Children’s participation as an architectural component of post-war reconstruction in Ukraine

In the context of full-scale war and post-war transformation, Ukrainian architecture faced the challenge of transitioning from the technocratic reconstruction of physical objects to the restoration of the social fabric of cities. The aim of the study was to determine the role of children’s participation in the humanisation of the architectural environment and to justify new approaches to the formation of educational and public spaces in the post-war period. The methodological basis of the work was the concepts of dialogical space, co-design and spatial agency, integrated into the architectural analysis of reconstruction processes. The article considered children’s participation as a potentially strategic architectural component capable of influencing the rethinking of established approaches to spatial planning. Based on the systematisation of theoretical models and the analysis of international and Ukrainian practical cases, it was shown that the integration of children’s experience influenced the morphology and functional organisation of architectural objects. In the spatial plane, the results of the study indicated an increase in attention to alternative design approaches, within which, along with rigid functional zoning, the principles of polyvalence were considered, and the monumental scale in certain contexts was complemented by solutions focused on the commensurability, tactility, and accessibility of the environment. It has been established that taking into account the children’s perspective changes the approach to the safety of architectural space – from the logic of isolation to the concept of “active safety” based on transparency, visual connections and social presence. An analysis of priority reconstruction environments – educational, public and transitional – showed that participatory practices help to identify hidden spatial conflicts and design “blind spots” that remain unnoticed in technocratic models. In educational spaces, this has contributed to the formation of environments oriented towards research behaviour; in public spaces, to increased inclusiveness for different age groups; and in temporary and transitional spaces, to rapid adaptation and mastery of space by users in the context of post-traumatic experiences of home loss. The results obtained form the methodological basis for institutionalising child participation in architectural and planning processes, outlining the role of interdisciplinary interaction as a key condition for the humanisation of space and the sustainability of initiatives in the post-war period