The priority objective of the residential urban areas development – to improve the quality of life, sustainable development principles in order to form compact urban areas and polycentric functionally and socially integrated urban and suburban structure with the help of efforts of general public institutions as well as natural and legal persons. A living area today must comply with the needs of population from various social layers, so, when planning residential areas, it is necessary to assess the varied potential of the population needs and the quality of life expression. Therefore the article seeks to find out attitudes to residents’ environment, development of social services network, infrastructure condition, functional and planned structure of the area. For the implementation of the objective, the programme in the research sites has been prepared. This programme allows multifaceted examination of existing residential areas, the assessment of their physical condition, public opinion, public needs, comments and suggestions of professionals. After analysing the results of the research and drafting conceptual principles, it can be stated that the future of Lithuanian residential districts and cities depends on the territorial spatial planning system, which is affected by the free market and democratic society. Territorial spatial planning of residential microdistricts or blocks is the key to building sustainable and attractive cities.

The article analyses the changes of agricultural production development and the demand of rural planning in the post-reform period. The main aim of the research is to identify the problems of land use and the formation of farms as the territorial-production structures in Lithuania as well as to analyse the possibilities of finding solutions to them. Tendencies of the decrease of the number of rural residents and farms were determined, the regulation of which is possible by improving working and living conditions in rural areas by means of public support measures. In order to form land holdings of rational farms, to coordinate the residential construction, farmlands and the local road network, to preserve efficient agricultural land, it is suggested preparing the documents of land management planning. The implementation of these documents is associated with the regulation of the land use provided for by legislation, formation of cultural landscape, as well as with the EU and public support for the development of production of viable farms and environmental protection. It is recommended to supplement the rules of the preparation of documents of land management planning with methodological requirements for the arrangement of land parcels and for their conversion into other agricultural areas.

Geoportal.lt is a Lithuanian state information system whose scope is to allow all data users to freely access geographic data, maps and e-services. The portal also allows drawing relief altitude profile and set the altitude of point on location. It is performed by applying the tool “Set altitude of point on location”. It is one of the newest tools of geoportal.lt website, whose accuracy has not been analysed, and which, according to the information provided by GIS Centre, complies with the requirements set for 1:50000 scale maps. This tool is selected as an object of research, while the aim of the research is to analyse the accuracy of data provided by Lithuanian spatial information portal tool “Set altitude of point on location” in case of different land covers. The following methods of investigation have been employed: literary analysis; the analysis of cartographic material; field measurements and data processing; comparative analysis of data. The data is processed using Geomap and Microsoft Excel programmes. After the analysis has been carried out, it was established that the most common errors in all types of land covers are from 0.5 m to 1.5 m. Such errors comprise 70 per cent in forest areas, 35 per cent in built-up territory, and 53 per cent in thin land cover. Taking into consideration that the website geoportal.lt operates on the basis of orthographic map whose accuracy is 1 meter and the discussed tool shows the altitude of the nearest known point, it can be stated that the obtained presumptions are permissible. To summarise the obtained data, the tool is reliable. The reliability of the data is 91 per cent in thin land cover, 86 per cent in forest area, 75 per cent in built-up area. To compare it with topographic maps of analogous format, where the errors of altitudes may reach up to 10 meters, the tool is reliable even in case of major errors.

The article presents the comparative analysis of the Kaunas city anthropogenic landscape change during the period between 2006 and 2014. For this analysis the land fund statistics of the Republic of Lithuania were used. The components of anthropogenic landscape change are graphically shown in the figures. During the analysis the Kaunas city statistics were compared with the data of Kaunas County and the Republic of Lithuania. Comparative, analytical as well as statistical and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The object of the investigation is anthropogenic components of Kaunas city. The aim of the investigation is to carry out the analysis of the change of Kaunas city anthropogenic components in the period of 2006-2014. The work analyses the change of urban landscape components, the reasons of the established change. The built up territories comprise the majority of anthropogenic landscape of Kaunas city i.e. 90.05 per cent, while the damaged territories make up 0.06 per cent and Kaunas city roads constitute 9.89 per cent of the analysed landscape. It was established that during the analysed period the built-up territories of Kaunas city increased by 312.78 ha i.e. 3.53 per cent. Within 9 years the road area increased by 14.04 ha or 1.44 per cent, while the damaged areas increased by 1.89 ha. Having analysed the statistical data of Kaunas city anthropogenic landscape areas it was estimated that within the period of 2006 -2014 the area of these territories increased by 328.71 ha or 3.34 per cent. e area of these territories increased by 328.71 ha or 3.34 per cent.

