A Review of Urban Planning in Tallinn, Estonia: Post-Soviet Planning Initiatives in Historic and Cultural Context

[摘要] Tallinn, Estonia features one of the best-preserved old towns in Europe. The centralpart of the city, which dates in part back to the 13th century, has drawn millionsof tourists each year since the 1990s. In 2004, 6.7 million passengers passedthrough Tallinn’s ports. A short (80-km) ferry ride from Helsinki, Tallinn’s location-- at the crossroads of east-west and north-south trading routes -- has made it highlycontested territory since the Crusades.During the twentieth century, Tallinn was subject to interludes of Russian/Soviet andGerman rule. Since the restoration of Estonia’s independence in 1991, economicand political changes have been rapid. A parliamentary democracy, Estonia in 1998earned the title of ;;Europe’s purest free market economy”. Estonia joined theEuropean Union on 1 May 2004, and, in the words of one official, now aspires tobe ;;just another boring Nordic country.” Estonia identifies strongly with Scandinaviabecause of close cultural, linguistic, and economic ties with Finland, and historicallinks with Sweden and Denmark.The Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen proposed a city plan for 1913 Tallinn, whichexerted a hidden influence during the 50 years of Soviet occupation. Soviet-eramigrants were accommodated in housing blocks which appear austere today.Estonians, in contrast, found it difficult to find housing, which may have contributedto the rapid decline of their birth rate. Russian and Estonian districts still remainlargely separated, in effect making Tallinn ;;one city, two towns.” With a populationof 430,000, the city continues to confront the problem of integrating its Russianpopulation, along with challenges of intense tourism, privatization of property,increased demands for housing, and the restructuring of open-space planning.Rapid economic and cultural changes have shaped planning priorities and progressin Tallinn, and have left the city with a physical imprint of its history -- and likely future.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Science

[关键词] Natural Resources and Environment;Science;Natural Resources and Environment