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On Wednesday, October 25, the summer park created in Raekoja Square by the Tallinn European Green Capital project “Green Tracks” will be moved. The summer park will reopen next year.

In June, a summer park was opened in Raekoja plats to help people see the familiar place with new eyes and provide new opportunities for activities for both Tallinners and city visitors. The park has brought greenery to the old town and created a new consumption-free public space.

“Already a few days after its opening, the summer park proved that such a recreational place in the heart of the old town is truly needed. People embraced it right away,” said Monika Haukanõmm, the head of the Central Tallinn district. “Every time I have been to the park myself, there’s someone sitting there. So our district is very happy that the park will be reopened next summer. I believe it has the potential to become a tradition similar to the Christmas market in Town Hall Square.”

The authors of the park are Ann Kristiin Entson, an architect from the Tallinn Strategic Management Office, and Hannes Aava, a landscape designer and the head of the “Green Tracks” project. During the summer, visitors could relax in basket chairs and numerous seating areas, choose suitable reading materials from a pavilion of books, watch concerts and performances on an outdoor stage, observe bees busy among the plants, or enjoy the bustling activities and passing people.

The park’s vegetation was carefully selected to include species that grew in the historic monastery gardens of the Old Town, such as lavender and monkshood, as well as many other plants that provide value to humans and pollinators. Signs next to the plants encouraged people to engage with them – to smell, touch, or taste them.

According to Aava, all the plants will be moved to green areas in the city center. “The trees will be planted in Lindamägi, Hirvepark, Toompark, Falgi Park, and Tornide Square. Shrubs, perennials, and grasses are planned to be planted in the Police Garden, Lastekodu 32 courtyard, and Harjumägi,” he described.

In addition to being popular among city residents and visitors, the park is also appreciated by experts in the field: Raekoja Square park has been nominated for the annual award of the Estonian Landscape Architects’ Union. The flagship project of the Green Capital, the “Insect Path” installation competition, is also among the nominees. The winners will be announced on December 8.

In the year of Tallinn European Green Capital, one of the goals of the city is to contribute to changes in the urban environment. The “Green Tracks” project brings together activities taking place all over the city, aimed at improving the quality of green areas, introducing new greenery, improving the urban environment in places of high use, supporting the formation of urban green networks, and experimenting with new urban solutions.

In addition to the Raekoja Square park, the estuary of the Pirita River area has received a new look, flower meadows and food groves have been established all over the city, and the port area promenade from the Cruise Terminal to Linnahall will be completed soon, where you can already see the installation “City Machine” that was created as part of an urban art competition.

More information: Hannes Aava, Project Manager of “Green Tracks,” hannes.aava@tallinnlv.ee, or www.greentallinn.eu/greentracks

Photos: Tõnu Tunnel