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Area	Professorite küla
Place	Kopli peninsula, Tallinn
Country	Estonia
Topics	Land use and green and blue infrastructure
Author(s)	Alexandru Milea ; Patrizia Eben ; Jonas Löhle ; Masteneh Mahfouzi ; Marie-Laure Druet ; Kaidi Pintmann ; Andra Birica ; Irina Midoni

Rationale

Professorite küla is an area of the South sea side of Kopli peninsula, located on the North of Tallinn. Its main characteristic is the presence of a strong historical past throught various buildings such as the school wich gives the name of the area and is a final point of the main road, the industrial buildings linked to the port acivity and the private wooden houses with their garden. This mixity and the inaccessibility to the sea physically (views are available) is a problem for the good quality of life because of some abandoned buildings which bring an unsecurity feeling. The main challenge in this area is to find a balance between the growth of industry and their move into land because of the water level rise, the need of housing to improve the quality of life and the keeping of the green public spaces which can be the solution of the pressure of both industry and housing sprawls, and which can be considered as buffer zones.

Location and scope

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A Landscape System Analysis

A.1 Landscape layers and their system context

Geomorphology, landscape units and coastal typology

Professorite küla is located in Kopli Klint Peninsula.The ridge is mostly buried under sand and therefore not traceable in the topography despite its remarkable height (40–100 m). The geology under the Professorite küla area is made up of rocks and sediments of Cambrian age represented by fluvioglacial sediments deposited and „blue clay” terrace. The substrate into which the buried valleys were carved is made up of hard sedimentary rock. In the study area are found industries, public spaces/park and residential spaces; this is an urban area. Professorite küla has a heavy anthropogenic pressure. The principal drivers in the area are geomorphological processes (waves, storms, tides, ice and erosions) and industrial activities. The wave activity and the wind-induced surge during storm events are the principal physical erosion agents. Moraine bluffs of the promontories are eroded during extremely severe storm surge events. The presence of sea ice over the winters and its potential attacks add another dimension to the vulnerability of the coasts. The area has potential to change over the time as it is a subject to many driving forces.

Sea ice in the winter
Industrial activities in Kopli Bay
Tallinn Klint map

Land use

Historically, Kopli peninsula was covered by an oak forest. At the beginning of the 20 century, the Russian Embassy decided to establish a new military fleet (port of war, maritime security and shipbuilding facilities). As a result, port and industry area are present at the end of the peninsula (limit west of Professorite küla site) and on the South side coast of the peninsula (in purple on pictures). Between those two areas, a huge tree-filled with private houses along the coast having an access to the sea (green on pictures) gives the quality of life of Professorite küla's site.

In the land use maps from Copernicus, we can see how the port area (pink) present in 1990 turned off nowadays in a mixed area of industrial or commercial activities (purple), keeping the port activities and at the same time, how it has taken more space at the discontinuous medium density urban fabric (red), composed of wooden houses with their private garden and residential buildings (R+3 in average).

We can imagine a future going to the opposite way where industries go away in order to give an access to the sea as before, thanks to the existing potentials on place of the area (open view areas (blue in last map) and abandonned buildings which could be renovated) and where more housing are provided with an access to green and blue public spaces, improved too.

1920 : industry and harbour activity ; tlm_f1748_pisipilt.jpeg; 1930 : othophoto of the Professorite küla and the end of the peninsula
Land use 1990
Land use 2018
Situation of nowadays

Green/blue infrastructure

Green Infrastructure can be defined as a strategically planned network of valuable natural and semi-natural areas, designed to ensure a wide range of ecosystem services in both urban and rural areas and to protect biodiversity. The green infrastructure aims to create a sustainable relationship between nature and society. Green Infrastructure Strategies seek to sustainably align the underlying systems to prevent irreparable damage to wider ecosystems. A goal is to maintain and improve the functionality of existing, intact ecosystems, to largely remedy defective ecosystems and to create new ecosystems to maintain important ecosystem services and maximize their effectiveness.

The graphic shows the main green elements (consisting mainly of public parks) in the project area and its surroundings. Those elements create a green belt with North-South orientation. From just a few pictures it is hard to estimate the value they provide for a functional green infrastructure with lots of ecosystem services. But still, they are part of it. Also, in my opinion it is not hard to say, that there are almost no blue infrastructure elements within the project are with a natural value. They are all dense built areas with harbours, industrial or military sites (marked with a darker blue).

green and blue infrastructure

Actors and stakeholders

The area of Professorite Küla is located in Tallinn on the Kopli peninsula, where both sides are bordered with harbours and industrial sites. In this case it can be said that the living areas are mixed with industrial areas. There is everything for the living environment- a kindergarten, school, shopping centres, church and also the tram which has good connection with the city centre. Since the very early days Kopli Peninsula has been known as an industrial province where employees were also allowed to live. As the time has changed the interest of residents has shifted as well. These days there is a great interest for developers who see the opportunities to earn remarkable profit thanks to of the beautiful location - the proximity of the sea and the city centre. But developers have to consider local governments’ authority and interests in this area where the ports and industries still play major role. On top of that, one of the branches of Tallinn University of Technology called Estonian Maritime Academy is located in the Professorite Küla which brings young people to Kopli on a daily basis and who revitalize everyday life.