Land cover objects are reflected in a set of georeferential data and are constantly changing. These changes can be accurately examined by computer and interactive information systems. One of the main advantages of computer information systems is the fact that their maps can be constantly improved and updated. The update of georeferential data was conducted in a selected area using the ArcGIS software. After the analysis of the Lithuanian land cover data, the area meeting the following criteria was selected: a diverse landscape, the abundance of different objects (built-up areas, forests, bodies of water), an adjacent city and good access to major metropolitan areas. The article presents the updated georeferential data and tracks changes in the updated data of built-up areas, areas overgrown with trees and shrubs, dams, swimming pools, lakes, ponds and roads in the selected area within the period from 2008 to 2015. The results revealed that changes occurred in all analysed layers. It proves that land cover objects are constantly changing. The greatest change was observed in the data of built-up areas. In comparison with 2008, in 2015 even 41% of built-up areas was changed (i.e. the old boundaries were revised, new and defunct built-up areas were discovered), 125 new areas have overgrown with trees and bushes and 46 changes were observed in ponds and pools.

This article analyses the issue of the inadequacy between the results of preliminary measurements performed during the land reform and results of cadastral measurements. The aim of the research is to analyse the change of areas of land parcels of Sakiai district, the mistakes which were made during the measurements and their causes, as well as to make the comparison between preliminary and cadastral measurements. The research methods are as follows: the review and analysis of scientific literature, the analysis of statistical data, the comparative analysis and the method of graphical modelling. The total area of analysed land parcels is 282718 m2. During the research, while comparing the preliminary data and the data of the measurements of land parcels obtained while performing cadastral measurements, it was established that an average increase of areas of land parcels is 0.0223 ha, decrease is 0.0034 ha, the total perimeter of all land parcels decreased by 24.9 m, the total area of arable land in land parcels increased by 0.1390 ha due to the increase of areas of land parcels, new mapped lands: tree and shrub plantations, grasslands, gardens. The average shift of turning points of land parcel boundaries in the locality after the performed cadastral measurements is 2.64 m. What is more, by applying some formulae, the accuracy of calculation of areas of land parcels was determined. It turned out that land parcels, which cover 96% of the area of the analysed land parcels, changed to the maximum permissible error of areas, and 4% exceeded the maximum permissible error. According to the data presented by the National Land Service it was established that 15% of the submitted cadastral files are not accepted. The most common causes are an inadequacy of land parcel boundaries to the documents of the planning of territories or the land holding projects (44%), mistakes in the preparation of files of cadastral data of land parcel, in the completing (23%), in the preparation of the land parcel plan (21%), and while filling in the form of land parcel cadastral data (13%).

