Abstract (Summary)
Topicality of the problem. The history of Lithuanian cities, urban deve-lopment and the values of the inhabitants are closely linked with the West Eu-ropean culture. In the recent socialist past of Lithuania, these links had weakened, while the centralized planning of that period left its footprints not only in the urban structures, but in social consciousness as well. The legacy of the soviet times shows itself even now, though a new law changing the situa-tion in territorial (spatial) planning was adopted in 1995 and the integration to EU urban policy started in 2004. They are responsible for the delay of the imp-lementation of a generally accepted idea of sustainable development.
In the Declaration adopted in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, the main principles of sustainable development and integration of the social, economical, environ-mental issues were outlined and the 21-st century program of activities aimed at achieving sustainable development was presented. In Europe, this aim was con-firmed by the Aalborg Charter. Researchers have demonstrated its advantages by evaluating the results obtained. For this purpose, sets of indicators and citi-zens pools of sustainable development and quality of life were created.
Democracy, the market economy and global trends are changing the spa-tial patterns and socio - cultural values of citizens of Lithuania. Nevertheless, how much those urban changes are in line with sustainable development princi-ples, have not been paid much