Head of Department of Economic and Social Geography

Kostyantyn MEZENTSEV

Professor, Dr.

Head of Department of Economic and Social Geography

Academic Profiles

Education

1994-1997 – PhD Student, Economic and Social Geography, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

1988-1993 – Master’s Student, Geography, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

 

Degrees

2007 – DSc in Economic and Social Geography, Thesis titled “Socio-Geographical Forecasting of Regional Development: Theory, Methodology, and Practice”

1997 – PhD (CSc) in Economic and Social Geography, Thesis titled “Modeling of Socio-Spatial Processes in Rural District”

 

Work Experience

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv:

2015 – Present – Head, Department of Economic and Social Geography

2007 – 2016 – Professor, Department of Economic and Social Geography

2002 – 2007 – Associate Professor, Department of Economic and Social Geography

1997 – 2002 – Assistant Professor, Department of Economic and Social Geography

V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National (part-time):

2008 – Present – Professor, Department of Socio-Economic Geography and Regional Studies

 

Courses Information

  • “Human Geography,” “Urban Lab: Urban Regeneration,” “Modeling in Geography” (Bachelor’s)
  • “Contemporary Debates in Human Geography,” “Regional Forecasting” (Master’s)
  • “Presenting Science” (PhD)

Guarantor of Master’s Program «Economic and Social Geography»

 

Academic Teaching (Visiting/Guest)

  • Courses “Post-Socialist Urban Development” and “Contemporary Debates in Human Geography” at Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań, Poland);
  • Lectures under the courses “Urban Project: An Introduction” at the Univeversity of Edinburhgh (UK) and “Urban Ukraine: Contemporary Geographical Issues” at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary)
  • Lectures within fellowships and academic mobility programs at Florida State University (USA), Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary), University of Ostrava (Czeck Republic), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Leipzig University (Germany), University of Minho (Portugal), University of Oslo (Norway), University of Helsinki (Finland), Tallinn University (Estonia)

Professional and Community Engagement

Membership in Editorial Boards

Research Interests

  • Urban geopolitics, urbicide, and emergent resilience
  • Transformation of urban regions and cities; new-build gentrification
  • Suburban spaces
  • Migration and internal displacement (IDPs)
  • Urban regeneration, urban planning and policy

Fellowships, Academic Mobility

Florida State University, USA (2025); University of Edinburgh, UK (2023, 2025); University of Ostrava, Czech Republic (2023, 2024, 2025); Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary (2018, 2022, 2025); Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (2025); RWTH Aachen University, Germany (2016, 2023, 2025); University of Minho, Portugal (2024); University of Warsaw, Poland (2023); Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland (2023); Linnaeus University, Sweden (2023); University of Oslo, Norway (2015, 2022); University of Salzburg, Austria (2019); Tallinn University, Estonia (2019); Institute of Geographical Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary (2015, 2018); Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany (2015, 2017); Leipzig University, Germany (2015)

 

Projects

  • 2026-2028 – Socio-Philosophical Frameworks for Advancing Academic Re-Emigration and Social Partnership in the Context of War and Post-War Recovery in Ukraine (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine)
  • 2024-2026 – EMBRACE – Emergent Resilience: Mobilizing and Building Responsive and Adaptive Communities (Team leader; Bilateral German-Ukrainian project; RWTH Aachen University; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine) 
  • 2023-2026 – Labs4TwinnedResearch – Kyiv and Edinburgh joint research development for the future (Impacts of War Lab coordinator; UK-Ukraine Twinning Initiative, University of Edinburgh; Universities UK International, Cormack Consultancy Group) 
  • 2025 – Urban Hackathon on revitalising student campus spaces (Team leader; Silesian University of Technology; International Visegrad Fund)
  • 2023-2025 – POLGEO – Joint Degree in Political Geography (Team leader; Erasmus Mundus Design Measures) 
  • 2023-2025 – Enhancing community capacity for reconstruction through piloting their interaction with universities (Alliance of Ukrainian Universities; International Renaissance Foundation) 
  • 2023, 2024 – UNI-Path – Innovation in Education for Ukraine (Team leader; University of Ostrava; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic)
  • 2018-2023 – UKRGEOPOL – Ukrainian geopolitical fault–line cities: Urban identities, geopolitics and urban policy (Team leader; University of Oslo; The Research Council of Norway) 
  • 2019-2021 – Ambiguous suburban spaces: Comparative analysis of local trajectories and changing everyday practices (Academic coordinator; bilateral Austrian-Ukrainian project; University of Salzburg; Austria’s Agency for education and internationalization (OeAD) and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine) 
  • 2016-2020 – Shifting Paradigms – Towards Participatory and Effective Urban Planning (Team leader; RWTH Aachen University, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography; Volkswagen Foundation)
  • 2016-2017 – Spatial Transformations in Ukraine: Models of Urban Modernization and Planning (Principal Investigator; Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine)
  • 2015 – ZiviPlanUrbAn – Civil Society Involvement and Participatory Planning Processes in Urban Development – German–Ukrainian Reflections (Ukrainian-German project under the ‘Support for Democracy in Ukraine 2015’ program, Leipzig University; DAAD)
  • 2014-2016 – EASTmig – Migration Eastern Partners (Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova) and the Visegrad Countries (Team leader; Institute of Geographical Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; International Visegrad Fund) 
  • 2013-2016 – IRA.Urban – Urban Reconfiguration in post‐Soviet Space (Team leader; Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography; Leibniz Community) 

