estonia-2030_en

Presumably, the radius of daily activity spaces can be increased over the coming 20 years from 30 to40 kilometres thanks to the increased mobility of people due to better roads and higher-quality publictransport. This will allow people to reach their working place still within half an hour (mean travellingspeed of 80 kilometres per hour). The pull of large cities and towns (more than 40 000 residents) isbigger, and here a radius of 50 kilometres should be allowed for – particularly since the mobility oflabour with superior qualifications needed in knowledge-intensive specialist jobs in the centres isabove average.To an extent, daily activity spaces may be increased by expanding employment options offered in thecentres. This will be furthered by the specialisation of a centre and the identification of a niche ofone’s own in the labour division internationally or within Estonia. The sustainable development of anarea depends on the availability of a certain critical number of white-collar jobs (normally presupposinghigher education) within half an hour of travelling time. Their lack or disappearance also decreasesblue-collar jobs in an area. Improvement in the quality of services in the centre of the range alsoexpands daily activity spaces. This aspect should be supported by a regional innovation system bymeans of which appropriate development strategies may be developed and the creation of new jobswith higher added value may be promoted at companies.In the future, the centre of a daily activity space will no longer be the city itself but its urban areaencompassing both the centre (one or several) and any satellite urban communities and vicinity closelylinked to it, where 50% of the workforce travels daily. In 2030, such urban areas in Estonia mightnumber 15: Haapsalu, Ida-Viru conurbation 5 , Jõgeva, Kuressaare, Kärdla, Paide-Türi, Põlva, Pärnu,Rakvere, Rapla, Tallinn, Tartu-Elva, Valga, Viljandi and Võru.3.3.3. Linkage of daily activity spacesEstonia needs to focus on strengthening horizontal links between urban communities and enablingbetter mobility for residents. Already, approximately half the active population are working beyondthe boundaries of their home local government. Considering the daily mobility needs of people is acentral issue in the shaping of settlement.Cohesiveness within daily activity spaces is a prerequisite for matching places to live and work, peopleinteracting more intensively, stimulating the local economy and expanding options for spending one’sleisure time and for studying. With this, people will have more options in terms of places to work andlive, whereas companies will have available to them a larger and more diverse workforce. With strongercohesiveness, daily activity spaces may be expanded. Larger daily activity spaces help to reduceregions that are at risk of peripherality or that are peripheral (Figure 6).275 Kiviõli, Kohtla-Järve, Jõhvi, Sillamäe and Narva.