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Paper short abstract:

In Lithuania postindustrial cities such as Alytus face the challenge to become a desirable place to live. This paper analyzes how the environmental accident transgress the vision of urban future produced through green environment and how participation of citizens negotiates the quality of life.

Paper long abstract:

Deindustrialization process of post-Soviet industrial cities such as Alytus in Lithuania is experienced as an “abandonment of local community” (Newman 1985). This resulted in population decline, a low employment rate, changes in industrial areas and stagnation of urban development. To make the urban setting an attractive place to live in is a challenge for postindustrial cities in Lithuania. The paper analyses the interrelation between economic and political “production” of urban setting and “construction” of the city through the actions of citizens and experiences in the postindustrial city-making. This includes the aspects of how a city municipality produce a vision of urban future and quality of life through improving green infrastructure and public spaces, how it is challenged by industrial companies, and how city dwellers negotiate and understand the quality of life in Alytus city. This is analyzed in the context of the fire at the tire recycling factory which occurred on October 2019 in Alytus. The paper discusses the environmental accident as the rupture which questions the project of postindustrial city-making. This paper shows how the environmental accident threatened the Alytus city dwellers’ understanding of what is a desirable place to live in, what kind of impact the environmental accident has made, and how city dwellers try to maintain the idea of a green and safe city. It analyzes the ways in which the fire at the industrial company reveals the forms of agency and roles of participants in the economic and social city-making.