Vilnius, Lithuania prioritizes happiness in its quest to become a greener city. It seems to be working. The city just began its reign as the 2025 European Green Capital.
Most of Vilnius is literally green. Over 60 percent of the city is in greenspace, primarily urban forests including stands of old growth pines. The city protects 18 ecological preserves within the Natura 2000 network. Under the city’s Green Wave initiative, residents and businesses have helped the city plant 68,000 trees. Vilnius has also converted lawns into flowering meadows that enhance biodiversity, reduce heat, capture rainwater, sequester carbon, and provide a home for pollinators.
The city is also becoming greener in other categories found in the Ecocity Standards as well as the European Green Capitals competition. In pursuit of equitable mobility, Vilnius offers robust car-, bike-, and scooter-sharing programs, maintains a 100-km hiking trail around the city, and continually expands its bicycle network, adding over 100 kilometers of cycling infrastructure since 2016. Following the pandemic, Vilnius kept many downtown streets car-free, which has expanded pedestrian areas, welcomed outdoor cafes, and prevented motorists from using Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage district, as a short cut.
Vilnius won international recognition for the redevelopment of its Paupys district, which had become an abandoned industrial area after the Soviet Union ended its occupation of Lithuania in 1990. Today, Paupys is a mixed-use neighborhood combining residences, restaurants, a cinema, and a market, plus facilities for over 60 businesses. This restoration provides a good model for the revitalization of other brownfields in Lithuania and throughout Europe.
Vilnius engages citizens in setting and achieving goals for air quality, water purity, circular economy, noise and climate action as well as biodiversity. In addition to Green Wave tree-planting events, Vilnius invites residents to contribute ideas for greening the city using its participatory budgeting process. Vilnius also hosts an “I Take Care of the City” app that encourages people to submit comments on environmental concerns and opportunities as well as all other city functions. According to one observer, Vilnius is nurturing a virtuous cycle: as the city gets greener, its citizens become happier and, in turn, as citizens become happier, they want the city to become greener. Maybe there is something to that theory considering that the 2024 World Happiness Report found Lithuanians under 30 years of age to be the happiest in the world.
“Vilnius. Not the greenest city. Yet.” That’s how the city proclaims both its status and its ambition. It will need that kind of commitment to meet its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. But the city has already required all new development to use renewable energy and installed solar panels on over 300 public buildings. Considering those accomplishments, Vilnius seems likely to reach its challenging goals on time.
Notes
Cinga, Evaldas. 2024. More Nature, More Happiness: 9 Ways Vilnius Is Creating Greener City. Accessed at 9 Ways Vilnius is Creating Greener City.
Colclough, Anthony. 2024. Next Generation for a Greener Vilnius. Eurocities. Accessed at Next generation for a greener Vilnius – Eurocities.
European Commission. 2025. European Green Capital Award – Winning Cities – Vilnius 2025. Accessed at Vilnius 2025 – European Commission.
Helliwell, John, et. al. 2024. World Happiness Report. Gallup. Accessed at WHR+24.pdf.
Vilnius (Made In). 2020. Intriguing stories of Paupios: from an industrial district to a Swiss garden. Made in Vilnius. Accessed at Intriguing stories of Paupios: from an industrial district to a Swiss garden – MadeinVilnius.lt.