In 2009 non-profit organization Professorite Küla Selts was created by local people and it has a mission - to promote and introduce the life and history of the Kopli Peninsula. They have their own Social Media page and web platform. The organization creates and promotes events to introduce Kopli area with its’ fascinating history. Proffessorite Küla area has also been called the residence of educated people.

Power map of Professorite Küla

Sacred spaces and heritage

As it can be seen in the map, many monuments are located in our project area of the Professors village. The area used to be a huge forest on the outskirts of the inner city, but at the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula became more and more an industrial area. For military defense large shipyards were built, in which among other things submarines and military ships were manufactured.
Some of the industrial buildings are still preserved and recognized as heritage buildings. In total, there are around 27 heritage buildings and one historical monument in our working area. However, not only the yards (including e.g. the Bekker shipyard and the Russian-Baltic shipyard) were built, but entire settlements rised around them. They offered apartments and even schools, shopping and other facilities for the workers and their families.
In particular, the residential buildings of factory officials, managers and engineers are still in a good condition and attractive sights. The beautiful, mostly wooden houses are valued by the city as an important part of Tallinns cultural heritage. This is also were the name of Professors village comes from. Most of the monuments are empty today, but a few are still used: for example the main factory building of the Russian-Baltic shipyard is occupied by the Estonian Maritime Academy today.

Visual appearance and landscape narrative

The landscape character of the area is predominantly defined by two elements, the physical factors defined by the coastal landscape and the industrial heritage in which the human shaped the landscape and adapted it in pursuit of economic growth. The oak forest of the peninsula dates back to 1365. But as is the case with many cities that suffered a rapid growth at the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula became more of an industrial area, especially thanks to coastal setting and the building of the railway in 1870. When shipyards were built on Kopli peninsula in the early 1912s, most of the coast was rendered inaccessible to the general public in the area. Settlements that included residential quarters, schools, kindergartens, shops, and churches were raised around the industrial area to accommodate the huge number of workers. Parks were also planned as part of the green infrastructure. It was planned to build a representative park in the Kopli Peninsula, but this idea was not realized. Süsta Park is one of the green areas preserved to this day. Even though the settlements are no longer connected with the industrial area. Professor’s Village’ is an area of wooden houses that have survived the decline of Kopli as is seen on the area on the other side of the tram line, as Oliver Orro[1] depicted it.

“Many buildings that have been left vacant have burned down by now or stand in ruins. The original, integrally planned structure of the factory settlement is perishing to a great extent.”

Elements that shaped the landscape during industrialization are depicted in quite a few painting including in the works of Jaan Elken 1981 and 1983 paintings “Paljassaare“[2][3]) and “Kaater”[4].

View of an old building in decomposition nowadays
ДМИТРИЕВ А.И.РУССКО-БАЛТИЙСКИЙ ЗАВОД В РЕВЕЛЕ. 1914 (Dmitriev A.I. RUSSIAN-BALTIC FACTORY IN REVEL. 1914)
View on School Professorite küla in 1913

A.2 Summary of you landscape system analysis and your development Targets

The driving forces in presence are both natural processes and human activities. The main driving force with natural processes is the climate change which includes floods, waves, a strong wind and temperature changes (warmer). The driving forces about human activities concern the urbanization, the tourism linked to the historical buildings and the financial interest. All this driving forces involve some pressures such as geophysical pressures and water level rise by natural processes. Because of the tourism, the popularity can rise which can show a good interest of the site and at the same time, if it too much, loose the identity of the site as well as the urbanization. The financial interest can increase the industry growth and the bad reputation can have an effect on the unsafety of the site. The existing state of the site will be impacted by an eroded shoreline and more flooding area and a large-scale deployment of the coast area by industries. As a result, less housing will be there, the population will decline, the quietness of the place will disappear and the accessibility to the sea will stay inexistent. Consequently, some responses have to be found. The renovation of old historical building or abandoned industrial building can improve the popularity of the site as well as the quality of life by offering an access to the sea for everyone and by avoiding the artificialisation of the coastline. Avoid the srawl of industry and housing in order to protect green public spaces can be another response to keep the identity of the site.

DPSI(R)

As we have seen with the DPSI(R), in the future, the level of the sea will rise generating a move of industry into land as the scheme shows, even if it is a movment already existing. As a result, there will be less housing, less green public spaces and an increase of unsafety. At the end, we will see the place disappear. Our hypothesis is to find a balance between the sprawl of industry, the need of housing which improve the attractiveness of the site and the protection of green public spaces, part of the green infrastructure forming a North-South belt along the site. The idea is to use green and blue infrastructure as buffer zones to give access to the sea for inhabitants and visitors as before and at the same time, renovate old historical buildings to improve the quality of life and bring more people.

