Description
The Skoone Bastion are is located in the city center surrounded by the medieval old town, the wooden architectural milieu district Kalamaja, the central railway station, the passenger harbor and Telliskivi Creative City. The site is situated in an attractive and crucial position in the middle of many vital areas of the city, thus involving a great public interest.
Current use
The pilot site consist of two different areas by their nature - former industrial buildings and the baroque fortification building (Skoone bastion - under heritage conservation) with its surrounding area - but are dealt as one pilot site. The Bastion is a Baroque fortification building and is surrounded by green belt that is cut off from the surrounding urban structures by two main roads, parking lots, relicts of railway infrastructure and a tramline. A large part of the area is used as a bus station and public parking area. As part of the cultural capital year in 2011 for the summer season the distinctive and temporary Straw Theatre was built on the Skoone bastion. Pilot site is partly inside old town UNESCO heritage conservation area and entirely in the buffer zone of old town heritage conservation area. The Pilot Site reaches until the Telliskivi Creative City.
Development Potential
Skoone bastion area is underused at the moment. It locates between Tallinn east-west motorized traffic roads (Põhja pst, Rannamäe tee) and next to major intersection (Põhja pst-Mere pst). Therefore connecting the pilot site with surrounding existing urban space (residential area, old town, harbour and railway station) requires reassessment of existing traffic solutions and common understanding between different stakeholders on how to improve the traffic situation.
There are very important new developments taking place juts next to the Pilot site – construction of a new main building of Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn Culture Factory and Energy discovery centre museum. Furthermore, new town hall building is planned just next to the area. The pilot site has potential to connect better the central railway station and passenger port area.
Implemented activities and results
Land in Tallinn is generally privately owned, so private owners and developers are often the main drivers of urban development. During detailed planning processes, private owners usually take the initiative to present development ideas and proposals to city officials. The city government or council then assess whether the proposals fit into the aims and objectives of the local master plan. In the case of Tallinn, the objective of Baltic Urban Lab is to strengthen the city’s coordinating role, including via outreach to citizens and NGOs. The process of planning the Pilot Site began with a series of meetings in small groups with different stakeholders in order to map their ideas. This provided a base for drafting the structural plan. Efforts have been made to develop new digital tools for the public to learn about ongoing planning work, and to enable them to comment on the suggestions from the city. The AvaLinn app was developed and tested during Baltic Urban Lab. There have also been attempts to make the Pilot Site more accessible to citizens during the planning process.
The following activities were implemented in Skoone Bastion during Baltic Urban Lab project:
Four out of seven activities have been about using or developing digital platforms for participation or communication. In Skoone Bastion area, three types of engagement activities were used – activities that aim to activate the pilot site while planning is ongoing; activities that influence the pilot site; and activities that influence tools for participation. The temporary gardening and the Tram Cultural Mile initiatives were a way of activating the site and making it accessible to the public while the planning work is still ongoing. The test of the Tallinn Planning Register and the workshop on terms of reference for AvaLinn were about inviting the public and relevant professionals to participate in the process of designing the app, in order to make it as accessible and useful as possible. The first was an open format, in which users could express preferences. The second involved professional stakeholders who had a more deliberate process for developing the tool. The remaining four activities were about gathering input into and developing the plan for the Skoone Bastion area. The local project group dedicated several days to a collaborative (and almost deliberative) process involving Tallinn University and the Estonian Academy of Arts. This involved students elaborating upon visions and later presenting the work, which fed into a parallel process of drafting the plan for the site. With the exception of the temporary gardening, all activities were about the participants acting as advisers to the formal decision-makers.The use of the AvaLinn app could teach participants about the planning site without requiring them to express opinions about it. Since the app operates in an “uncontrolled” space, it becomes a part of the public sphere, where discussions are ongoing and messages might reach the local project group (thereby having a communicative influence on the decision-makers). Most of the activities have been open to any interested participants. The exceptions are the temporary gardening (which was initiated by a NGO called Rabarber) and the workshop (to which participants were personally invited).
AvaLinn app used a method for citizen involvement in the planning processes
To encourage co-creation and offer an easy way to give feedback on different development plans, the City of Tallinn developed a mobile app for urban planning. The AvaLinn app - AvaLinn meaning open city - was launched in January 2018 and it was piloted for the planning of the Skoone Bastion area in several idea-gatherings. The app has been avaliable for download for iOs and Android phones/tablets. Further utilisation of the app has been planned by the municipality. In order to develop the mobile app, workshops for stakeholders were arranged back in 2016 in order to get more detailed input on how the mobile app should work and how to attract the users for the app. The app made it possible for the local stakeholders to express their ideas and give feedback regarding the plans made by the municipality. Read more about the Good Example here.
Skoone Activity Belt Structural Plan aims to outline how the area could be utilised better in the future
Skoone activity Belt is located in the city centre, surrounded by medieval old town, Kalamaja district with valuable milieu, the central railway station, the passenger harbour and Telliskivi Creative City. The area has an attractive location in the city (covering 27 hectares) and thus involves lot of public interest. The area is currently underused but there is a great potential to develop it as a public space. It consists of two different areas by their nature: former industrial buildings and the baroque fortification building (Skoone bastion - under heritage conservation) with its surrounding area. The area is partly inside old town UNESCO heritage conservation area which sets additional challenges for the revitalisation. The Skoone Activity Belt Structural plan outlines how the area could be better utlised in future and describes the co-creation process that took place to develop the plan. Find the summary of the Skoone Activity Belt Structural Plan below:
SKOONE ACTIVITY BELT STRUCTURAL PLAN
Uuenev Linnaruum Põhja-Tallinnas
More information about the methods that Tallinn has used for cooperating with stakeholders can be found in Developing brownfields via public-private-people partnerships - Lessons learned from Baltic Urban Lab and Towards integrated and partnership-based planning of brownfield areas.
