In 2007/2008, the Border Cities Kolleg, facilitated by the Germany-based Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, brought together an international group of young planners, architects, artists and urbanists to explore the complex dynamics of trans-national urbanism in the Baltic Sea Region.
Within this framework our group came together to consider the cities of Helsinki and Tallinn as a case of EU spatial policy implementation. Region makers such as EUREGIO view the two cities as part of an emerging European Region, one that opens an opportunity to enhance economic and administrative capacities, as well as to expand transportation and distribution networks. These in turn form or enhance a number of interweaving bonds.
The focus of our group research was to see how far this notion of region building has progressed, compared with past and present common identity building processes. The cross border effects as well as historical pre-conditions manifest in the urban fabric of Tallinn appeared to us as an archipelago of ‘islands’, each with different economic, social, and cultural milieus; segregations overlooked or underconsidered by city planners and administrators. The model of the archipelago also created an inverse space between these hegemonic ‘islands’ where new inputs can enrich HTR’s diversity.
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