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 land consolidation project of the parts of Vilkaviškis district municipality, Pilviškiai and Klausučiai elderates, Alksnėnai and Sūdava cadastral area is analysed in the article, the main indicators of the project, the meaning of land consolidation, the need to improve the order of the execution and implementation of these activities are described in the article. The survey was carried out to examine the opinion of the participants of the project regarding the advantages of the proceeding and results of the project as well as some of its drawbacks.

The international Cittaslow movement brings together towns that promote the slow life philosophy. The concept has been developed in response to the increasing pace of life and the adverse effects of globalization. According to the members of Cittaslow, the organization contributes to the sustainable development of their regions and to improvement of the quality of life. In view of the benefits of Cittaslow membership confirmed by research studies, the question arises whether the concept of Cittaslow could also be introduced in rural areas. This paper seeks to answer the above question. The study involved an analysis of the Cittaslow membership criteria (Cittaslow goals) and a survey conducted among the inhabitants of the Warmian village of Żabi Róg. The results of the study were used to test the research hypothesis and to assess the quality of life in the analyzed area.

Development and management of green area systems is important to both the environment and a person. It bears social, economic, and ecological significance. This system must comply with principles of sustainable spatial development. Therefore, well-developed systems of green areas must become the basic aim of all cities. Marijampolė, the seventh biggest city of Lithuania was selected as the research object. In the article the system of Marijampolė city green areas is analysed. Two surveys, which included questionnaires, were conducted, i.e. city inhabitants and territory-planning and management specialists were interviewed. It was identified that the system of Marijampolė green areas is not balanced and there are enough green areas only in part. However, the current parks, squares and other green spaces do not ensure full-fledged citizens’ life. Marijampolė lacks equipped, applied to various activities local green areas for different age groups of the community, the development and maintenance of which must primarily be the inhabitants’ concern.