On the sustainable development of peri-urban areas with the fragments of rural environment

Development of infrastructure and built environment is rapidly spreading into rural environment at the fringe of large sprawling cities and the islands of rural landscape emerge in the peri-urban zones. The analysis of literature and of the state and preservation possibilities of rural relics in the territory of Kaunas city demonstrate complicated situation and difficult prospects of survival of the fragments of rural landscape absorbed into urbanized areas. However, the analyses also demonstrate that these fragments of rural areas are not only valuable relics of vanished landscapes, but also hold significant potential for sustainable development of the peri-urban zones. The paper is aimed at generalizing the findings of previous researches and formulating the theoretical framework for sustainable development of peri-urban areas with the fragments of rural landscape.