TRANSFORMATIONS OF URBAN STRUCTURES IN LANDSCAPE WITHIN THE HISTORIC SMALL TOWNS

Abstract

The thesis examines trends of changes of historic urban structures in rural landscape. The aim is to find out historic urban structures trends of changes and their changes impact on compositional characteristics of rural landscape. The aim is to form the model of protection and regulation directions and the means to implement them for valuable rural historic urban structures. Carried out analysis of literature, according to it, it is set three different degrees of changes of rural historic urban structures: unchanged, partly changed, completely changed. Carried out sociological survey of community and specialists whose results confirm the identified trends. According the results of the survey is formed the conceptional model of protection and regulation directions for valuable rural urban structures. Regulation directions of conceptional model are adapted for selected objects: Kalviai, Čekiškė, Kruonis, choosing them according to the different degree of urban structure changes. By solutions are planned to preserve rural valuable urban structures, to improve the system of public spaces, to highlight the valuable objects revealing the identity of the area in landscape and preserve valuable compositional properties of landscape.

Since the middle of the 20^th century the significance of the historic towns has changed in the urban cadastre of Lithuania and in the hierarchy system of visual landmarks of   landscape. In general, the landscape characteristics of the localities have an impact on the formation of the general vision of the country. Rural areas have accumulated cultural heritage distinguished by worthy characteristics that are considered to be as greatly valuable material to strengthen the identity of the country and to reveal the uniqueness of it. The active demographic, economic, social processes in the country have caused changes in the situation of those towns. Thus, it is important to predict and control the processes of transformations in those areas in order to support and shape the cultural identity of the local communities at the same time to preserve cultural landscape.

The objective of the article is to structure the movements and directions to be able to protect valuable rural historic urban structures as well as to suggest measures for their maintenance and implementation,  with reference to the theoretical and practical analysis of the available material and the results of the empirical studies,.

Research methods applied: a) the analysis of the scientific  publications and written works, analysis of legal documents and regulations of the Republic of Lithuania  of the international  documentation; the analysis of the samples available in Lithuania and overseas; b) a sociological survey of experts and community members by the method of questionnaire; c) the analysis of J. Bučas’s  visual characteristics in the landscape ; d) the analysis of historic, iconographic  status, current situation and photo fixation.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.20.3.18427