How would Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel shape the future twin city?

From 7 to 9 September 2015, Estonian and Finnish architects participated in a workshop to shape a vision of how a future high-speed transport link between Tallinn and Helsinki could influence Tallinn’s urban space.

A rail tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki would be a big change. Besides cutting the travel time between the cities to half an hour, the link would undoubtedly change both cities themselves. Over these three days, teams of architects from the two countries came up with five solutions for the appearance and the functioning of the Tallinn part of the twin city.

The architectural challenge for this workshop was the question of what the twin city of Talsinki will look like outside of the tunnel and mostly focused on the options for transport and the use of public space.

The fixed link discussion has been focusing on the tunnel as an object, but even more important is the impact on both cities and for the residents. Architects and urban planners are able, with their expertise, to foresee the impact and illustrate future potential scenarios for the twin city.

The final preliminary study published in 2015 projected a tunnel construction timeframe of 2030-2035. Preparing scenarios already now enables people to discuss the possible impact of the project from its earliest stages. During the workshop, we discussed: where the tunnel will be located in Estonia; what the most reasonable way is to connect the tunnel with other important infrastructure facilities like Rail Baltica and local public transport; where new housing areas in Tallinn will be; what the impact of traffic arteries will be on current housing areas such as Viimsi; how the hub around Ülemiste station will develop and in which direction the Tallinn centre will move; and how the identities of both towns would differ to keep them unique. Certainly, the Helsinki-Tallinn fast connection is a positive growth vision for Finland and the Baltics. We should already take it into consideration while developing the masterplans of both Tallinn and Helsinki regions.

The tunnel which will be connected to the present city grid and the existing infrastructure has to provide options for all the people in their present and future locations.

Its efficiency will be measured by time spent on travel, the starting point of which is a person’s doorstep.

That is why some groups doubted the viability of Ülemiste as a main hub for Tallinn. Could we connect both major traffic routes even better with Tallinn? The other aspects are economic and social—how would both cities benefit from the connection? It also turned out that the topic has not been analyzed thoroughly from the standpoint of urban planning. The potential for the prospective Rail Baltic rail connection also has to be seen from the perspective of the twin city of Talsinki. It will be crucial to the success of such far-reaching Talsinki-related projects to thoroughly analyze all aspects.

The Association of Estonian Architects organized the workshop in cooperation with the Uusi Kaupunki collective.

The participating architecture offices were: Novarc Group, Stuudio Tallinn, Sweco Projekt, Arhitektuuribüroo Pluss, Yoko Alender & Raul Kalvo; Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen, Studio Puisto, Futudesign, Kaleidoscope, LUO Architects. The goal of the joint workshop was to promote cooperation between Estonian and Finnish architects and to spark a discussion on the spatial impacts of the high-speed transport link between Tallinn and Helsinki. The workshop was held in collaboration with representatives of the city of Tallinn and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Also thanks for the experts: Elina Suonranta (Helsinki Cityplanning Office); Jaak-Adam Looveer (Tallinn Cityplanning Office); Toomas Haidak ja Andres Lindemann (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Rail Baltic ); Haldo Oravas (Viimsi); Kristi Grišakov (University of Helsinki); Damiano Cerrone (Spin Unit); Timo Hämäläinen (Pro Helsinki 2.0).

The fixed link discussion has been focusing on the tunnel as an object, but even more important is the impact on both cities and for the residents. Architects and urban planners with their expertise are able to foresee impact on both cities and for the residents and illustrate the future scenarios for the twincity. Preparing as real scenarios as possible enables people to start discussing possible impact of the project from the very early stage. During the workshop, we discussed for example: where the tunnel will be located in Estonia, what is the most reasonable way to connect the tunnel with other important infrastructure facilities like Rail Baltica and local public transport, where will be new housing areas in Tallinn, what will be the impact of traffic arteries on current housing areas such as Viimsi which is the likeliest end of the tunnel in Estonia, how is the hub around Ülemiste station going to develop and in which direction the Tallinn centre will move? How would the identities of both towns differ to keep their peculiarity. For sure Helsinki–Tallinn fast connection is a positive growth vision for Finland and the Baltic region, but we should already take it into consideration while developing the masterplans of both regions.

One of the key questions is how the tunnel will be connected to the present city grid and connection with the existing infrastructure It has to provide possibilities to all the people in the present locations. So the ideas of creating new city districts do not seem viable enough. Anyhow the efficiency will be measured by time spent on travel and time starts from your doorsteps. That is why some groups where doubting in Ülemiste as a main hub for Tallinn, even though Tallinn City Planning office sees it as a main hub for Rail Baltic, it is not the city centre of Tallinn. Could we connect both major traffic routes even better with Tallinn city? The other aspects are economic and social, how would both cities benefit from the connection.
The Union of Estonian Architects organized the workshop in cooperation with the Uusi Kaupunki organization. Uusi Kaupunki, a cluster of eight Finnish architecture practices, has held similar workshops for Finnish local governments and in 2014, they were featured in the ten-part series Kaupunki uusiksi on Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

The goal of the joint workshop was to promote cooperation between Estonian and Finnish architects and to spark a discussion on the spatial impacts of the high-speed transport link between Tallinn and Helsinki, which has itself long been under discussion. The final preliminary study published in 2015 projected a tunnel construction timeframe of 2030-2035. The Estonian economic affairs minister and the Harju County governor have also made promising statements in the media.

Before the September event, the workshop organizing team met representatives from the city of Tallinn and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. While the participants expressed positive views, it also turned out that the topic has not been analyzed thoroughly from the standpoint of urban planning. The potential for the prospective Rail Baltic rail connection also has to be seen from the perspective of the twin city of “Talsinki.” It will be crucial to the success of such far-reaching Talsinki-related projects to thoroughly analyze all aspects. Also prior to the workshop, the teams devoted independent study to the considerable stack of studies conducted over the last 20 years and related documents pertaining to the tunnel.