Supervising

  • 2 DSc and 14 PhD dissertations in Geography, supervised to successful completion

Selected Publications

Books

NIEMETS, L., & MEZENTSEV, K., eds. (2023). Information: Nature, Humans, Societies (Socio-Geographical Aspects). Kharkiv: V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 2023. 408 p.

PIDGRUSHNYI, G., PROVOTAR, N., eds. (2023). Development of Metropolitan Regions in Ukraine: The Experience of Kyiv. Kyiv: Institute of Geography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. 209 p. 

NIEMETS, L., & MEZENTSEV, K., eds. (2019). Social Geography. Kyiv, 304 p. 

MEZENTSEVA, N., BATYCHENKO, S., & MEZENTSEV, K. (2018). Morbidity and Health in Ukraine: A Socio-Geographical Perspective. Kyiv, 136 p. 

MEZENTSEV, K., OLIYNYK, Ya., & MEZENTSEVA, N., eds. (2017). Urban Ukraine: At the Epicenter of Spatial Changes. Kyiv, 438 p. 

MEZENTSEV, K., PIDGRUSHNYI, G., & MEZENTSEVA, N. (2014). Regional Development in Ukraine: Socio-Spatial Inequality and Polarization. Kyiv, 132 p. 

 

Book chapters

MEZENTSEV, K., PROVOTAR, & N., GNATIUK, O. (2024). Courtyards, parks and squares of power in Ukrainian cities: Planning and reality of everyday life under socialism. In: J. Mariotti, K. Leetmaa, eds. Urban Planning During Socialism: Views from the Periphery. London: Routledge, pp. 153-175. 

MEZENTSEV, K., NIEMETS, L., & SEHIDA, K. (2024). Transforming brownfields: Urban renewal in Ukrainian cities. In: C. Morar, L. Berman, S. Erdal, L. Niemets, eds. Achieving Sustainability in Ukraine through Military Brownfields Redevelopment. NATOARW 2023. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Dordrecht: Springer. 

MEZENTSEV, & K, KUZNETSOVA, E. (2021). What shapes the narratives on internally displaced people in Dnipro media? In: T. Kuzio, S.I. Zhuk, P. D’Anieri, eds. Ukraine’s Outpost: Dnipropetrovsk and the Russian-Ukrainian War. Bristol: E-International Relations. 

MEZENTSEV, K., NEUGEBAUER, C., & MEZENTSEVA, N. (2017). Civil society. In: I. Brade, C.S. Neugebauer, eds. Urban Eurasia. Cities in Transformation. Berlin, DOM publishers, pp. 274-283.

MEZENTSEV, K., PIDGRUSHNYI, G., & MEZENTSEVA, N. (2015). Challenges of the post-Soviet development of Ukraine: Economic transformations, demographic changes and socio-spatial polarization. In: S. Henn, T. Lang, W. Sgibnev, K. Ehrlich, eds. Understanding Geographies of Polarization and Peripheralization. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 252-269. 

MEZENTSEV, K., &  PIDGRUSHNYI, G. (2014). Ukraine: stable outflow and changing nature. In: Á. Erőss and D. Karácsonyi, eds., Discovering migration between Visegrad countries and Eastern Partners. Budapest: HAS RCAES Geographical Institute, pp. 191-211. 

