The influence of transport infrastructure development on sustainable living environment in Lithuania

Abstract

Social and ecological aspects gain greater value than other assessment criteria in preparing and evaluating investment transport plans and projects. The formation of tasks for transport system and infrastructure in the modern context is based on the individual and public life quality requirements. Meeting these requirements is a prerequisite for maintaining a sustainable urban territory, planning transport infrastructure and evaluating investments. Meanwhile, sustainable development is the most important motivating aspect in the formation and planning of transport policy. The article deals with the problem of the impact of transport infrastructure on sustainable living environment. Transport infrastructure, its components, relations with other objects, even participants play a great role in the formation of an attractive living environment. The influence of transport infrastructure on the living environment can be described by the number of indicators which are determined and systemized while preparing development projects. The social-economic assessment is usually used for transport investment providing a comprehensive evaluation of projects profitability and cost-effectiveness. The results are used in the process of decision making seeking to determine whether it is appropriate to implement separate development projects and to form priority options for investment. However, even the social-economic assessment often faces uncertainty. Therefore, the aim of this article is to define the basic indicators influencing the living environment and its sustainability, determine the principles for their usage in the development process and apply these indicators to increase the attractiveness of separate urban territories.