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3. During the Soviet era, rapidly growing agricultural central urban communities (mainly thecurrent small towns) became the main group of urban communities;4. As a result of long-lasting concentration, at this moment one Estonian county (Harju County) isinhabited by more than one third of Estonia’s population and produces more than one half ofEstonia’s gross national product.Mostly, however, the settlement system has been rather stable: proportions of cities and towns withrespect to each other (capital – regional centres – county centres – towns) have remained nearly thesame over three-quarters of a century. Status in the settlement hierarchy has remained unchanged,and the indicators of share within the entire settlement system have moved by just a few percentagepoints.The overall directions in settlement going forward are predicted to include moderate multi-levelconcentration in Estonia's settlement system and moderate dispersal within urban areas (at theexpense of suburbanisation and the development of satellite urban communities).It is the above that the spatial planning of the settlement system needs to consider. That said, theplanning in question is not so much one that examines the development conditions for individualurban communities but rather one that addresses links between (typological) settlement groups andregions.All in all, it may be said that Estonia’s current settlement system attained its shape as a result of a longevolution and that for the society is neither necessary nor feasible to overhaul the existing structure.The Estonia 2030+ national spatial planEstonia continues to strive for nationwide balance in the settlement system, above all through thenetwork of county centres, for towns and rural urban communities are unable to provide enoughsufficiently diverse jobs or services for their residents whose education levels and requirements withrespect to their standard of living are increasing in step with the wishes of the national populationoverall. Due to the unavoidable changes in the population, many rural urban communities and townswill be dwindling also in the near future, with the number of service facilities there possibly decreasingas well. Given these circumstances, the preservation of settlement in towns and rural areas willneed to be supported by better linkage with county centres and other larger cities and towns withindaily activity spaces (see subsection 3.3). In this, mainly improving the county-level organisation ofpublic transport will be of help – it will need to supplement and partly supersede the growing automobiletraffic. Promoting transport will be complemented by the provision, supported by the state, ofhigh-speed data communications connections, various e-services and remote-work facilities acrossEstonia.18
The strategy of linkage with cities and towns is not appropriate for supporting the preservation ofsettlement in the periphery, including on small islands or in the areas of the national border. Nonetheless,in those areas, too, permanent settlement will need to be preserved by means of appropriateregional policy measures – this is presupposed by the considerations of national defence and theprovision of security of the entire national territory. Agreeing and ensuring a reasonable level of qualityin public and private services will remain one of the main issues. For Estonia, keeping its peripheryhabitable is feasible, for in those areas only an estimated couple of per cent of the population will belocated there also in the future.3.2.2. National and regional competitivenessTallinn is the centre of Estonia’s economic life, Estonia’s gateway (particularly across the sea and byair) and its main tourist destination. Tallinn has to develop qualitatively and functionally, although notat the expense of the rest of Estonia; it has to develop its urban functions and take on new tasks,preferably with an international weight. Tallinn needs to evolve into an internationally attractivecentre in the Baltic region – this is a necessary condition for the development of all Estonia.Internationally, working with Helsinki (Finland) is particularly important for Tallinn. The close economic,cultural and tourism links between the two cities are a good point of departure for shaping twincities functioning in a more coordinated manner, which needs to be expressed also in the spatial planningof the cities. The international position of the so-called Talsinki twin cities would be much strongerand visible than would that of either city separately.For both Helsinki and Tallinn, relations with St Petersburg (Russia) and the triangle of cooperation thecities form are very important. Joint activities largely depend on Russia’s attitude; however, optionsfor it need to be kept open by the Estonian state. Closer cooperation with St Petersburg may also spurthe cities and towns in Ida-Viru County to new development. For Estonia, Stockholm and Riga are alsoimportant centres. For the cooperation with St Petersburg, Stockholm and Riga, mobility facilities inTallinn and between the cities need to improve significantly.Next to Tallinn, Tartu is Estonia’s second centre whose hinterland reaches beyond county boundaries.In Tartu, conditions need to be created to enable the realisation of the potential for knowledge-baseddevelopment and finding a place in the international division of labour. Tartu will balance Estonia’ssettlement system also in the future by being the recognised centre of the southeast of Estonia. Inorder to strengthen its international competitiveness, it makes sense for Tartu to take advantage ofits position within the Tallinn–Riga–Pskov triangle and work with those cities. This requires internationalmobility facilities that are faster, more diverse and more stable than to date.19
Page 1 and 2: NATIONAL SPATIAL PLANESTONIA 2030+
Page 3 and 4: ContentsIntroduction ..............
Page 5 and 6: IntroductionThe Estonia 2030+ natio
Page 7 and 8: An ageing population is universal i
Page 9 and 10: a stable economic basis for rural l
Page 11 and 12: The industrial low- and medium-high
Page 13 and 14: 2Estonia 2030 visionA clearly artic
Page 15 and 16: A sustainable regional public trans
Page 17: one another and by plans at various
Page 21 and 22: Particularly in terms of internatio
Page 23 and 24: and others), the state’s decision
Page 25 and 26: the main hubs for commuting. County
Page 27 and 28: Presumably, the radius of daily act
Page 29 and 30: needed not so much for ensuring the
Page 31 and 32: When mobility facilities for people
Page 33 and 34: Apart from regional bus services, a
Page 35 and 36: 35speed, convenience and safety of
Page 37 and 38: 4.3. Fast, sufficiently frequent an
Page 39 and 40: Figure 9. Change in distances acros
Page 41 and 42: port is costly and complicated, the
Page 43 and 44: 5Availability of energy infrastruct
Page 45 and 46: egional energy production - in addi
Page 47 and 48: utilisation of local resources and
Page 49 and 50: the longer term, connections could
Page 51 and 52: 6Cohesiveness of the green networka
Page 53 and 54: The current structure, cohesiveness
Page 55 and 56: Implementing the planThe Estonia 20

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