Hypothesis if we do nothing

A.3 Theory reflection

Reflect on at least three international policy documents in relation to their local landscape case
choose one international, one European and one national document
You can choose references from our reading list
Scope: 250 words

UN Sustainable Development Goals:

The Sustainable Development Goals, reference: https://blogs.sas.com/content/sascp/2018/09/25/embracing-sustainable-development-goals-with-free-resources/

The United Nations describes 17 goals for a better and more sustainable future we should achieve until 2030. One of the goals which is relevant for our project area is to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable in order to deal with the challenge of urbanization (goal 11). Another target (goal 9) is to build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Additionally, the goals 14 and 15, which refer to life on land and below water, are important features for our area. Global resources such as water or forests need to be managed carefully and sustainable. The loss of biodiversity and degradation of land needs to be halt, and these are just a few of many targets. The sustainable development goals do not only relate to climate and environment, but to aspects such as poverty, inequality, prosperity, peace, and justice as well.

In the same way of sustainable development goals, the European Coastal and Marine Policy highlight some risks present in our site such as the sustainability of maritime and coastal activities. It shows us the importance of integrated coastal management in the planning process by asking state members to map human activities and imagine there future spatial development. It’s known that the coast is rich in biodiversity and part of an ecosystem as well as humans activities which can, unfortunately, destroy or disrupt it. For this reason, the Directive 2001/42/EC has been written as an assessment of the effects of such maritime and coastal activities. In our case of Professorite küla site, we have to verify the impact of the industrial areas on the coastal landscape and how it could be made better.

The maritime spatial planning of Estonia bring forth the important effects of the marine space in Estonia. This is the long-term planning which takes equal consider of social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts and needs. The objectives of the maritime spatial planning derive from sectoral development plans, strategies, EU directives and other documents that guide the development of marine space. This document is the plan of the National Plan of the Republic of Estonia, initiated on May 2017, which is the starting point (LS) of the Estonian maritime spatial planning. The aim of the maritime spatial planning is to implement spatial needs in the fields and to balance the areas in the marine space. There is a need to preserve and enhance the recreational and tourism values of the sea and coastal areas, including the preservation of already existing values such as fishery, location-based values and economic activity. Based on the document, we should consider all the principles of marine planning in Professorite küla site. The most important principle of our site is the blue growth and balancing interests. [5]

https://www.rahandusministeerium.ee/sites/default/files/2018-04-11_msp_ls_ja_vtk_seisukohtade_esitamiseks.pdf - A national document of Estonia marine planning positions and impact assessment design of development

it would come during the week

A.4 References

Geomorphology, landscape units and coastal typology

Land use

Green/blue infrastructures

Actors and Stakeholders

Sacred spaces and heritage

Visual appearance and landscape narrative

Theory reflection

Phase B: Landscape Evaluation and Assessment

B.1 Assessment Strategy

Based on the hypothesis derived from your previous landscape systems analysis you are now asked to define the goals for assessing the landscape. Your assessment is the basis for evaluating the landscape status.
Which elements and phenomena need to be mapped, why and how?
This a text contribution, max 250 words

B.2 Mapping

As defined by your assessment strategy you conduct the mapping and present your findings here
As a minimum, at least three different themes need to be mapped, you may choose more if needed

Your case your assessment mapping themel.jpg

briefly explain the findings of your mapping
Your case your assessment mapping theme2.jpg

briefly explain the findings of your mapping
Your case your assessment mapping theme3.jpg

briefly explain the findings of your mapping

B.3 Problem definition and priority setting

Give a summary of the major findings of your mapping process, what are the problems/potentials identified?
Draw a problems/potentials map
Set priorities for the most relevant issues

Your case problems potentials map.jpg

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B.4 Theory reflection

Please reflect the assessment and evaluation methods used based on at least three readings
Did you encounter limitations'
200 words test contribution

B.5 References

give a full list of the references you have used for this section

Phase C – Strategy and Master Plan

C.1 Goal Setting

Define strategic planning objectives based on the evaluation findings
Link back to your original targets from section one and the Development Goals
150 words text contribution

C.2 Spatial Strategy and Transect

translate your strategic goals into a vision
develop a spatial translation of your vision
exemplify your vision in the form of a transect with concrete interventions
add map(s) and visualizations

Your case spatial translaton vision.jpg

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Your case transect.jpg

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Your case transect detail1.jpg

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Your case transect detail2.jpg

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C.3 From Theory of Change to Implementation

For implementing your vision: Which partnerships are needed? Which governance model is required?
Who needs to act and how? Draw and explain a change/process model/timeline
Which resources are needed? On which assets can you build?
add 150 words text and visuals

Your case spatial your governance model.jpg

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Your case spatial your process model.jpg

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C.4 References

give a full list of the references you have used for this section

D. Process Reflection

Reflect in your intercultural and interdisciplinary team on the outcomes of your study
Which limitations were you facing?
What have you learnt from each other?
What would you do differently next time?
You can also use diagrams/visuals
250 words text

Case Study D: Professorite küla

Contents

Rationale

Location and scope

A Landscape System Analysis

A.1 Landscape layers and their system context