Ideas garden in Pilaite, Vilnius

Photo: from archives of the Ideas Garden in Pilaitė, Vilnius

IDEAS GARDEN IN PILAITĖ, VILNIUS

The Vilnius City Municipality allocated about EUR 3 million for arranging public spaces in residential areas. Pilaitė also received some of these funds, installing new squares, children’s playgrounds, benches and lighting in the neighborhood. These infrastructural upgrades are very important for the local residents, but have little to do with fostering a sense of community in itself. The famous Danish architect Jan Gehl, who visited Lithuania in 2018, talked about the strategy “Metropolis for People” for public spaces in Copenhagen, which he also contributed to himself, saying that “An important part of this strategy was a focus on quality public spaces that would invite people to spend more time outdoors, because this is important for the security of the city, social inclusion and democracy. Another important element was encouraging people to leave their private spaces and spend more time communicating with other residents”. Today public spaces are arranged in Pilaitė, adapting them for different needs of residents, but there is a lack of “soft” initiatives which would turn these spaces into the foci of a sense of community, encouraging people to spend more time outdoors, getting to know each other, sharing knowledge and experiences, learning and creating their own environment together. Without “soft” initiatives, people have no

Photo: Laura Petruškevičiūtė, Ideas Garden in Pilaitė, Vilnius connection with the environment or each other. Social exclusion also leads to other problems, such as mistrust, vandalism or a feeling of insecurity.Such events as “Beepositive” light festival, film screening evenings “Non-sleeping districts”, a meeting of local pets and their owners “Pilaitė’s fauna goes out” and others could be good examples of “soft” initiatives, but all these initiatives are one-day events that have no continuity and do not guarantee long-term community building, because continuity is a necessary element in building a healthy, independent and active community.

The community garden “ Ideas Garden” is a project that seeks to bring local residents together, involving students, families, seniors and other groups into an active, friendly and creative community sharing a common focus on their environment and love of nature, through “soft” and continuous activities. The project aims to: - create opportunities for the community to engage in creating placemaking and the building of an organic and sustainable neighborhood; - promote environmental reactivation, social inclusion and local knowledge sharing; - involve young people, families, children and the most vulnerable

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Photo: Laura Petruškevičiūtė, Ideas Garden in Pilaitė, Vilnius groups of the community through social activation and gardening; - promote professional, educational and scientific cooperation locally and outside Pilaitė.

The first works of establishment of the garden started in September (2019) next to the community and cultural center BEEpart. The project has rationally made use of the available local resources - the BEEpart building has functioned as a place of storage of garden tools, we also have an outdoor toilet and electricity. Cooperation with the community centre, which was already known to locals, also helps to attract local participants easier.