1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Tallinn
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Kalasadam
Short description of the intervention
The abandoned fishing harbour in Tallinn is a derelict, privately owned but publicly used open space approximately 5 hectares in size and known as the former fishing harbour (Kalasadam). It is part of the old industrial waterfront belt waiting to be regenerated in the future. It is a piece of ‘urban wilderness’ (Ref. 1). The site is a green open space with high recreational values. Inserting a few pieces of equipment and taming the urban wilderness very slightly seems to lead to a significantly increased number of users than before these developments (Ref 2).
A research study has been done to determine whether an urban derelict site could be regarded as only empty and meaningless (ref 1 and 2)
Address

Kalasadama,
10415 Tallinn
Estonia

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
Total area
50000.00m²
NBS area
50000.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Previous derelict area
Website of the intervention
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01426397.2012.742046?casa_token=Z2F…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
1990
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
unknown
End date of the intervention
unknown
Present stage of the intervention
Other
Please specify "other" stage of the intervention
It is an unmanaged derelict site (ref 1 and 2)
Goals of the intervention
This derelict site of Tallinn's fishing harbour case demonstrates how the place holds an important position as a:
- representative of the country’s specific heritage,
- complement for the city’s open spaces, a piece of urban wilderness,
- diverse public space supplement for the neighbourhood and many opportunities (ref 1)
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
Habitats and biodiversity conservation: What types of conservation goals are / were defined for the NBS intervention?
Ecosystem-focused
Habitats and biodiversity conservation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Protect and enhance urban habitats
Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
Reduce negative impacts and avoid the alteration/damage of ecosystem
Means for conservation governance
Public engagement
Implementation activities
- Formerly closed and controlled, the site was re-opened for public use at the beginning of the 1990s after the re-establishment of Estonia’s independence. At present the site lies in reserve, as the currently proposed redevelopment plans have not succeeded in satisfying all the various interest groups–the proposals for the detailed plan have been rejected–so it remains derelict (ref. 2)
- The study site has a varied shoreline: at the former harbour itself the concrete piers are used daily by anglers, the slipway is handy for water-scooter or boat owners while the sandy side of the shore is used for swimming. People come to the site to sit on the stones and chunks of old concrete and enjoy the view over the Gulf of Tallinn. Children enjoy playing with the pebbles while their parents use the opportunity to sunbathe in privacy, although they are in the centre of the city, or to sit in the shade of the spontaneous vegetation. The first lessons in bicycle riding may be given there, as well as activities ranging from kite flying to target shooting with an air rifle.
Type of NBS project
Maintenance and management of urban nature
Transformation of previously derelict areas
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Intentionally unmanaged areas
Abandoned spaces with growth of wilderness or greens
Vegetation Type
Shrubs
Other
Please specify other amenities offered by the NBS
- This disordered space acts as an open-air museum of landscape and culture, where all the historical layers are exhibited (ref. 1)
- The space can be used for: kite flying to target shooting with an air rifle; concrete piers are used daily by anglers; sunbathing; building treehouses; having barbeques (Ref 1)
Amenities offered by the NBS
Playgrounds
Swimming areas
Cultural (museum, concert areas)
Viewing and outlook points
Other
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Inspiration for culture, art and design
Recreation
Physical and experiential interactions with plants and animals
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Marginalized groups
Young people and children
Marginalized groups
Elderly people
Governance
Governance arrangements
Led by non-government actors
Non-government actors
Researchers, university
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
A research study has been done to determine whether an urban derelict site could be regarded as only empty and meaningless (ref 1 and 2) - by researchers at Estonian University of Life Sciences published as Blank Space: Exploring the Sublime Qualities of Urban Wilderness at the Former Fishing Harbour in Tallinn, Estonia (ref 1) the role of researchers (as stated in their paper, ref 1, abstract) was to "present and discuss ways of analyzing both positive and negative aspects of dereliction in a post-Soviet context" in the context of Tallinn's urban wilderness. This is presented differently in paper/ ref 2 (p.121), the researchers aimed to demonstrate the vitality and richness of urban derelict spaces and to explore the role of physical design interventions in enriching such a space and the effect these changes have on the behavior of green space users.
