The Pollinator Highway is a species-rich, meadow-like natural environment that functions as a green corridor between six of the city’s eight districts. The 14-kilometre-long Pollinator Highway is divided into nine spatial sections: Kopli Cargo Station, Paavli, Pelguranna, Merimets, Mustjõe, Veskimetsa, Väike-Õismäe, Astangu, Vana-Mustamäe and Hiiu.

During the first stage of the Pollinator Highway, a linear park was built in an area located between the garages in Pelgulinna and Paavli that offers new and comfortable recreation facilities for Tallinn residents. Some of the park areas have remained untouched to help preserve and improve the biodiversity of pollinators.

Pollinator Highway is also known as a linear park – what does that mean? A linear park is a green corridor that passes through various green areas and connects city districts, making it easier for people to walk or ride a bike through them. It is also used by pollinators such as butterflies, bumblebees and bees as well as other animals to move from one green area to another.

To preserve urban nature, it is important that animals, birds and insects can safely move from one green area to another. This is what the Pollinator Highway is for – it already functions as a corridor for pollinators and other animals to safely move from one green area to another.

On the Pollinator Highway, we can test a number of different methods to create and preserve species-rich, pollinator-friendly nature communities. These communities are useful to the urban nature, but also create a pleasant, species-rich environment for people to enjoy. For example: beehives, a city apiary, flower meadow, less mowing.

Biodiversity means a variety of ecosystems and species as well as genetic diversity. Biodiversity is important for people because if we didn’t have a functioning ecosystem, we also wouldn’t have any food or other resources necessary for life. However, biodiversity continues to decline all around the world as human activities are damaging natural habitats. We can all protect the city’s biodiversity by preserving important habitats for plants and animals.

The Pollinator Highway is defined by both biodiversity and urbanisation. ‘City’ and ‘nature’ are not opposite terms: Pollinator Highway has enough space for pollinators who are preserving the city’s biodiversity as well as for locals who want to spend their free time in nature. The main objective of the Pollinator Highway is to preserve biodiversity while also offering people an opportunity to enjoy different activities and use environmentally-friendly sporting facilities.

The Pollinator Highway runs along a former railway embankment and a high-voltage power line corridor. The high-voltage cables have been moved underground, clearing the former industrial area for the linear park. Recycling is also one of the key principles of the Pollinator Highway: we find value in its built environment and assign new functions to it, for example by reusing the high-voltage power lines or the garages.

The Pollinator Highway was created in cooperation with locals and various partners. Locals are welcome to take part in public discussions on spatial sections of the Pollinator Highway. At the urban art installation competition “Place Buzz”, the public selected their favorites from 19 works. Three of these installations were opened this summer. Students of the Estonian Academy of Arts have submitted ideas on how to reuse the high-voltage power lines on the Pollinator Highway. Pelgu Community Garden hosts many group activities, making it a true community centre.

As part of the Pelgu Community Garden project, Tallinn is finding opportunities to create private rental gardens for residents. The city plans to expand the activity of the community garden by merging it with the rental gardens to create a common garden. A learning garden is also being created on the Pollinator Highway for local kindergartens and schools to use.

The Pollinator Highway linear park is an important part of Tallinn’s larger green mobility network plan which aims to create a more environmentally-friendly urban space suitable for a green capital. In the east, the city is creating Klindi Park, a green corridor connecting the City Centre, Lasnamäe and Pirita.