At the global level, as well as in Lithuania, the risks associated with climate change and other emerging threats—such as war, radiation, and pandemics—are increasing, and adequate preparedness is necessary to avoid their negative consequences. Despite international and other strategic efforts to assess emerging threats, preparedness to adapt to them and to mitigate their impacts remains insufficient. Considering the insufficient level of preparedness of the country’s cities to cope with these threats, this article introduces a new, sustainable element of urban structure—a comprehensive territorial structural unit capable of functioning under adverse and hazardous conditions. The formation of this new urban complex is based on three core sustainability principles—social, ecological, and economic—alongside international and national urban planning experience. The newly proposed sustainable urban structural complex consists of a group of blocks with diverse building types bounded perimetrically by urban public transport streets connecting the complex with other urban areas. For the functionality of the complex, a structural element—a green core—is envisaged in its central part, intended to serve residents through recreation, social interaction, civil security, and other functions. Due to its functional characteristics, structure, autonomy, capacity to integrate with other urban structures, and other properties, this urban complex closely resembles a biological cell; thus, for semantic clarity, it is termed an urbocell (urban cell). This urbocell is integrated into the urban fabric of residential districts and the entire city, forming a sustainable spatial and urban structure suitable for safe living, working, and recreation. The article models potential structural elements of the urbocell—namely, selected urban block morphotypes—using the computational tool Autodesk Forma, the results of which may support more informed urban planning decisions for developing a more sustainable and climate-resilient urban environment.
Ramanauskas et al. (Mon,) studied this question.