Urban Pressures and The Process of Cultural Landscape Change. The Example of The Lielupe River Valley

Abstract With the increasing density and cost of living in cities in the early 21st century, more and more people are choosing to live in rural areas. With improvements in road quality, vehicle technology and engineering infrastructure, the population of rural areas within 10–15 km outside of cities is increasing, choosing the most scenic locations. This is also the case of the Lielupe river countryside, where not only old homesteads are being renovated but also new housing clusters with their own infrastructure are being created, bringing a new architectonic and aesthetic quality. This is particularly true in areas where both a cultural and historic area and a picturesque natural base coexist. The study examines the processes of landscape transformation of the Lielupe riverbanks downstream of Bauska and upstream of Jelgava. The landscape of the banks of the Lielupe river between Bauska and Jelgava is rich in cultural and historical buildings. Part of it was lost both during the Bermondt affair period and in September 1944 when the Russian army forced its way into the shallower parts of the Lielupe. With the growth of low-rise buildings along the banks of the Lielupe in the early 21st century, new viewpoints, features and dominants were introduced, marking a new architectural character of the buildings. The silhouette of a particular historic site, which sharply marks this dissonance in the plain area, is fading away. At the beginning of the 21st century, the development pressure is creating a new scale for the mosaic landscape of the plain with the changing character of the Lielupe river – from a steep bank with exposed dolomite layers to the flow of the river through the floodplain meadows.