Perspective of multiscale planning of rurban development: case of Lithuania

Landscape planning as one of the most important spheres determining the lifestyle environment and the framework of the societal organisation, being a complex process dealing with hardly predictable future, numerous variables and interested parties, involves a high degree of uncertainty. Dynamic, mutable and hard to define rurban landscapes emerging in the areas of rural-urban interface also imply a lot of uncertainty. These territories are a specific component and the indicator of the metropolisation as well. This means that planning of such landscapes is a difficult task requiring a distinctive approach. The aim of this research was to develop and present the rurban landscape planning principles. The approach to the rurban landscape planning and related research presented here can be identified as multiscale scientific sustainability-based: we have distinguished four major interrelated scales - global, regional, national, and local - and analyzed aspects of uncertainty that should be evaluated and precautionary measures that can be taken, the research that should be carried out, the most relevant landscape sustainability dimensions, and the documents that must or can be employed at each scale. In order to illustrate the relevance and applicability of the presented approach it was illustrated with the case of Lithuania. We have demonstrated the problems and challenges of landscape planning related to rural-urban interface in Lithuania originating at global, regional, national, and local levels, relevant documents and recommended actions for more sustainable development of rurban areas in the overall context of landscape planning. The analysis has shown that the extensive juridical basis and the volume of other documents at all levels exist for successful planning and management of rurban areas in the country and the main problems causing contemporary failure to regulate the processes rural-urban interface are related with the lack of understanding or rurban problematic and the lack of understanding global, continental, and regional contexts, the lack of strategic integrated thinking, transparency, and competences in the planning process

Rurban areas as reflected in Lithuanian territorial planning documents

The research focus is the territorial planning documents of different level valid in the territory of Lithuania, and the phenomenon of rural-urban interface reflected in them. The methods applied include the desktop study aimed at determining the presence of rural-urban influence, the character of rurban landscapes, their potential, current state of their management and development possibilities as reflected in the existing planning documents. The conclusions demonstrated not only the presence and the fragmented character of rurban areas in Lithuania, but also their potential as representative and widely accessible accumulation of cultural heritage and exceptional landscape feature of the country

Kraštovaizdžio tyrimų tendencijos ir keletas įžvalgų apie miesto ir kaimo sandūros teritorijose besiformuojančius kraštovaizdžius

Dėl vykstančių intensyvių kaimo, miesto ir gamtos aplinkos pokyčių plėtojasi dinamiški ir kompleksiniai kraštovaizdžiai, turintys tiek miesto, tiek kaimo požymių. Šiuos neištyrinėtus ir problemiškus kraštovaizdžio tipus reikia ne tik giliau suvokti, vartoti naujus terminus ir klasifikacijas, tačiau kartu reprezentuoti prieštaringus ir sudėtingus procesus, turinčius poveikį šiandieniniam kraštovaizdžiui ir jo tyrimams bendrai. Taigi šio tyrimo tikslas – išskirti reikšmingas kraštovaizdžio plėtojimosi ir mokslinių tyrimų tendencijas ir pristatyti būdingus miesto ir kaimo sandūros teritorijose besiformuojančių kraštovaizdžių ypatumus. Apžvelgus literatūrą ir atlikus analizę išskiriama keletas pagrindinių kraštovaizdžio plėtojimosi ir mokslinių tyrimų iššūkių, tiesiogiai susijusių su miesto ir kaimo sąsajų kraštovaizdžių studijomis: didėjanti kraštovaizdžių kaitos sparta ir mastas, didėjantis kraštovaizdžių kompleksiškumas, kraštovaizdžių tyrimų aprėptis ir fragmentiškumas, problemos, susijusios su kraštovaizdžio vertinimo subjektyvumu, ir kraštovaizdžio estetiškumo iššūkiai. Straipsnyje detaliau išanalizuotos šios su miesto ir kaimo sandūros teritorijose besiformuojančiais kraštovaizdžiais susijusios tendencijos ir ypatumai: tranzitiškumas, kompleksiškumas, įvairiakryptė kaita ir laikinumas, konfliktai, chaosas ir vienodumas. Tyrimo metodai: literatūros apžvalga, analizė ir apibendrinimas. Šis tyrimas parodė, kad miesto ir kaimo sandūros zonose besiformuojantys kraštovaizdžiai yra susiję ne tik su kraštovaizdžio sandaros pasikeitimais bendrai, bet ir turėtų būti suvokiami kaip nauji kompleksiniai kraštovaizdžiai, reikalaujantys savito požiūrio.In the course of present intensive transformations of rural, urban and natural environments new types of dynamic and complex landscapes emerge which possess both rural and urban features. These unseen and problematic types of landscape not only require deeper understanding, new terms, and categorizations, but also represent the concentrated manifestation of the contradictory and complicated processes, affecting the today’s landscapes and the field of landscape research. Thus the aim of the research was to distinguish the significant landscape development and research trends and to illustrate them with the trends and features characteristic to rurban landscapes. The literature review and subsequent analysis allowed us to distinguish several major challenges of landscape development and landscape research relevant to rurban studies: the increasing pace and scale of landscape change, the increasing complexity of landscapes, proliferation and fragmentation of knowledge regarding landscapes, problems related to handling the subjective dimension in landscape valuation, and the landscape aesthetics challenges. We have analyzed these trends and the peculiarities related with rurban landscape – transitional character, multidirectional change, and time depth, tensions and conflicts, diversity, chaos, and uniformity – in greater detail. The research method is the desk-top study including literature review. This analysis has shown that the rurban landscapes not only showcase in the concentrated manner the concerns and opportunities related with ongoing landscape restructuring, but as the landscapes of new complexity require a distinctive approach

