| dc.description.abstract | With the process of globalisation and integration in the world, the convergence of the nations and their cultures is inevitable, but at the same time the identity of nations may be lost. This process affects many areas, but has a particularly strong impact on the cities and towns, which are gradually losing their character of town form (Dringelis, Ramanauskas and Steponaitytė 2015, 484). Contemporary problems of town form are inseparable from the assimilation processes in towns that have intensified in the twentieth century. Soviet planners formulated the concept of socialist urbanism in the 1930s, which fundamentally shaped urban development in Eastern Europe in the later decades and led to functional segregation between industrial and residential areas and elongated green spaces. After the collapse of communism at the end of the twentieth century, the political and economic context changed dramatically in the Eastern Europe, and the forces of global economy became apparent (Haddad and Rifkind 2016, 536). In general, urban development in post-socialist countries can be described as free market concentration in the sector of private property, which has affected not only urban sprawl processes but also overall uncoordinated external and internal urban development (Hirt 2012, 254) (Kiril and Sykora 2014, 360) (Mantey and Sudra, 2019). Under such conditions, the overall visual appearance of town form becomes a non-priority issue and presupposes local drastic changes or, conversely, the neglect of significant structures in towns. Although forms of towns are constantly changing, changes may have a major impact on town character. Changes of town form can be caused by several main factors: natural growth; catastrophes; globalisation, internal forces. Town form is a physical, built form of a town. Fundamental elements of town form are blocks, spaces associated with them and streets (Moudon 1997). Town character is: peculiarities of a place; models of development, townscape and use; a combination of all aspects that sets a town apart from others (Cowan 2005, 468). Town form character reflects the essential features of a physical structure of a town and there is a risk that town may change unrecognisably. This issue is particularly close to small towns, which characters are especially fragile. Shrinking small towns are experiencing a decline in public services and a resource-based economy, abandonment of the cultural landscape, increasing areas of unused land and emptied housing, social exclusion and lack of political vitality, an aging population. On the other hand, small towns are like an oasis in a rapidly changing world, away from noise and pollution. They can offer a small close community, a sense of attachment to a place, and a less standartised, homogenised environment. Small towns can suggest a sustainable future by reaping the benefits of their cultural, economic and natural environment. Counterurbanisation processes began emerge in the 1960s as opposed to globalisation and intensive urbanisation. One-fifth of people live in small European towns, and in more intensively urbanised, metropolitan regions, as many as a third or a half in some cases (Knox and Mayer 2014, 208). Due to the development of technology, better travelling conditions and opportunities to work and receive services or goods remotely, small towns are emerging as attractive living environments, which can offer slow life and exceptional character. Lithuanian urban settlement system consists of mostly small towns, so the research of changes of town form character is extremely important. The small town has a population of up to 20 thousand in the context of Lithuania (Daunora 2006). The significance of small towns in Lithuania was strenghtened in 1970s by the scheme of development of a unified urban 130 ABSTRACTS settlement system in the territory of Lithuania. This scheme presented the polycentric urban settlement system in Lithuania, emphasised role and importance of smaller towns, and gave an impulse for further and more intense transformations in small towns: redevelopment of central parts of towns, development of industrial areas, multi-storey complexes, etc. (Šešelgis 2000, 280). However, there are no analysis of the transformations of the whole town form during the socialist period and their impact on the town form character. A general idea of the research is to identify peculiarities of changes of town form of Lithuanian small towns after the World War II in relation with town form character: what is the extent of changes in towns; did those changes transform the essential features of town form and some actions are needed; is it possible to identify the model as a prototype of specific town form character or a model could be the same for more than one town. The concept of the research presents changes of the town form as a process and searches for the limits of change beyond which the town form character completely distorts. The analysis allows to identify the model of town form character which presents the essential features of town form and how they changed during the second half of the twentieth century. This base could play not only a role in finding principles how to nurture the character in particular cases, but also as a tool of survivol and growth. If the changes of town form and their impact on the character of the town form are not studied, towns may continue to change unknowingly or dissapear from the map of the country. Therefore, especially in the regard that most towns of Lithuania are small, the establishment of town form character model as a prototype in the context of changes are vital for small Lithuanian towns. | eng |
