Good practice:

Modernism for the Future

During the Interwar Period, Kaunas have become the epicentre of significant events taking place in Lithuania and Europe. This period has left over 6000 buildings created in the modernist spirit that have survived to this day. Within a short period of time, modernism has become a dominating style of architecture. In 2015, Kaunas was awarded the European Heritage Label. In January 2017, Kaunas modernist architecture was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
The program of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 ‘Modernism for the Future’ aims at enhancing collaboration of various forms between professionals, property owners, heritage experts, representatives of cultural initiatives, politicians and civil servants to establish and implement a strategy for conservation, interpretation, promotion and activation of modernism heritage.
The specific goal of the program is to instil a sense of responsibility for the surrounding environment and create an emotional connection between the heritage community and the urban cultural landscape, as well as to initiate international research efforts, in order to bring back Kaunas’ modernism on the European and global stage.

1 curator and 2 full time coordinators are working with the content of the programme.

Very close relationship with nature; Architecture as cities identity; Interesting storytelling of Kaunas modernist architecture; Participative approach of street artists (courtyard) could be a good practice.

The project Modernism for the Future addresses global modernist heritage preservation challenges shared by many cities of modernism in Europe: underdeveloped narrative. In many cities the modernist architecture, especially the everyday heritage, has not yet been granted the deserved recognition or importance in relation to the dominant narrative of older and architecturally more splendid epochs. It requires a specific placement in a cultural context in order to be appreciated; Engaging the owners. In often cases, the modernist heritage objects of are in private ownership and therefore dissemination of the values and practices of its preservation is of substantial importance.