Key actors - initiating organization
Researchers/university
Land owners
Other
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Researchers/university
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Other
Please specify other land owner
Derelict, privately owned but publicly used open space (ref. 1)
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Unknown
Please specify other landowner
derelict, privately owned but publicly used open space (ref. 1)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
The space exists due to repeated rejection of the city's redevelopment plans in the area (Ref 2)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
In the future, the city is expected to regenerate this area according to ti the Regeneration and redevelopment plan of Urban Wilderness at Former Fishing Harbour, Tallinn (ref. 1)
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
Urban redevelopment plan
Please specify other vegetation type
shoreline; wilderness; spontaneous vegetation; urban wilderness (Ref 1). green open space (Ref 2) ; urban derelict space (Ref 2, 121) ; landscapes, affective space (Ref 2)
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Blank Space: Exploring the Sublime Qualities of Urban Wilderness at the Former Fishing Harbour in Tallinn, Estonia (ref 1)
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown, may not cost anything as it is intentionally left as derelict or urban wilderness space.
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Unknown, may not cost anything as it is intentionally left as derelict or urban wilderness space.
Source(s) of funding
Unknown
Type of fund(s) used
Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Vacant space model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Social
Cultural innovation
Please specify social innovation
The Tallinn fishing harbour case demonstrates how the place holds an important position as (ref1):
- a representative of the country’s specific heritage,
- a complement for the city’s open spaces
- a piece of urban wilderness,
- a diverse public space supplement for the neighbourhood and many opportunities.
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Description of environmental benefits
A lot of redevelopment or revitalization projects have begun to include the city’s cultural and research potential in order to improve the processes and solutions and also, it has been identified that this derelict area has a huge potential to be an open space or a park for the citizens for recreational as well as mental and physical health activities. (ref 1)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved access to urban green space
Increased opportunities for social interaction
Health and wellbeing
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Promotion of cultural diversity
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Description of social and cultural benefits
- Several events and measures contributed to craft a change in the values associated with this stretch of coast, giving it new labels such as ‘cultural’, ‘having potential’, and ‘European’ after two decades of active negligence (Ref. 3)
- The untamed vegetation provides a spatial quality. In addition to being an indicator that it has no specific public green spatial function, the ‘wild’ character is also an invitation for many activities to take place. For instance, the dense shrubbery is an active playground for children: they can use the bushes as a structure for climbing and hiding and as a source of building material. The density and age of the vegetation is a requirement for the playground (Ref. 1)
- The study site has a varied shoreline: at the former harbour itself the concrete piers are used daily by anglers, the slipway is handy for water-scooters or boat owners while the sandy side of the shore is used for swimming. People come to the site to sit on the stones and chunks of old concrete and enjoy the view over the Gulf of Tallinn. Children enjoy playing with the pebbles while their parents use the opportunity to sunbathe in privacy, although they are in the centre of the city, or to sit in the shade of the spontaneous vegetation. The open space is used for walking or jogging, the enclosed spaces for building tree houses or having a barbecue. Some groups have chosen the site as their place of the summer residence, living in the open air among scraps of material that they have gathered around them. Other groups, such as young people, come occasionally to drink and party at night. The wilderness is appreciated for its colours, force, seasonality, shelter and shade (ref. 1)
The area serves as a living open-air museum of landscape and culture (ref. 1)
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Unknown
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social cohesion
Social interaction
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Enabling opportunities for physical activity
Improving physical health
Creation of opportunities for recreation
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Preservation of natural heritage
Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
Preservation of historic traditions
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Please specify other method used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
a research study: A research study has been done to determine whether an urban derelict site could be regarded as only empty and meaningless (ref 1 and 2) - by researchers at Estonian University of Life Sciences published as Blank Space: Exploring the Sublime Qualities of Urban Wilderness at the Former Fishing Harbour in Tallinn, Estonia (ref 1) the role of researchers (as stated in their paper, ref 1, abstract) was to "present and discuss ways of analyzing both positive and negative aspects of dereliction in a post-Soviet context" in the context of Tallinn's urban wilderness. This is presented differently in paper/ ref 2 (p.121), the researchers aimed to demonstrate the vitality and richness of urban derelict spaces and to explore the role of physical design interventions in enriching such a space and the effect these changes have on the behaviour of green space users.
