An increasing number of students have joined us over the last years from formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe. In particular a number of students from Lithuania have looked at the restructuring of Vilnius and Kaunas as these cities adjust to difficult conditions, including western market capitalism on the one hand and net out-migration on the other. Justina Muliuolyte (2010) in Vilnius and Tadas Jonauskis (2010) and Vytas Buinevičius (2011) in Kaunas all explored the changes due to automobility on the one hand and suburban sprawl on the other. Each of them found potentials in the existing socialist fabric for tackling these problems, particularly in the housing stock and in public transport and public space systems. These all require adjustment and upgrading but provide a scale and structure on which a compact sustainable form can be built. Development in these cities needs, it seems, to take place intensively, within the envelope of the socialist city rather than extensively in a diffuse and energy inefficient suburban sprawl.
Tadas Jonauskis: Lost in the City
Vytas Buinevičius: Exploring potentials of the socialist city
Justina Muliuolyte: City, catch the time!
Planning Complex Cities TU Delft 