Declaration data of farming land and crop are analyzed in the article. Ukmergė district is chosen for the more detailed analysis. Statistical data of farmers and other land users are analyzed in the article; the declaration data of farming land and crop are analyzed and mathematical statistical dependence between the declared area and soil productivity index is determined. The results show that there are 2,506 registered farms in Ukmergė district and they manage the area of 18,430.07 hectares. The average parcel size amount to 7.35 ha. The number of farming persons in Ukmergė district as well as in Lithuania have considerably decreased during 7 years period. In 2014, the number of farming persons was by 38.12 percent smaller in Ukmergė district and by 41.24 percent in the whole territory of Lithuania compared to 2007. The comparison of the declaration data of 2011 with the data of 2014 shows that the declared area of farming land and crop in Ukmergė district has increased by 2.46 percent although the number of received applications has decreased by 22.2 percent. During the period of 2011– 2014 the majority of assessed applications were received in 2013, i.e., 99.04 percent of all applications received that year. It shows that the size of land parcels has increased. Cereal crops (oat, wheat, triticale, barley, rye, buckwheat and corn) composed the major part of the declared areas in Ukmergė district in 2013-2014 (48.84 percent of all declared crops in 2013 and 53.79 percent in 2014). The analysed agricultural holding “Egvila” during 2011–2014 period declared the area of approximately 272 hectares annually. This company grows white clover for seed, timothy for seed and cumin. Direct payments are received for all land areas. The analysis shows that farmers generally declared their own land. The analysis of the declared land distribution in Ukmergė district by land property right shows that 75 percent of the declared land are private and the remaining 25 percent are leased either from the state or from natural persons.

In order to preserve protected areas and to reduce their devastation, it is important to know the most common violations of these areas. The created map will provide the information about areas where the damage occurs most often. The Nemunas Loops Regional Park was selected for the research, the main aim of which was to identify the most common violations and the most problematic areas. The objectives of this research were to carry out a detailed analysis of violations in the Nemunas Loops Regional Park and protected areas for 2007- 2014 period of time and to create a dot distribution map of these violations. The main tasks were the following: 1) to review the aim of the Nemunas Loops Regional Park establishment, prohibited and promotional activities, 2) to carry out the classification of violations in these areas during 2007-2013 according to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Lithuania, 3) to group the violations of 2007-2013 according to the timing and to create a dot distribution map in order to provide its application possibilities. The study led to the following conclusions: most violations were made contrary to the requirements of the protected areas (Clause 76). For instance, arbitrary constructed mobile homes, environmental pollution, violations of visiting regime in the nature reservation, water protection requirements (Clause 55), parking a car in the protected area of the water reservoir, agricultural land, storing agricultural equipment which is not used etc. The map highlights the most problematic areas where violations occur every year. These are: Punios Šilas Strict Nature Reserve and the areas around it, Pociūnai and Balbieriškis towns, Birštonas. In 2014 the form of reports was changed and it was not possible to analyse the violations in detail. It was a negative factor for this research because no accurate violations and areas could be recorded. For this reason the map was not created. 230 various violations happened in the Nemunas Loops Regional Park during the period of 2007-2014. The created map can be used as an additional measure for prevention of violations.

The article presents the Lithuanian forest land change in the period of more than a hundred years. The causes leading to forest land use change are analysed in the article. The beginning of forestry in Lithuania can be traced back to Sigismund Augustus times starting from 1557, when Wallach reform was launched. However, over time forest land and its use evolved for a variety of political, social and economic factors. In 1795 the state-owned forests in Lithuania amounted to 35% of the total area of forests; other forests were owned by landlords, churches and kulak farms. Later forests were cut down quite rapidly, many of them burned down, but reforestation work was insignificant. The smallest forest coverage during the analysed period was in 1945, just 16.5%. Forests were thinned out, wastelands and waterlogged areas dominated. Later, albeit with different variations, the forest coverage of Lithuania increased and today forest area accounts for more than 34% of the total area of the country, the majority of which are private forests. More detailed characteristics of forest land use and user trends as well as their causes are presented in the article. It also looks at the possible prospects.

This research study explores urban planning for transport sustainability in two cities Kaunas (Lithuania) and Jelgava (Latvia). As part of the analyses, a transport sustainability was compared in relation to three main aspects – economy, environment and society. The aim of this research is to review the existing transport system in two cities – Kaunas and Jelgava, and to evaluate their sustainability in environmental, social and economic dimensions. The study is based on the information about configuration and location of the existing transport system in two cities – Kaunas and Jelgava. It is important to submit proposals to decision making bodies in order to improve sustainability of transport.