Speech by Robertas Dargis, Board Member of LNTPA, at the XVIII Lithuanian Urban Forum

Dear colleagues, friends, and partners,

I am delighted to open the 18th Urban Forum today, which we launched back in 2006 together with the late architect Danas Ruseckas. What circumstances led to the creation of the Urban Forum?

First of all, we saw the need for a platform to bring together our community, where those involved in creating and growing cities could discuss common problems, challenges, and opportunities.

The growth of free Lithuania lacked certain generalizations, a vision of trends, as well as joint work with lawmakers, city administrations, architects, real estate developers, and investors.

In my opinion, the post-independence reforms unjustly devalued one of the most important sectors of the state economy – city planning and regeneration – by merging the entire management system with the Ministry of Environment. Perhaps it was also due to public perception that the term “protection” still dominates today.

In 2000, I became the Chancellor of the Government, and understanding the challenges we faced, I wanted to streamline the development and growth of cities. Even then, I proposed that land policy management be placed under the Ministry of Environment – after all, planning and land management policies cannot be separate. Unfortunately, politicians of that time did not understand this. Together with Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, we had prepared a transfer of the State Land Fund to the Ministry of Environment, as well as land management to municipalities, but once again, President Grybauskaitė stood in opposition. And as you know, it was only this year that the city finally gained control over its land.

Why do I talk so much about this?

Because, in my understanding, the key urban developer is the city government itself. It is the city, not Citus, not Hanner, not Eika, but the city and its leaders. The city and the mayor, with a vision of what kind of city they want to see in 15, 20, or 25 years, are the primary developers of the city.

A city, holding its own planning capacities and controlling its land, can implement what we call sustainable city growth. The city, seeing all the layers – economy, infrastructure, education, health, sports, social issues – can and must set the tone for all the communities operating within it.

I will mention the late architect Danas Ruseckas once again. We discussed a lot with him about the directions in which the city should grow, and as a result, the “Vilnius Plan” was born – a company that can turn the ideas of city leaders into specific plans and actions.

The 21st century is significantly changing the understanding of the modern city – environmental protection, CO2 emissions, technological and social changes are shaping a new understanding of what a city can and must be.

Technological changes are leading to the disappearance of purely residential, commercial, and office territories. More and more areas are being developed, which we could call MULTIFUNCTIONAL.

A city is, above all, the people who live here and their communities. And growing the city requires the contribution of everyone who works, lives, learns, and creates here. I believe that the key to the success of a growing city lies in the ability of city leaders to involve the city’s communities in shaping its future.

The ability to bring together the city’s communities, investors, and scientific potential to create and implement a vision for the future city opens up tremendous opportunities not only for the city itself but also for the entire region.

Today, Vilnius has all the prerequisites to become a regional center not only among the Baltic states but also for the northeastern region of Poland. We have everything needed for future growth:

1. The economy is growing the fastest in the region;
2. Technology development is growing exponentially;
3. Salaries are rising, along with people’s purchasing power;
4. We have a complete academic core, from traditional sciences to modern biotechnology and art universities, attracting more and more foreign students;
5. Medical and life sciences clusters are being formed from universities, hospitals, and research centers;
6. Foreign investments.

So, what do we need to do? Future directions:

1. City growth and development must have clear plans and ambitions regarding which directions and to what extent the city will grow, as well as a vision of what Vilnius will look like and how many residents it will have by 2040. Where will they live, work, enjoy leisure, study, and receive medical care, etc.?
2. The improvement of the city’s quality must not be determined by the appearance of one or another developer’s project. We must continuously monitor and plan the development of resident infrastructure, and one of the key aspects is mobility within the city. Every day, 100,000 people visit Vilnius, and their movement patterns are essential for efficient city life. We must remember that a well-designed city transport infrastructure would save people the time they currently spend stuck in traffic.
3. The quality of the city environment. Here, I believe we can achieve much by working hand in hand with developers. Accumulated and planned green spaces, whose development can be ensured through pooled funds – this would be an alternative to the relentless fight to preserve one tree or another. Let’s not forget that trees, like people, grow, age, and die. If one tree inevitably hinders planned city development and can be replaced, the question is: what is the correct position in such cases?
4. One of the cornerstones of sustainable urban development is, of course, the economy. The cost of living is consistently rising, and this should, to some extent, determine what kind of city we should be growing. More efficient use of engineering infrastructure and prioritizing the use of city transport should determine the scale and trends of the city. I know very well how difficult it is to change people’s understanding of quality of life – a forest, a river, a lake, and emptiness around them… but a city is not a collection of villages.
5. Housing affordability and municipal housing.
6. When discussing the future of Vilnius, we inevitably have to talk about neighboring areas: Vilnius district, Trakai, and Vievis. With good, fast, and convenient connectivity (and technology certainly allows for this), we could accommodate more people in greener, cleaner areas without sacrificing quality of life.

Vilnius is the engine of Lithuania’s economy:

1. We need to conduct an analysis of the city’s economy and investments – how much has been invested in the city in the past 10 years. We need to have a plan for what kinds and how much investment we expect over the next 15-20 years, and which sectors we want to attract investments to.
2. We need to know what kind of tax system would enable effective urban governance. We often talk about real estate taxes without understanding that taxes should be the instrument that ensures the vitality and development of the city. This is a tax for a service that, as we sometimes think, costs nothing.
3. The city can use its opportunities by consolidating territories for sustainable development. There are also instruments for this. This includes not only the development of public services and spaces but also the regeneration of certain territories.
4. The city must have a continuously functioning urban creative workshop – a workshop where developers, architects, and academics actively participate in solving urban problems. I think we have underutilized our academic potential – how many master’s theses, doctoral dissertations in urbanism, city infrastructure, green space development, etc. could we produce?
5. Social aspects of urban growth should be addressed separately. Involving professional sociologists, demographers, and socioeconomists in city planning would help us see the city’s future from the perspectives of different generations and groups of people.
6. One possible tool for implementing ambitions could be public-private partnership projects. Let’s not forget that the flow of European funds after 2028 will change drastically.
7. City landmarks should also be mentioned separately – the creation of art spaces, the positioning of sculptural landmarks in the city, etc.

Future tasks we need to address:

1. Together with the city administration, the architects’ association, cultural heritage, city communities, and the academic community, we should create a permanently functioning urban development forum where we can discuss visions and issues concerning the future of the city.
2. We need to involve members of the city council and the political parties that delegated them in the active creation and implementation of the city’s future plans – their involvement would bring us closer to realizing our ambitions.
3. Together with the city administration, planners, and urbanists, we should discuss what the planning and coordination process should look like, and this should be done in parallel with the review of the legal framework.
4. We need an effective ombudsman institution, which would serve as a kind of arbitration for quickly and rationally solving arising problems.
5. The general city plan should be reviewed and adjusted at least every two years to reflect the changes of the times.

Let us not forget that our activity and involvement will determine the kind of Vilnius we, our children, and our grandchildren will see.

Sincerely, Robertas Dargis Board Member of LNTPA