Composition of urban space in historical centre of Vilnius. Urban and suburban

Abstract

The passage of time has arranged the urban texture of historical centres of most towns as a mosaic - historical suburbs, representing different formation patterns of various parts of a town, have completed the towns' picture. In this way old towns - historical centres of towns - have developed as a composition of two worlds, two different urban structures - urban and suburban. Most European cities no longer have historical suburbs: these territories have either vanished or have been destroyed during wars and later replaced by modern urban structures and parks. The historical kernel of Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) is still surrounded by historical suburbs. The plan and space structure of the old Vilnius is an example of the naturally developed organism of a town, with all the development traces preserved. Vilnius has more than one historical suburb. The plan structure of the suburbs and the composition of the population made them different from the town and from each other. Vilnius historical suburbs have played an important role in the formation of towns' uniqueness and visual originality. This research discusses composition of the urban space of Vilnius' old town - urban and suburban - by analysing distinctive features of its plan, built-up, size-and-space composition.