My Life, My City: Anton Nikitin, Vilnius

As part of the My Life, My City series, Cities Today talks to Anton Nikitin, Chief Engineer, City of Vilnius.

What was your first job?

I started working in various jobs when I was around 15. I began by assisting with transcribing recordings and working with a school website. After completing my high school finals, I supported an audit company with document management. While pursuing my Bachelor’s degree, I explored opportunities in different fields, including NGOs, policy and communications consulting.

The diverse range of skills and experiences I gained opened doors for me to work in various city-related positions, such as communications, managing smart city projects, and eventually leading sustainable mobility initiatives. I also had the chance to collaborate with urban planning teams and, more recently, work on infrastructure development.

What attracted you to your current role?

Having a lasting impact on the development of sustainable cities, particularly in terms of sustainable infrastructure, has been my passion for almost a decade. That’s why accepting my current position felt like the perfect way to fulfil my dream job, as it encompasses a wide range of topics and skills, from conceptualising large-scale ideas to hands-on implementation and collaborating with diverse groups of people.

Being a part of a city planning team allows me to witness the positive changes first-hand, from the transformation of streets to observing how people interact with and embrace the city.

What is your favourite part of the job?

I think it’s the teamwork involved on multiple levels, both internally with the city team and externally with citizens – which is often challenging. Additionally, the constant learning and rapid pace of change in this field keep me engaged. But most rewarding of all is witnessing the results and seeing people genuinely enjoy the positive transformations. It’s a huge motivation for me.

What has been your biggest success in this role?

I would mention two key accomplishments. Firstly, over the course of six years, the expansion of the high-quality cycling network from approximately 40 to more than 140 kilometres made a significant and tangible impact on the city. Secondly, the co-creation of a street design guide that includes 12 simple-to-understand rules for creating better quality streets. This guide sparked numerous discussions, challenging the traditional road-oriented approach and shifting the perception of streets as crucial public spaces within the city. However, what truly made these accomplishments remarkable was the collaborative effort with talented individuals who contributed to achieving these results.

What has been your biggest setback?

Not enough communication with the citizens about this huge change as we have to understand that there are no quick results and the change is hard. It is a very sensitive topic, and we have to give enough attention and time for citizen participation and capacity-building on a lot of levels. Also, we have to keep in mind that work for the city in such positions is change management work, which is always hard but ultimately rewarding in the end.

What are you working on right now that you’re excited about?

At the moment I’m focusing on a planning phase – how do we implement infrastructure projects in new/developing territories. Also, capacity-building is on my radar all the time.

If you could wave a magic wand, what one thing would you fix in your city?

My first thought was having great infrastructure but we’re working on that. Also, the city is already great!

In my opinion more important than that would be a quicker change in the way we interact and take care of each other on the streets – basically having ‘eye-contact’ as a habit for safer and better street life.

What are you reading right now?

A bunch of scientific articles about urban and suburban lifestyles – working on my research in that field. Additionally, I have some books about Vilnius on my nightstand, as we are celebrating the 700th anniversary of the city. It’s always enjoyable to gain new insights about the city, whether it be through its history or a fiction book.

Who has most inspired you in the work that you do?

For me it’s not ‘who’ it’s ‘where’. Places like Amsterdam, Vienna, New York, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, and many others and their stories have been a tremendous source of inspiration for me. Whenever I travel, I gain new insights and ideas that help me improve my work.

Funnily, a substantial portion of the pictures I take while travelling do not capture typical tourist attractions. Instead, I focus on capturing different angles and details of urban infrastructure, ranging from kerbs to tiles, from greenery to various street elements.

If you weren’t doing this job, what do you think you might be doing?

I sincerely hope that one way or another I would still be involved in city-related work. The ever-changing nature of a city is an inspiration for me. I firmly believe that even a small job for the city would be remarkable, as cities are never static results – they are reinventing themselves all the time. Being in dynamic spaces where people and places evolve leads to unexpected and intriguing outcomes.

What’s your favourite place in your city and why?

Depends on the mood – sometimes it’s a park or a square to read a book, sometimes it’s a great outdoor café for a slow morning coffee, sometimes it’s one of the city panoramas to enjoy the view, and sometimes it’s exploring developing or untouched green parts of the city for an evening walk or hike.

What’s one thing people might not ordinarily know about you?

Some people think I never drive a car as I’m the advocate for sustainable mobility but I have to disappoint both haters and supporters – I’m the one who uses all means of transportation and lives a real multimodal lifestyle. I usually walk, ride a bike or use public transport but also drive a car when needed.

• Time in role: 2.5 years.
• Brief career history: My career in the city infrastructure field began eight years ago as a Cycling Officer. Later, I assumed the role of Head of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Division, where I took charge of implementing SUMP challenges.
• Career tip: Explore different positions, tasks and roles that bring you joy and fulfilment. Get various experiences and develop a unique set of skills and knowledge. Then combine this with a passion for your work. This is when magic happens. Basically, just trust the process!