A new course, “Odesa’s Cultural Development Strategy,” has launched on the Zrozumilo! Educational Online Platform. It explores Odesa’s new cultural development strategy, the city’s historical and cultural heritage, and the deconstruction of myths and historical stereotypes associated with Odesa.

In “Odesa’s Cultural Development Strategy,” participants will learn what Odesa residents consider their city’s cultural heritage, what heritage preservation means from a legal perspective, how people perceive advertising messages, the unique phenomenon of Odesa’s intangible cultural heritage (Odesa cuisine) and the key directions, programs, and initiatives of the new Cultural Development Strategy for 2025–2035.

The course includes 16 lectures and focuses on both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Odesa, the deconstruction of myths and stereotypes linked to the city, and the development of a new cultural strategy.

Course contributors include leading experts and researchers in cultural heritage:

• Oksana Dovgopolova – Doctor of Philosophy, curator of the memory culture platform Past / Future / Art
• Oleksandr Babich – historian, writer, archivist, head of the NGO “Society and Historical Heritage”
• Mykola Chepelev – architect, co-founder of the NGO “Association of Odesa Architects”
• Oleksandr Levytskyi – designer, author of the Guide to Creating Beautiful Odesa Signboards
• Dmytro Sikorskyi – restaurateur, designer, researcher of gastronomic heritage
• Maiia Dimerli – head of the UNESCO “Odesa – City of Literature” office, writer, co-organizer of the literary flashmob “Odesa Reads. Odesa Is Read.”
• Viktoriia Balasanyan – Master of Sociology, senior research expert at the NGO “Intercultural Cooperation Promotion”

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for a broad national audience: cultural workers, educators, librarians, university students, high-school students, representatives of local authorities, and anyone interested in Odesa’s contribution to Ukraine’s cultural resistance to the Russian Federation.

Course structure:

Lecture 1. How was the myth of Odesa formed outside the city?

Lecture 2. Nostalgia in the Odesa myth: where does it come from, and why?

Lecture 3. Between the steppe and the sea

Lecture 4. The myth of Odesa’s founding

Lecture 5. The first stage of Odesa’s urban development: what historical maps and drawings tell us

Lecture 6. Is Odesa truly a “criminal capital”?

Lecture 7. Odesa’s myths and the demand for their revision

Lecture 8. Heritage preservation: we protect it the way we understand it

Lecture 9. Responsibility and opportunities for city residents

Lecture 10. Odesa and UNESCO: new opportunities or a “suitcase without a handle”?

Lecture 11. Signboards as an element of urban culture

Lecture 12. Harmonious placement of signboards

Lecture 13. The phenomenon of Odesa cuisine

Lecture 14. The “Periodic Table” of Odesa cuisine

Lecture 15. Contemporary perceptions of Odesa’s culture

Lecture 16. Odesa’s Cultural Development Strategy

The online course was created by the Odesa Municipal Museum of Personal Collections named after O. V. Bleschunov and the NGO Urban Re-Public, commissioned by the Department of Culture, International Cooperation, and European Integration of the Odesa City Council, in partnership with the NGO Pixelated Realities. It was developed within the project “Supporting the Implementation of Odesa’s Cultural Development Strategy,” funded by the European Union under the EU4Culture program supporting non-capital cities.