 

Papers

MEZENTSEV, K., SOLDAK, M., BATUNOVA, E., HAASE, D., & HAASE, A. (2025). From evidence to ethics: Mapping the epistemic terrain of emergent urban resilience. Ekonomichna ta Sotsialna Geografiya, Vol. 94, pp. 54-76.

PROVOTAR, N., SHCHUKA, H., & MEZENTSEV, K. (2025). Temporariness vs. integration of internally displaced persons under uncertainty: The case of border territorial communities in Zakarpattia. Visnyk of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series Geology. Geography. Ecology, Vol. 63, pp. 349-365.

GARCIA FERRARI, M. S., MEZENTSEV, K., PROVOTAR, N., ILIADI, M., & KARTALOU, N.-S. (2024). Displaced public spaces in Ukrainian cities: Increasing diversity and inclusion in urban reconstruction through temporary occupation. ZARCH. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, Vol. 22, pp. 76-89. 

SOLDAK, M., MEZENTSEV, K., BATUNOVA, E., HAASE, A., & HAASE, D. (2024). Emergent urban resilience in Ukraine: adapting to polycrisis in times of war. Ekonomichna ta Sotsialna Geografiya. Vol. 92, pp. 6-13. 

MEZENTSEV, K., & MEZENTSEV, O. (2022). War and the city: Lessons from urbicide in Ukraine. Czasopismo Geograficzne, Vol. 93(3), pp. 495-521. 

GNATIUK, O., MEZENTSEV, K., & PIDGRUSHNYI, G. (2022). Rethinking of identity under war: Pryazovia renaissance and regional centre ambitions in Mariupol before 2022. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, Vol. 71(3), pp. 271-286. 

GNATIUK, O., KONONENKO, O., & MEZENTSEV, K. (2022). Kyiv metro and urban imageability: a student youth vision. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Geographica. Vol. 57(1), pp. 16-30. 

GNATIUK, O., MEZENTSEV, K., & PROVOTAR, N. (2021). From agricultural station to luxury village? Changing and ambiguous everyday practices in the suburb of Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Moravian Geographical Reports. Vol. 29(3), pp. 202-216. 

HAVRYLIUK, O., GNATIUK, O., & MEZENTSEV, K. (2021). Suburbanization, but centralization? Migration patterns in the post-Soviet functional urban region – Evidence from Kyiv. Folia Geographica. Vol. 63(1), pp. 64-84. 

SMIGIEL, CH., MEZENTSEV, K., & PROVOTAR, N. (2020). From exception to norm? Analysing gated housing in Sofia and Kyiv since 1989. Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, Mitteilungen der Osterreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. Vol. 162, pp. 91-121. 

MEZENTSEV K., GENTILE M., MEZENTSEVA N., & STEBLETSKA, I. (2019). An island of civilization in a sea of delay? Indifference and fragmentation along the rugged shorelines of Kiev’s newbuild archipelago. Journal of Urban Affairs. Vol. 41(5), pp. 654-678. 

KARÁCSONYI, D., MEZENTSEV, K., PIDGRUSNYI, G., & DÖVÉNYI, Z. (2014). From global economic crisis to armed crisis: Changing regional inequalities in Ukraine. Regional Statistics. Vol. 4(2), pp. 18-39. 

Public talks and interviews

Ukrainian cities at the forefront of the response to the post-2022 internal displacement. CMR Migration & cities webinar series, University of Warsaw 

Urbicide, Everyday Life and Post-War Urban Healing. Kostyantyn Mezentsev. EUniWell Open Lecture Series. 15.06.2023 

On urbicide (again). Reconstructing cities and communities after urbicide in Ukraine. Francesco Mazzucchelli and Kostyantyn Mezentsev. Online Talk. 10.10.2022 

Urbicide is the “killing of the city.” Martin Coward and Kostyantyn Mezentsev. Interview. LB.ua. 25.12.2022 

Ukrainian Cities at War: From Conspiracy Theories to New Urban Realities. Kostyantyn Mezentsev and Michael Gentile. Tartu University Webinar. 30.03.2022 

Kyiv Urban Code: Facing the Water, with Trams and Chestnuts. Kostyantyn Mezentsev. Weekend. 24.01.2022 

Cities. Everyday Life. Urban Geopolitics. Kostyantyn Mezentsev. TEDx Talks: TEDxKNU. 29.11.2020 

Discussion Mikrorayons. CANactions School online Talk. Carola Silvia Neugebauer and Kostyantyn Mezentsev. 17.04.2020