Local Stakeholder Meeting #2 - City of Tallinn
A new meeting with stakeholders took place on January 22nd. While the first meeting focused on Scorecard and mapped the current state of greenery in the city center, this time the focus was on introducing the policy-making tools that can guide changes in urban space.
The meeting was combined with a visit to one of the stakeholders and took place in the historical building of the Elderly Self-Help and Counseling Association (VENÜ) on Poska Street.
In policy-making, strategic documents give rise to action plans, measures, and general and detailed plans, through which strategic goals are realized. This process helps establish higher quality and more accessible greenery both in the JustGreen project’s area of interest in the city center and in Tallinn as a whole. The meeting focused on two key documents: the strategy document “Tallinn 2035” and the Tallinn Climate Plan, which outlines the cross-sectoral goal of “Tallinn 2035” to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The Climate Plan includes activities aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and better adapting to changes and risks caused by climate change.
The meeting specifically discussed the Climate Plan’s goals related to greenery and gathered input from stakeholder representatives on which measures listed in the Climate Plan’s action plan are the most important. The feedback received is valuable for updating the Climate Plan and serves as a basis for further cooperation with stakeholders. Stakeholder representatives were also asked how they would prefer to be involved in the future in the preparation of strategic-level documents and what their expectations are for involvement.
Similar to the first meeting, there was also a broader discussion about participation practices in Tallinn. It was pointed out that participation by city departments is of varying quality and often seems rather random. Information about participation opportunities does not always reach the right parties (e.g., neighborhood associations), and the role and weight of the opinions of those involved remain unclear to participants.
On a more practical note, an overview was given to the attendees of the preliminary results of the street space analysis in the city center, which included areas with natural ground cover and some type of greenery in the vicinity of residential buildings. In general, it can be said that greenery in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings is unevenly distributed across different areas. In situations where there is only a hard surface in front of buildings, an example was given of the “Tegelwippen” action common in the Netherlands, where concrete paving slabs are removed and replaced with plants. In the context of Tallinn, implementing a similar solution would be more challenging because asphalt is more common than slabs, and removing it along with the underlying layers is more complicated. Additionally, the current climate conditions in Estonia and the need for snow removal must be considered. The project team will continue with the street space analysis in the city center, and at the next stakeholder meeting, there are plans to discuss more specific possibilities for increasing greenery in the city center.