Spatial Planning | Mysite 2

The city of Tartu (Tartu linn) is divided into 18 districts with the river Emajõgi running along the most important district of the city – Kesklinn (The City Centre) which dates back to the Swedish occupation of Estonia during the late 15th century. Located to the south of Kesklinn is Karlova which dates back to the post war Estonia and still embodies the aura of its time. Annelinn which is another important district especially in terms of mass housing, was designed and constructed as a mikrorayon during the post war Soviet occupation of Estonia roughly following Le Corbusier’s modern city planning principles. Before and after Estonia’s independence from the Soviet, the city of Tartu has exhibited a centrifugal growth like most cities during which all its peripheral districts like Maarjamõisa emerged. As a result of the diverse historical occupation of Estonia, the many districts of Tartu exhibit a varied land use pattern and therefore the distribution of green spaces in all the districts is not homogenous both in terms of quality and quantity.

Aim & Objectives

• Restoring green space equity (quantity and distribution) by providing the necessary green space in districts with green space deficiency.

• Establish an infrastructure among the various districts of Tartu to enhance the accessibility and connectivity of green spaces and also to monitor the green space usability.

• Providing active measures to enhance the quality and usability of existing green spaces in the various districts thereby contributing to the livability index of the city.

Empirical Analysis

To visualize the quantitative distribution of population and green areas across various districts of Tartu, population, population density, green area and green area percentage were calculated. It was further necessary to analyze if there were more green areas where more people were residing or not (Figure 3). As a result, two variables were calculated viz; population per grid cell and the green area percentage per grid cell and a co-relation analysis was performed using these variables. Spearman Correlation Coefficient was used since the variables did not exhibit a normal distribution. Lastly, the study analyzed which districts had a higher exposure and which districts had a lower exposure to green areas and if there were any districts having a statistically significant difference between the mean of green area exposure using a Kruskal-Wallis test. To visualize the results of the Kruskal Wallis test and identify the districts with statistically significant difference, a Dunn’s post-hoc test was used with the Bonferroni correction.

The results showed that Annelinn has the highest population while Maarjamõisa had the lowest, Vaksali had the highest population density while Ihaste had the lowest, Annelinn has the highest green area while Variku had the lowest and Ihaste has the highest green area percentage per grid cell while Variku has the lowest. The co-relation analysis results showed a modest positive co-relation between population distribution and location of green areas around it.

Planning Proposal

This proposal considers the spatial gradient derived from the rationale of the Urban Transect and divides the city of Tartu into three zones as can be seen in the proposed planning map:

Zone 1: URBAN CENTRE

Urban Parks and Gardens

Recreational parks (for kids and for elderly)

Indoor Gardens

Zone 2: GENERAL URBAN

Pocket parks

Green corridors and fitness parks

Fruit Orchards

Zone 3: SUBURBAN

Pastoral fields

Urban Forests and semi-natural green areas

Annelinn: Existing Scenario

Annelinn is one of the most significant districts in Tartu which was designed as a mikrorayon (micordistrict) during the post-war Soviet occupation of Estonia. As a result, the entire district seems to have distinct functional allocations. It has schools (Tartu Descartes'i Kool), supermarkets, and other public amenities along with the residential buildings. In terms of green spaces, Annelinn has one of the best scenarios and it has a sufficient amount of green space across the entire stretch of the district. Partly inspired from the 'Corbusier-style' urban planning, the districts has stark contrast between its built and unbuilt spaces. The buildings are mostly 5 storyed and 9 storyed and the unbuilt spaces comprises of vast open green fields, parking lots and sidewalks. One of the main drawbacks of the district is the unornamented ,dull and monotonous, green spaces, and its massive scale with unkempt side walks diminishes the usability quotient for its inhabitants. As a result, the green spaces should be redesigned to incorporate elements of landscape architecture like ponds, mounds, street furniture and semi-covered spaces at regular intervals, and pedestrian paths.

Overview map of Annelinn along with the photo showing the existing scenario of green spaces

Annelinn: Planning Proposal

Annelinn has different types of green spaces in terms of its size and location. Some of the green spaces are located in the central courtyard of residential buildings which are smaller in size, some of them are located on the periphery and edges as sidewalks, and the rest of the green spaces are located around the schools. which are relatively larger in size. Responding to the existing locations and the spatial configurations of the green spaces within the district, the new functions of the green spaces have been allocated accordingly. For example, the larger green spaces have been proposed as the recreational areas which would be open green spaces offering opportunities to people of all the age groups. The smaller green spaces have been proposed as the pocket parks which would be relatively more private in nature as compared to the recreational areas and would be catering to the immediate neighborhood. The edges have been proposed as fruit orchards and fitness parks & jogging tracks. Additionally, indoor gardens have been proposed in all the larger green areas for people to interact during the harsh winters.

Planning map of Annelinn showing the allocation of various types of green areas

In order to exemplify the planning proposal, a smaller area within Annelinn has been chosen and the green spaces have been alocated according to the planning strategy.

Mapping
Urban District
Maarjamõisa, Tartu

Maarjamõisa occupies about 135 hectares of the entire Tartu County. Building, roads and street network occupies about 17 hectares of the total Maarjamõisa district with most of the buildings located in the Southern and North eastern part of the district some of which is for institutional purposes and others for residential usage. From the standpoint of the survey conducted by walking and with the use of drone technology one can infer that about 40% of Maarjamõisa land district is occupied by trees, grasslands, public open field and gardens. One important inference from the land-use map is that only 25% of the entire neighborhood has a residential land-use while an equal proportion of the neighborhood is occupied by public buildings. In the district of Maarjamõisa – as discussed earlier, the development began with the construction of the first clinic and other parts of the tertiary sector: the newly built University faculty buildings (Technology Institute, the Biomedical Centre (Biomedicum), the Chemistry building (Chemicum), and the Physics building (Physicum). All of these can be seen as an advantage to the neighborhood because one can say that in every five years, almost all the residents in Tartu County must have visited this district possibly for health care services. Also, the road network in this district can be describe as good to very good. There seems to be a good connection between the streets and the major roads making accessibility easier. Besides this road network, there is some kind of quietness that the residents seems to value and the availability of some part of the green fields