Tallinn
SOFTacademy - Demonstrating a model of collaborative pre-fabricated reinvention of modernist districts into cozy living environments
SOFTacademy is developing a new engagement model to accelerate the renovation of prefabricated housing. This involves partnering with housing associations to revitalise neighbourhoods using standardised elements, enhancing buildings and their surroundings. SOFTacademy is putting its collaborative model to work in Tallinn’s Mustamäe district. Housing associations play a crucial role, contributing to innovative, environmentally friendly solutions and participating in the planning and design process. The project aligns with the New European Bauhaus concept, emphasising circular economy principles and sustainable renovation.
Our main challenges...
Tallinn’s deteriorated modernist monofunctional districts need urgent energy performance improvements to save inhabitants from deepening energy poverty. The city needs to establish a systematic change model and tools to meet this multifaceted challenge.
Tallinn needs to accelerate the renovation of modernist housing districts to meet the goals of the Estonian Long-term Renovation Strategy and Tallinn Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan 2030.
Mass-produced, multi-storey apartment buildings dominate the suburbs of cities across the former Soviet Union and beyond. To be on track with 2050 climate goals, direct CO2 emissions from this type of building need to be decreased by at least 60%.
and proposed solutions
Modernist districts are not designed to be socially inclusive. So, achieving a ‘cosier’, more inclusive, living environment also requires a shift in urban culture. SOFTacademy’s co-creation tools will help to facilitate such community inclusion.
The intervention logic, and digital tools, developed as part of the solution are transferable to any mass-produced, monofunctional apartment building districts that need not just renovation, but also an improved sense of place and identity.
SOFTacademy aims to serve as a good example for other municipalities in facilitating co-creation in the context of neighbourhood level renovation.
Key figures
Milestones
Spatial components applicable as standard solutions for regenerating neighbourhoods with a holistic approach
Challenge-specific support for aligning building stock's renovation strategy with residents’ needs
Municipal service to facilitate and accelerate private renovations in Tallinn based on the digital catalogue of modules for renovations and urban environment regeneration created in the SOFTacademy project
Deep renovations of four apartment buildings
Increasing biodiversity and creating a greener, ’cosier’ living environment
