Territorial expression of electoral activity of Lithuanian national minorities

The article presents territorial differentiation of the interrelationships of electoral (dependent) and different nationalities (independent) variables. In order to substantiate the relationship, mathematical-statistical methods, including correlation and regression were used. The main sources of the analysis was the data of 2016 and 2020 elections of Seimas, obtained from the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania and Statistics Lithuania’s data of different national minorities from 2011 population and housing census. The spatial level of the analysis is the census area. Research revealed a higher voter turnout in those areas, where national minorities constitute the majority of the population.

Possible models of implementing private protected area concept in Lithuania

Nowadays people are more aware of the importance of the surrounding nature: landscape, biodiversity, and natural resources. However, society is facing many ecological challenges, so individuals and communities are becoming more involved in conservation. While government is not always capable of providing the best care of nature and all its components, ordinary people, or non-government organizations “step up” and help them. One way of doing that is creating private protected areas. Many countries in the world have examples of this kind of protected areas’ governance type: some are more regulated in legal systems, some are less, but they all provide crucial benefits to conservation if managed properly. In Lithuania protected areas are governed only by the government but usually the lack of funds affects the quality of conservation. Because of that, it is necessary to analyse different mechanisms of creation of private protected areas, take examples from best practices in the world and consider implementing it in the national protected area system.

Natural and human control of the coastal development. Baltic sea, Lithuania

Sea coast - a geomorphic system that maintains its stability through the exchange of sand between its individual elements. As environmental conditions change, the shore system changes by adapting to maintain its stability. Natural processes such as sea level fluctuation and extreme storms cause continuous shoreline change. Feedback effects create natural elements inhibiting external factors altering shore stability. There is a relative equilibrium between natural factors and the shore and in the absence of sudden changes the shore system retains its quasi-stability over a long period of time. This is reflected in the development of the Baltic Sea coast at Lithuania in the 20th century. During this period, of naturally developing coastline did not experience drastic changes. Both the position of the shoreline and the change in the volume of sand on shore did not undergo catastrophic changes. Everything changes radically when a human intervenes in natural processes by starting to develop economic activities on the shore. Especially significant changes occur during the construction or reconstruction of hydro-technical structures. In the case of Lithuania, the hydro-technical structures that caused the biggest changes were the jetties of Klaipeda and Šventoji ports and the pier of Palanga. Since the shore sand transfer resultant at the Lithuanian nearshore is directed from south to north, the resulting barrier cats this drift, disrupting the free circulation of sand along the shore and forcing sand to accumulate on the southern side of the jetty. Meanwhile, on the north side of the jetty, when the sand supply is lost, the coast begins to retreat. These changes are exacerbated by the deepening of the Klaipeda port cana

Mountains in the names of places and on the surface of Lithuania

The article presents the links between the place names of residential areas and the surface relief of their territories. Names with the lexeme kalnas (hill-, mountain-) were chosen for the study. In total, in Lithuania are about 250 of them. 50 villages with such names marking the surface mountainousness were analyzed. Topographic maps were used to clarify the features of the terrain, the transverse profiles of the surface of the areas were drawn, and a very variable change in the accommodation of the areas in the 20th century was analyzed. In some cases, archaeological data are also used.

Territorial expression of urban fear: the spread of gated communities in Lithuania

This article presents the analysis of the spread of gated communities in Lithuania considering the theoretical basis and the impact of ‘culture of fear’. The ‘urban fear’ is considered as a complex of anxieties that involves fear of changes, instability and disorder as well as non-acceptance of differences, diversity and the ‘others’. Those fears and the need for social control create the model of gated living, in which not only gated communities but also gated mentality plays an important role. Thus gated communities appear to be both the consequence and the reason of mental ‘gatedness’ as well as unsustainable development of modern cities, in which the demand for gating is produced by fear-creating media and real estate developers. The study was made in suburban areas of three main Lithuanian cities, identifying gated communities and other fenced (but not guarded) neighbourhoods and housing developments. The features of their physical enclosure, security measures and community building were recorded. A total of 129 suburban gated communities and nearly 390 other fenced neighbourhoods were identified. The analysis of gated communities` spread revealed changes not only in the amount and territorial distribution but also in ‘gatedness’ of gated communities in Lithuania.

