The “Courtyard of Dreams” will cover blocks
“The “Yard of Dreams” program of the Kaunas City Municipality, which is already in its fifth year, has helped the citizens of Kaunas to install convenient parking lots, organize their home environment, and renovate green spaces. However, the slow conversion of these blocks and the decreasing attractiveness of the territories led to a rethinking of the concept of the program, focusing more on the renovation of the buildings themselves and the complex environmental management of the renovated blocks.
We aim to make these city spaces cozy, comfortable and worthy of the choice of settlers looking for housing”, says Kaunas Deputy Mayor Andrius Palionis.
Over the past four years, the city has signed more than 300 contracts with residents and allocated regarding a million euros in support for the formation of plots, preparation of technical projects and physical works.
The goal is to revitalize neighborhoods
“We have to admit that the formation of individual plots and the management of courtyards do not fundamentally solve the urban problems of the city. The sleeping areas built during the Soviet era were planned as blocks. As a result, we also have to look at the conversion of these territories in a complex way. Developed social and engineering infrastructure, public transport, larger green areas – these are the main highlights for a quality and harmonious life in the city. However, morally outdated aesthetics and chaos in the courtyards of apartment buildings do not attract young families.
In order to understand how we should continue to plan the renewal of these areas, at the beginning of last year we commissioned an urban study of the transformation of the city’s Soviet quarters. “Professional urban planners conducted numerous studies and formed the main principles of block re-planning and building renovation”, says Gedeminas Barčauskas, Deputy Director of Kaunas Municipality Administration.
The Kaunas municipality company “Kauno planas” has started preparing block layout schemes according to the urban study. They will be coordinated with the residents later. It is a big and complicated process – more than a hundred meetings with representatives of apartment communities, chairmen, administrators, and regarding 50 more meetings with apartment residents themselves are planned. The recently launched Kaunas Housing Modernization Agency will take care of that and advise residents on relevant issues.
A nationwide problem
According to the real estate register, 41 thousand are registered in Lithuania. multi-apartment residential buildings. 90 percent of them – built before 1993, when insulation materials were not used for better thermal insulation of these buildings.
According to architect Martyn Maroz, one of the authors of the study, more than half of the country’s population lives in such houses. Until now, the people of Kaunas have been rather slow regarding the renovation and modernization of housing: regarding 6% of the houses in the city have been renovated so far. high-rises – half less than the national average.
“These are densely populated areas, so it is important that they function well. With the current pace of renovation in Kaunas, the last apartment building would be renovated a good century from now. This is too slow a pace for our city. While preparing the study, we consulted with constructors, engineers and other specialists who proposed more innovative, efficient and faster housing modernization solutions. At the moment, the urban planning study has already been completed and the Kaunas City Municipality is planning its public presentation to the public at the beginning of April,” says architect M. Maroz.
Current consultations for residents
Kaunas Housing Modernization Agency was officially established a year ago by the decision of the city council in order to speed up the improvement of apartment buildings and their environment. Its specialists are tasked with constantly communicating with the people of Kaunas, providing them with relevant information regarding modern complex solutions.
“We started functioning regarding six months ago. We cooperate with institutions, we advise residents on issues that concern them. The current scope of renovation is not sufficient, and the Soviet apartment buildings, which are aging every year, may reach a critical condition in the near future.
As a result, we will focus even more on promoting the renovation itself, increasing the pace and improving the quality. After completing all the planned complex works, the value of the real estate, the attractiveness of the block or even the micro-district would increase significantly, and there would be an opportunity to attract new and young residents back to the city”, Julius Jankauskas, director of the Kaunas Housing Modernization Agency, has no doubts.
At the beginning of April, the municipality, together with the Kaunas Housing Modernization Agency, is planning to hold a public presentation to residents regarding the planned complex renovation of apartment buildings built during the Soviet era and their territories. Specific dates and times will be announced shortly. More regarding the agency’s services can be found online: kbma.lt.
