Representatives of DECA project partners and local and regional authorities from Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Italy and Estonia gathered in Tartu County on 20–21 May 2026 for the DECA Project Management Group meeting, study visits and thematic seminar focused on climate adaptation and resilient urban development.
During the two-day programme, participants explored practical examples of urban renewal, green infrastructure, stormwater management and nature-based solutions in Tartu and surrounding municipalities, while also exchanging experiences on local and regional climate adaptation approaches across Europe.
Below are summaries of the study visits and thematic seminar sessions organised during the meeting.
#DAY1
The DECA Raadi visit
Climate‑proof urban design, new era architecture and urban transition
20 May 2026 | 13:15–17:15
The three stops in northern neighbourhoods of Tartu and suburb form a narrative arc: Urban neighbourhood in renewal → National landmark → Education environment, showing how climate‑proof urban design operates across scales, typologies and everyday life.
Together, these three ensembles demonstrate how climate‑proof urban design operates in urban, suburban development and regeneration, how the former air‑military landscape in Raadi is re‑worked into an open, biodiverse, climateproof cultural-recreational district. The visit aligns with the European urban and climate policies as well Bauhaus ethos by linking environmental performance and climate change with architectural quality, spatial clarity, functional ratio and social use harmonised by sustainability and design.
Site 1 — JAAMAMÕISA. Urban Renewal, Climate Resilience and Greening at Neighbourhood Scale
Photo: Vallikraavi Kinnisvara
Jaamamõisa introduces climate‑proof urbanism at the scale where it is most operative: the neighbourhood. It is here that climate-proof solutions meets housing, public space and daily routines, and where abstract objectives are translated into spatial form.
Urban and architectural setting
Jaamamõisa represents a move away from fragmented development towards a coherent neighbourhood structure, in which renovation, new construction and public space are treated as parts of a single urban system. Energy efficiency is not confined to building envelopes but is embedded in urban form, density, orientation and spatial relationships.
The neighbourhood demonstrates how urban design functions as environmental engineering: housing blocks, streets, green corridors and service infrastructure operate together, producing cumulative spatial and environmental effects rather than isolated technical gains.
Climate‑proofing
Planting in Jaamamõisa, Tartu nature conservation club of student
Climate resilience in Jaamamõisa emerges from municipal energy‑efficient renovation combined with a district‑level sustainability concept, addressing climate challenges through coordinated urban renewal.
- Adaptation: Climate adaptation is integrated into regeneration processes, shaping the spatial logic of renewal rather than being added later as technical correction.
- Co‑benefits: Urban nature is restored and managed as infrastructure, supporting ecological value, everyday comfort and spatial quality alongside climate performance.
Guided by Indrek Ranniku, chief planner, Riia Ränisoo, Urban Nature project manager at Tartu city government, hydro ecologist Jürgen Karvak of the University of Tartu.
Site 2 — RAADI: ESTONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM & MANOR PARK. Monumental architecture meets climate-proof park landscape
At Raadi, climate‑proof design is examined through the relationship between monumental architecture and landscape systems across histories and redevelopment. The Estonian National Museum is both a national architectural landmark (opened 2016, Memory field by Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh, Tsuyoshi Tane) and a key transformative regeneration power of a former military airfield into a multilayered public landscape.
Urban and architectural setting
The museum represents a contemporary national monument (6000 sq m), demonstrating that large‑scale public architecture can meet environmental requirements without sacrificing spatial ambition or cultural presence. As an urban element, it anchors the area and establishes a new cultural focality in the city fringe reframing the former air‑military landscape, redefining the historic identity of Raadi.
Climate‑proofing
Historic Raadi Manor Park, surrounding of the museum and memory park function as an integrated climate‑responsive landscape system. Ponds and open water structures form part of an active stormwater management network while supporting biodiversity.
- Adaptation: Blue‑green infrastructure addresses climate stress through landscape design integrated into a culturally significant setting.
- Co‑benefits: Water systems and planting enhance ecological performance, cultural landscape value and visitor experience, linking environmental function with spatial and symbolic meaning.
- Landscaping: The best practice preserves the site’s spontaneous vegetation, allowing pioneer species, meadow plants, birch, and alder trees to remain part of the evolving environment. Rather than replacing the former wasteland with a cultural park, the project uses natural succession, native species, and water systems, ponds and streams, an orthogonal birch grid framing the museum entrance, and extensive fallow landscapes to create a climate-proof rich landscape.
