By Jonas Deveikis, LRT.lt.

In an interview with LRT.lt, the chief architect of Vilnius, Laura Kairienė, discusses what should be done with residential districts and why the urbanisation of the its suburbs is one of the biggest problems faced by the Lithuanian capital.

If you had to name one urban problem in Vilnius that should be a priority to solve, which problem would you name?

Urban sprawl remains a problem. It also generates another problem – traffic jams. After independence, expansion into the suburbs became very active. However, the infrastructure there is still insufficient.

We should manage priority territories more strictly and perhaps even completely restrict only-family housing development in areas where the necessary infrastructure is not in place. […]

The Lithuanian gene is to have a house, to be independent, to live in large farmsteads, to work the land, to have neighbours far away. City culture is still not sufficiently developed. For example, in the Netherlands communities are accustomed to living densely. Cities provide better working conditions and togetherness, but in cities we must know how to coexist. Density is in the city’s code.

More read: LRT.LT