ENG

The Naugardukas Street-Park is a pilot street project in Vilnius, embodying the vitality and the urban lifestyle of the New Town (Naujamiestis). The New Town is home to a wide range of services required for a well-rounded urban life, except for green public spaces. We proposed an experiment to Vilnius - to transform Naugardukas street from an ordinary, commuter street into a street-park where people want to spend time, use it, and keep coming back.
First, we planted dense and abundant greenery - using a mass of shrubs we formed a green street - whilst preserving the old trees we planted additional new trees; lined up pots of evergreens along the facades of the buildings, thus creating private terraces on some sections of the city’s streets.
Secondly, we have enriched the lives of pedestrians and cyclists with a variety of spaces: instead of car parks, residents now find street courtyards, specially designed ‘travelling’ pavilions: a street amphitheatre, a street bar, a game ramp, a street bench, and a picnic area. We have also integrated the benches into the bushes, installed pedestrian lighting, doubled the size of the pedestrian crossings, making them prominent and colorful, adding traffic islands. The new bike lanes have made it easier to reach New Town from the city centre.
Thirdly, to change the perception that only cars can use the car lanes, we created a market! On Sundays, a section of the street is closed to host the Naugardukas Street Market, which has become increasingly popular and is also attracting the neighbors who live in the area!