Vilnius beyond Urban vs Non-Urban Opposition: A Few Entry Points to the Planetary Urban Futures

Abstract

The article analyzes Vilnius urban forest by applying the notion of planetarity and considering its implications for urban research. The author’s argument is delivered in three parts. The first part scrutinizes the difference between globalization and planetarity in a long-term perspective of social urban scholarship. The second part examines the significance of the vast amount of forest in Vilnius, as well as its lineage in the context of post-WWII urban growth. The third part regards the Karoliniškės Landscape Reserve as part of Vilnius green belt and as a potential opening in place of a former boundary, compatible with the earlier modern urban growth civic projects meant to replace the medieval city walls as “isolation belts.” Finally, the author discusses the Reserve’s three dimensions in the course of such opening—as more-than-urban heritage, non-human-centered public space, and a potential green commodification frontier.