Building height regulation: is it still relevant for the 21st century city?

Abstract

In many Western countries the regulation of the city skyline and high-rises is already well established, while east European countries are still undergoing early capitalism processes, with tensions surrounding the dimension of values. What should dominate the city skyline: towers of old town churches or 21st century skyscrapers? During the past five years, the authors of the article have carried out several research projects tasked with identifying in the new built-up formation an optimal relation between the new and historic centres of Vilnius. In this paper the authors present the applied methods of modelling and assessment of height parameters. Each research project was unique and needed a tailor-made research methodology, depending on the analysed parameters. In principle the following questions had to be answered: 1) does the future object cohere with the characteristics of the existing urban structure; 2) how the height parameters of the future building relate to the neighbouring valuable historical parts of the town and how they affect the latter. It has been noted that such research projects help to form the character of individual urban parts and to preserve an optimal relation among them within the town’s overall image.