By Agnė Baltrūnaitė, LRT.lt.
“If other cities don’t mind, Kaunavilnis is the heart of Lithuania,” proclaimed a 2022 exhibition organised by the Kaunas City Museum and the MO Museum, inviting visitors to reflect on the country’s two largest cities – Vilnius and Kaunas – as a single cultural and economic axis.
Whether that slogan rings true is open to debate. What is less disputed is that the regions anchored by Vilnius and Kaunas form Lithuania’s strongest economic corridor. The question now resurfacing is whether that axis could formally evolve into a regional metropolis – a twin city.
Some observers are sceptical. Others say the Kaunas–Vilnius two city already exists in practice.
“Although it has not been formally declared, de facto we already have a Kaunas–Vilnius two-city. It exists at least in part,” Algirdas Bartkus, an associate professor at Vilnius University’s Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, told LRT.lt.
He points to heavy traffic along the A1 highway, where cars can travel up to 130 kph, increasingly frequent train connections and a growing number of people commuting between the two cities merely 100 kilometres apart.
Read more: LRT.LT
