Tallinn prepares development plan through 2050: residents propose metro and green corridors
Tallinn has begun developing a new comprehensive plan that is intended to determine the city’s development for the coming decades. Residents can submit proposals until the end of August; ideas already submitted include a metro, a cable car and water taxis, ERR News reports.
Martin Karro, head of Tallinn’s Urban Planning Department, explained that the document is to outline the potential location of housing, businesses, green areas, roads and utility networks. The plan will cover both undeveloped plots with building rights and already developed areas, including office properties whose owners would like to convert them into housing.
Tallinn’s chief architect, Andro Mänd, noted that the city’s previous comprehensive plan was prepared 25 years ago. The new document will establish a framework for future projects but will not require landowners to immediately change how their plots are used. Previously granted building rights defined by detailed plans will remain valid.
Flexible land-use planning
The city plans to apply a pixel-based approach similar to the one used in Helsinki. It is intended to provide greater procedural flexibility, as it is impossible to predict the development of every specific area 25 years in advance.
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According to Mänd, the plan should also allow for a more flexible combination of residential and commercial functions. For example, a resident will be able to open a café or a small workshop on the ground floor of their building. This approach to using ground floors is being tested for the first time in Estonia in the comprehensive plan for the Põhja-Tallinn district.
Transport and green areas
More than 1,700 people have already submitted proposals for the new plan. The issues they raised include better and faster transport connections, traffic noise, green areas and reducing the city’s dependence on cars.
Mänd said that Tallinn has many green areas, but people often do not perceive the city as green because these spaces exist as separate, unconnected plots. The issue of creating a network of green spaces will be considered within the new plan. The city also wants to develop local centers in different districts so that services and everyday needs are more accessible close to home.
Karro noted that the long-term goal of connecting parts of the city by underground transport could provide grounds for applying for European Union structural funds. At the same time, he considers obtaining funding for a rail connection more realistic. Mänd stressed that the metro may ultimately not be included in the comprehensive plan: the city will first systematize and analyze all proposals.
