Will Kyiv’s Soviet Industrial Districts Survive? A Study of Transformation, Preservation, and Demolition of Industrial Heritage in Ukraine’s Capital

Abstract

In the 1930s and 1940s, multiple five-year Soviet plans for national industrialization transformed Ukraine’s capital Kyiv (Russian Kiev) into a dramatic industrial metropolis. By 1960, Kyiv was a core industrial city with renovated prerevolutionary factories and massive new industrial enterprises. Ukraine’s 1991 independence threatened industrial complexes with demolition for retail, residential, and office uses. We examine Kyiv’s Soviet industrial legacy as prescribed in master plans of 1936 and 1947, and successive five-year plans. We profile five significant industrial complexes and their divergent fates today. We call for future transformations of Kyiv’s monumental Soviet industrial enterprises with enhanced awareness of heritage value.