On October 4–5, the Kyiv School of Economics hosted the Urban Data Hackathon: Code the City as part of the BRIDGE project — a two-day intensive that brought together students, researchers, IT specialists, urbanists, and analysts to create innovative services for the development of Ukrainian cities.

The event was a joint initiative of the Kyiv School of Economics and the Department of Information and Communication Technologies of the Kyiv City Council (KCSA). Participants worked with Kyiv’s open data — from the accessibility map in the Kyiv Digital app to citizens’ reports to the 1551 hotline and electronic petitions.

Over the course of two days, 10 teams developed their own solutions, analyzing data, designing algorithms, and creating visualizations. Some teams worked on updating the Accessibility Map, exploring ways to involve citizens in data verification and using computer vision algorithms to assess the accessibility of urban spaces. Others developed an analytical system that integrates data from petitions and 1551 hotline reports, using Natural Language Processing to analyze topics, locations, and public requests.

The Urban Data Hackathon demonstrated how collaboration between universities, city administration, and tech communities can produce real innovation for cities. Participants not only programmed but also strategized — exploring ways to integrate their solutions into urban infrastructure, and discussing maintenance, updates, and scaling of the prototypes they created.

Such formats give students hands-on experience in interdisciplinary collaboration, foster critical thinking, and build teamwork skills — all essential components of modern education. Going forward, the hackathon is expected to become part of the “Urban Studies and Post-War Reconstruction” program at KSE, connecting real urban needs with students’ creative potential.

The event was held in a hybrid format, allowing jury members from the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Tartu to participate.

KSE thanks all participants, mentors, and partners — LUN and UN-Habitat — for their support, expertise, and shared commitment to making Ukrainian cities smarter, more open, and more comfortable for everyone.

“Urban Data Hackathon: Code the City” is jointly organized by the Faculty of Computer Science and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Kyiv School of Economics as part of the BRIDGE project.

The BRIDGE project is implemented by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), the Technical University of Berlin (Germany), the University of Tartu (Estonia), Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands), and the Center for Innovation Development (Ukraine), and is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe program. The publications reflect only the project’s views.