Morphostructural Analysis of Lithuanian National and Regional Parks in the Aspect of the Landscape Geography: 1. Methodology

The article deals with Lithuanian efforts in the field of protected areas landscape cognition and contributing to the planning system optimization. The summarizing of the state of the problem is presented with special accent to the experience the Estonia, Slovenia and Catalonia as potentially most similar and perspective for Lithuania. The methodology and the algorithm of the morphological study of landscape structure morphological research of Lithuanian National and Regional Parks in 2018-2019 are presented. Distinct landscape units have been designated as landscape environs and landscape sites and have been designated the highest local levels of its cognition. Special attention is paid for territorial differentiation of the landscape morphological structure, main visual aspects of landscape perception, enhancing the awareness of national and regional parks landscape and contributing to the optimization of spatial planning processes.

Load of Secondary Raw Material Collection System in Lithuania

Based on various statistical data and calculations, the article analyzes the load of the secondary raw material collection system in Lithuania, distinguishes territorial regularities. A more detailed analysis of the survey results, the existing municipal waste management policy and the organization of the secondary raw material collection system indicate possible causes of territorial differentiation, also taking into account socio-economic assumptions.

Mapping and Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Services: Capacity in Vilnius City

Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits people gain from ecosystems, which are essential to human well-being. ES concept allows us to demonstrate more clearly the importance of nature, understand its benefits and justify its preservation. Knowledge on ecosystem’s capacity to provide services and the demand for these services allows us more effectively organize spatial planning, avoid conflicts and protect the ecosystems from degradation. This article reviews one of the ES assessment and mapping method called ES matrix model and presents its application to Vilnius case study. Using the method and expert knowledge twelve ES were assessed and mapped. The review of the method has shown that it can be applied at different scales and to evaluate several ES simultaneously. In previous studies, the method was applied to assess ES capacities both locally and at European level, often using expert knowledge for ES evaluation. Method application for the case study confirms that the results of the evaluation mainly depends on primary data, i.e. the scale and accuracy of the land used map and the sufficient sample of experts. The case study showed that the lowest concentration of evaluated services is in the center of Vilnius town and surrounding neighborhoods, and as the distance from the city center increases, the number of ES increases as well. An ES richness map, which shows how many different services exist in a given area, showed a low number of ES in the central and western part of the city (a maximum 6 out of 12 services rated). Additional research, however, is needed to assess the quality of the existing services. Such an assessment of the ES potential and the quality of the services can serve as an additional tool for territorial planning and efficient use of green urban spaces.

The Problem of Identification of Rural Areas: The Case of Lithuanian Elderships

This article presents an attempt to classify Lithuanian LAU-2 regions (elderships) according to the level of their urbanization. The research was based on inductive methodology. Data on changes of the number of population in 2001 – 2018 was the primary source of the analysis. The typology of LAU-2 regions was based on 3 main criteria: formal status of the area (urban or rural), the location of the area in relation to urban centre and trends of change of the number of population in formally nonurban areas in 2001-2018. The final goal was the distinction of regions, which weren’t influenced by urbanisation (suburbanisation) processes and therefore potentially should be facing most severe processes of peripherisation and socio-spatial exclusion. The results suggest that actual share of rural areas and rural population is much smaller that statistical data show. Furthermore, territorial differentiation into urbanized and non-urbanized areas perfectly reflects "centre-periphery" model, though Lithuania withhold polycentric character of development. Three central urban regions - Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda act as major growth poles, while remaining country is shrinking fast. On the other hand, even smaller and decreasing urban centres are spatially expanding and changing rural areas around them. As a consequence number of population is growing in suburban regions. According to the research, 244 elderships, which occupy some 36% of the Lithuanian territory, are classified as urbanized or semi urbanised areas (it inhabits 83% of the population); the rest 312 elderships are classified as 'purely' rural peripheral areas. They cover 64% of the country’s territory and inhabit around 17% of its population.