Analysis of urban development in suburban areas of Kaunas city

Abstract

Furthermore, the change of Kaunas population are closely related with land use and growing area built up territories. The suburban built up areas of Kaunas city, has grown 44.9%. Permits to build a new residential house has been issued to 9.274 applicants. Thus, the change of suburban built up areas of Kaunas is directly related with an increased number of population, on the assumption that suburban areas became built up areas because of the population growth [1] [3]. According to the research data conducted from 2007 to 2017, in suburban areas of Kaunas there are 5,500 ha urbanized territories of which more than 90.9% are living spaces. As a consequence, suburban areas which was densely built up, functions as living teritories. The efficiency number of land use has increased during the analyzed decade. Therefore, in order to ensure social, engineering and communicational infrastructure, the new urbanistic development is possible only with full urbanization implementation of suburban areas. The number of inhabitants grows in most of the countries, cities’ suburban areas becoming more and more attractive places to live because of the cities industrialization. In the case of Lithuania, suburban areas are the part of 10 counties which are formed due to bipolar system where the capital city is dominating. Kaunas city is the second largest city of Lithuania, which borders with the 10 elderships (suburban areas): Domeikava, Karmėlava, Neveronys, Samylai, Rokai, Garliava, Alsėnai, Ringaudai, Raudondvaris and Užliedžiai. As a temporary capital, Kaunas has been turning into an attractive area for different industries to expand. Due to the fact, the suburban areas of Kaunas are being developed for potential investments in land use [1] [2]. The aim of the research is to analyse the development of suburban areas of Kaunas city in 2007 – 2017. The statistical data shows that population of Kaunas city over a decade (2007-2017) has declined by 19.1%, while in Kaunas suburban areas, the population has increased by 4.5%.