January 17th marked the start of the participatory process in the Nooruse neighbourhood of the Elva municipality, Estonia, as part of the drOp project. The workshop took place in the Elva Cultural Centre, with key stakeholders from the neighbourhood as participants.
The meeting brought together active residents of Nooruse neighbourhood area, developers of vacant properties, representatives of the property management company for apartment associations, officials from the Elva Municipal Government’s planning and construction department, representatives from the Baltic Studies Institute, as well as a representative from the University of Tartu’s Centre for Applied Social Studies. Jaanika Saar, the project leader from Elva, presented an overview of the project’s progress and the analysis of the area based on data and survey results.
Participants were divided into three discussion groups – physical environment, economic environment, and socio-cultural environment. The leaders of these groups – Kärt Kuusik (an intern studying urban planning), Veiko Sepp (representative of the University of Tartu RAKE) and Sirli Pippar (development specialist in Elva Municipality) guided the discussions on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the Nooruse neighbourhood.
The meeting turned out to be an inspiring discussion. As a conclusion, the next workshop was scheduled for March 13, 2024. During this second workshop, participants will explore future scenarios and a development vision for the Nooruse neighbourhood.
