Approximately 60% of the Lithuanian population lives in Soviet-era apartment buildings. Soviet architects have been discussing renovation methods for these buildings since the 1970’s. Today, ownership is privatized complicating the issue even further, only a thousand of the 34.250 Soviet-built apartment buildings have been renovated.
Meanwhile, the population of Lithuania is increasing. People are moving from the countryside to the four largest cities in the country making for a very active real estate market. In the city centers most developments are housing projects with relatively small apartments similar to the existing microrayon typologies. On the other side, suburban development is flourishing. The sprawl around the cities is growing, and so is dependency on cars. Research shows that most current developments ignore the Microrayon areas in the city.
These modernist areas however, offer a great development potential. There is an abundance of undefined public space between the apartment buildings that can be redefined, transformed and densified. This is only possible through a long term vision, and through active collaboration between developers, the government and current residents. It requires the adaption of current zoning plans to allow for densification, the co-creation of strategies and site specific pilot projects. Through this multi faceted approach, sufficient funding can be generated to initiate the sustainable transformation of the existing housing stock. Meanwhile, this approach will help combat urban sprawl and an impeding housing crisis by facilitating sustainable urban growth.
‘Microrayon transformation strategies’ was a design studio led and initiated by Johan de Wachter as an associate professor at Kaunas University of Technology.