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
Yes
Please specify the negative impacts
Ref 3: "Through an anthropological perspective focused on concepts of potential and trash, the analysis shows how the central-north shoreline was mobilised discursively as a wasteland and a zone of unrealised potential to justify
Capitalist development of the area: The way it was framed, both moving towards completion and as a playground for cultural activities and young people, increased the value and accessibility of the area but also allowed real estate developers to exploit the synergies generated and make a profit from the revaluated plots. Tropes of potential and trash appear thus as discursive tools for urban regeneration, co-related with a formal allocation of resources and official permits.
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of July 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Other
Where can this data be accessed? Please include a link to a report or web-page.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1618866713001209
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
Yes
Link to monitoring/evaluation reports
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1618866713001209
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
As cited from the study to provide assessment on the space, Ref 2:
- "Behaviour mapping is one of the tools which have received recent attention amongst a range of observation techniques used in landscape architecture, urban design, planning and other public or open space-related research."
-"Urban acupuncture is a term which can be traced back to the Finnish urbanist Marco Casagrande's (Casagrande, 2010) and the urban revivalist architect Jamie Lerner's ideas (Tortosa et al., 2010). It is the practice of making small targeted interventions – like that of the acupuncturist needle – in order to solve a specific larger problem. According to this idea, a city can be viewed as a living organism containing certain fulcrum points or places of high potential that begin to act as catalysts in the processes that go on to affect the entire city. In the urban acupuncture approach, the attention paid towards certain hotspots slowly starts driving the overall urban development. Here the main role is carried by local potentialities and no dramatic spatial change is necessary: typical examples include community-led activities with small budgets, often temporary in nature. It is not often possible, however, to test the real effect on a community of users of a space by conducting before and after studies. The fishing harbour site in Tallinn and its acupuncture provided an opportunity to test this effect."
Ref 3 also provides information about the assessment and uses formal assessment tools: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e9e2/6bc7b6e680aed5ad6599083becb18b52ade4.pdf?_ga=2.204175763.2019578860.1595122387-194423002.1579700375
Link to the output of assessments
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e9e2/6bc7b6e680aed5ad6599083becb18b52ade4.pdf?…
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Yes
Mode(s) of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Interview
Please specify other modes of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
A small sample of 10 people were interviewed (residents, the users of the space and planners) to obtain a preliminary
sense of how they see the various issues explored by the research (ref 1)
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1. Unt A., Travlou, P. and Bell S. (2014). Blank Space: Exploring the Sublime Qualities of Urban Wilderness at the Former Fishing Harbour in Tallinn, Estonia. Landscape Research. 39:3, 267-286. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01426397.2012.742046?casa_token=Z2FAgyHtBPsAAAAA:orfsbzCGXcVTnOLpHGEtzybC9xKjbsSoZ2IyW94Lo-_uOXf0KXWg8TZE-uqfxUM1WR_ZWwSB-e2DMEI (Accessed: 19 July 2020)
2. Unt, A. L., and Bell, S. (2014). The impact of small-scale design interventions on the behaviour patterns of the users of an urban wasteland. Urban forestry & urban greening, 13(1), 121-135. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1618866713001209 (Accessed: 19 July 2020)
3. Martinez, F. (2017). This Place has Potential: Trash, culture, and urban regeneration in Tallinn, Estonia. 42(3):1-22. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e9e2/6bc7b6e680aed5ad6599083becb18b52ade4.pdf?_ga=2.204175763.2019578860.1595122387-194423002.1579700375 (Accessed: 19 July 2020).
Comments and notes
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/Tallinn%20site.jpg
Public Images
Fishing Harbour
Fishing Harbour Site
The Harbour Site