TALLINN Interview

Tallinn city is the pilot city in URBREATH project, the role of which is to test and deminstrate the use of NBS's. Tallinn 2035 development strategy describes the future central seaside area in Tallinn as open and unobstructed and with a possibility to be accessed via many streets and paths, with natural beaches and parks and natural areas of minimal human interference: with a promenade connecting the beaches and subdistricts in an uninterrupted and cohesive way, creating a green corridor also for non-human residents. The proposed demo area is situated in the district that is facing gentrification. Local residents had been managing the wellfare of the demo area beach for years by adding infrastructure and organising waste removal. They resisted against the real-estate companies' plans to turn the public beach into gated community and as a result, part of the public beach in Kalaranna remained but it was completely re-designed. The proposed action includes a co-creation of a public Linnahalli beach, only 10 minutes' walk away from the former community run beach. Even though the demo areas current condition is derelict, due to its central location and attractive views to the sea from the top of the closed and dilapidating Tallinn City Hall, it is still a popular leisure area despite being unsafe and unkept. The activities in the Tallinn demo area complement spacial interventions of the Rohejälg project, helping to create a more coherent space. In the same area Tallinn city collects and dumps the snow from its streets. There are huge snow mountains in the area that, in each spring, start melting and polluting the soil as well as the costal area in general. Tallinn city aims to test Nature Base Solutions to reduce pollution from snowmelt stored in the area (e.g. snowmelt collection ditches; bio-filtration system to bind bio-salts; water quality sensor-monitoring system; treatment pond with salt-tolerant plants; filtered water outflow).