The Future City Game has helped improve the quality of life in Kaunus, Lithuania’s second biggest city. The ideas generated by the twenty-four participants in Kaunas and eighteen in London were presented to the Mayor of Kaunas, Andrius Kupcinskas, and helped the City Council revive Laisves Aleja (Freedom Avenue), the longest avenue in the city centre to be closed to traffic.
The winning idea focused on revitalising a neglected part of a long, pedestrianised avenue in the heart of the city. The expectation is that this will attract further demand for more small businesses, such as coffee shops and restaurants, creating a ‘creative cluster’.
Kauna’s residents and visitors are already benefiting from other ideas generated by the Future City Game. Since July, free wireless internet has been available in the area, and in the summer the city introduced legislation to lower taxes for open-air cafes, as suggested by Future City Game players. These decisions help bring activity back to the city avenue.
The first idea, implemented promptly following the game, was Mayor's Hour. The Mayor of Kaunas meets Kaunas residents in one of the restaurants in Laisves Aleja, and he believes this meeting with residents of the town 'at the same time and the same place' could become a tradition.
The Kaunas-London Future City Game brought together participants from business, politics and the creative industries. The two groups were able to communicate through a video link and those in London presented their ideas over YouTube.
We will continue our activities in Kaunas with the Urban Ideas Bakery, which is taking forward the idea presented by the players from London that the six universities should play a more important role. The British Council in Lithuania is providing a platform for closer cooperation between Kaunas City Council and the universities and the student community.
