Vilnius City Municipality is the first municipality in Lithuania to offer designers the opportunity to check the environmental impact of a designed building or public space and the sustainability of the proposed environmental solutions. The Greenness Index Calculator, developed by ID Vilnius, allows you to assess the ecological efficiency of a project on an existing plot, the ratio of hard surfaces to waterproof surfaces, the area of green infrastructure, rain absorption, etc.
The tool is designed to assess the ecological performance and capacity of a site and the project to be developed on it to provide ecosystem services. The index is used in municipal spatial development policies to determine the requirements that developers have to meet before obtaining planning permission.
The Helsinki Green Factor Tool was developed by Bluma Collective in collaboration with Prof. Ričards Skorupskas, Associate Professor at Vilnius University.
During the collaborative work, the Helsinki Greenness Index methodology was adapted to Vilnius, with new features added: the Vilnius Calculator can be used to calculate the existing situation of the skyline, not just the projected one, new green infrastructure elements have been added, and elements that are inappropriate for the capital’s context have been removed, etc.
The Greenness Index – a measure of how green an urban area is and how prepared it is to cope with the effects of climate change – is also being measured in new projects by other European cities such as Berlin, Stockholm, London, Helsinki and others.
The Greenness Index has also been tested in neighbouring Riga and Tallinn. The Index also contributes to the strategic goals of Vilnius – European Green Capital 2025 and Climate Neutral Vilnius 2030 by creating better quality green spaces in the city.