Students create a futuristic capital of Lithuania in the Future Vilnius competition

In 2023, Vilnius will celebrate a spectacular 700th anniversary. The Lithuanian capital has started preparing for the anniversary well in advance. In 2021, students from grades 1–12 from all over Lithuania were invited to envisage the future of Vilnius. 

The Future Vilnius competition brought together 25 Lithuanian schools educating the country’s brightest and smartest young talents. 200 students – 72 teams in total – shared their visions of the future.

The participants chose the most relevant topic for them and together with their classmates created visions of what Vilnius would look like in the future using one of the 3D modelling environments. The city they created reflected the values upheld by Vilnius: sustainability, mobility and smartness. The selected locations in Vilnius had to be recognisable at a glance – the objects of the future had to be integrated into the city’s infrastructure and environment in a sustainable way, using artificial intelligence or other modern technologies.

The students’ visions also had to reflect the fact that Vilnius is one of the greenest cities in the world. Living in a city also requires movement, so the contestants designed the city’s infrastructure of the future: movable streets, underground subways or even flying vehicles. And of course, each team made sure to integrate their hobbies – after all, the city of the future belongs to everyone.

All teams participating in the Future Vilnius competition were continuously advised by professionals with knowledge of the tools being used. It was a great opportunity for students to express their creativity and test their knowledge of mathematics and logical reasoning. The competition organisers recommended using TinkerCad, Studio 2.0 and SolidWorks, but teams could also opt for Scratch, Minecraft, CoSpace, Inkscape, Story Vizualiser, Gimp, Unity, etc. The models of the future of Vilnius were presented using photographs, videos and text.

In February 2021, after counting 67,000 public votes, six teams were announced as the winners. The win gives them the opportunity to take part in a virtual reality experience session, gain coding experience, learn about the benefits of Micro:bit microcontrollers, or try their hand at robotic battles with LEGO Mindstorms NXT.