional development? What is the shrinking cities phenomenon and how is it connected with internal migration? How cities can react in their urban planning strategies to the challenges that are connected to internal migration, including social services? Where internal labor migrants work in Ukraine and what are their working conditions?

Moderator: Natalia Lomonosova, analyst, Cedos, co-editor of “Politychna Krytyka”, doctoral student at Kyiv-Mohyla University.

Speakers:
Oleksandra Slobodian, analyst and researcher at Cedos think tank, 
Pavlo Fedoriv, urban geographer and housing policy analyst at Cedos think tank.
Oleg Borisov, Deputy Chairman, Building workers union of Ukraine, expert on employment and internal migration.

The event is organized by Cedos and European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) as a part of the project “Ukraine Calling. Cross-Sectoral Capacity Building” funded by the German Foreign Office within the programme of Civil Society Cooperation.