Guidelines for Landscape Management in the Areas of Rural-Urban Interface : Continuity and Innovation

The focus of the present research is rapidly emerging rurban landscapes. In this research we apply the concepts of resilience of socio-ecosystems, landscape sustainability, alternative landscapes etc. in order to formulate general guidelines for rurban landscape management. The formulated guidelines for rurban landscape management consist of the basis for management providing guiding and integrating aspects and the management goals in six interconnected areas – environment, economics, equity, aesthetics, experience, and ethic

Guidelines for Landscape Management in the Areas of Rural-Urban Interface: Continuity and Innovation

The focus of research is rapidly emerging rurban landscapes. In this research we apply the concepts of resilience of socio-ecosystems, landscape sustainability, alternative landscapes etc. in order to formulate general guidelines for rurban landscape management. The formulated guidelines for rurban landscape management consist of: the basis for management providing guiding and integrating aspects and the management goals in six interconnected - environment, economics, equity, aesthetics, experience, and ethics

Peculiarities of Rural-Urban Interface in Lithuania and Implications for Landscape Management

International audienceThe ongoing territorial urbanization changes the character of the rural-urban interface both in the so-called devel-oped/developing countries and post-Soviet territories in transition as Lithuania. Even if the rurban landscapes, having the features of both urban and rural environment, are the global phenomenon, the local-national, regional, local etc. peculiarities can also be distinguished. The aim of this research was to analyze the rural-urban interface in Lithuania and to distinguish the global trends, local peculiarities, and the factors that determine or could determine the identity of the country's rurban landscapes. The research has demonstrated such global trends as metropolisation, industrialization, commercialization, uniformity or internationalization and local distinctive aspects related with the character of the natural landscape, urbanization patterns, and history of the rural landscape in the rural-urban interface in Lithuania. In the concluding section we have presented some management guidelines for the rurban landscapes of the country based on our findings: view the question of the rural-urban interface in the context of overall country's regional development and in the context of the development strategy of a particular urban settlement, follow the strategy of "brown urbanism", maintain historic continuity together with innovation, encourage multifunctionality and self-sufficient communities, use the ecological and recreational benefits of these areas, maintain their distinctiveness, develop unique image and aesthetics with optimal visual diversity

Urbanization influence on the relicts of Soviet rural landscape : case of Lithuania

The article deals with the possible reuse of the relicts of the Soviet rural landscapes in the areas of rural–urban interface of a postcommunist country using the Lithuanian example. It presents the short review of the development and features of the Soviet rural landscape in Lithuania; the analysis of the sociocultural, economic, ecological, and aesthetic issues related to the relicts of this type of landscape under the pressures of urbanization; and the discussion of the potential of the relicts of the Soviet rural landscape in the areas of rural–urban interface. The analysis of potential includes the discussion of the premises of integration of these landscape relicts in the development of the areas of rural–urban interface; formulation of seven integration scenarios - from renaturalization to urbanization; and the identification of the conditions for their implementation, their possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and the possibilities to develop the types of sustainable landscape distinguished by Nohl with corresponding aesthetic character in these areas