Climate resilience here is visible and spatial, experienced through landscaping, water, vegetation rather than sophisticated technical systems.
Guided by Antti Roose (TREA/UT).
Site 3 — RAADI EDUCATION CENTRE. New era education campus as climate infrastructure
The Raadi Education Centre brings climate‑proof design into the realm of contemporary educational architecture combined with outdoor learning. As a new school campus, it demonstrates how educational environments can operate functionally and keep with playground, outdoor, vegetation and drainage solutions integrated with school and kindergarten standards and practicalities.
Urban and architectural setting
The campus presents innovative educational premises that integrate wooden buildings, outdoor spaces and landscape into a coherent suburban setting. It functions both as a place of learning and as a public element within the emerging built environment and living mode in the Raadi suburb. The place-making serves continuous interaction between indoor and outdoor educational environments, manifesting and reinforcing the school’s role in shaping future urban environments. The campus also forms part of a wider suburban stormwater management approach developed for the rapidly growing Raadi area, supporting coordinated drainage planning and climate resilience across future developments. These solutions are connected to the DECA Good Practice “Stormwater Management Model Development for Suburban Areas”, published on the Interreg Europe Learning Platform.
Climate‑proofing
Climate adaptation is embedded through nature‑based landscaping, vegetation, drainage and stormwater treatment solutions, porous surfaces in schoolyard, wooden architecture with green roof and PV, mobility and general accessibility directly into the campus design.
- Adaptation: Climate designs spatially omnipresent, making ecological, hydrological and environmental processes part of everyday learning experience.
- Mitigation: Low impact educational premises embed long‑term mitigation through wooden architecture, indoor techniques, PV and other innovative systems and operations.
- Co‑benefits: Climate measures support learning, public use, high quality indoors and environmental quality, positioning the school as both educational setting and suburban landscape.
Guided by Egle Nõmmoja, Chief Architect and member of Tartu rural municipality government, together with Grete Sirge, Head of Studies of Raadi School.
Bottomline
Across the three sites, Jaamamõisa urban, Raadi former military landscapes and suburbanisation in the urban fringe of the Tartu city are re‑interpreted through architectural clarity, contemporary greening and climate‑resilient and biodiverse urban, landscape and built design. The result is measured neighbourhood transition in which sustainability, place-making and public use are addressed together both in urban and suburban forms and living.
#DAY2
The DECA Climate Adaptation Seminar
Climate-resilient urban landscapes, stormwater management and green infrastructure
21 May 2026 | 9:30–12:00
Presentation 1 – Overview of climate adaptation in the City of Tartu
The thematic session opened with an overview of climate adaptation activities and development directions in the City of Tartu, presented by Deputy Mayor Kertu Vuks. The presentation highlighted how Tartu is integrating climate adaptation into long-term urban planning, public space development and municipal governance.
Tartu has adopted a more systematic approach to climate action following its selection among the European Commission’s “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” mission cities and participation in the EU Climate Adaptation Mission. The city’s climate work is guided by the “Tartu Energy 2030” SECAP and the ongoing development of a climate neutrality roadmap.
The presentation introduced several practical initiatives supporting urban resilience, biodiversity and climate adaptation. These included urban planning tools, sustainable mobility measures, public space improvements and urban greening projects. Special attention was given to the Urban LIFEcircles project, which focuses on increasing biodiversity, connecting green and blue infrastructure, mitigating heat islands and flooding, and improving the coexistence of people and nature in the urban environment.
Another highlighted initiative was the ClimaGen project in Annelinn, aimed at improving climate resilience in large Soviet-era apartment districts through green infrastructure and community-based urban interventions. The presentation also introduced the City Blues project, which develops nature-based solutions for stormwater management and resilient urban watersheds in cooperation with several Baltic Sea region cities and research organisations.
Overall, the presentation demonstrated how Tartu approaches climate adaptation through integrated urban planning, green infrastructure, mobility solutions and international cooperation projects, with a strong emphasis on nature-based and people-centred solutions.
Presentation 2 – Kallaste Central Square renovation project and climate resilience solutions
The Kallaste Central Square project demonstrated how climate adaptation and urban regeneration can be combined in a small shrinking town context. The presentation by Taivo Tali from Peipsiääre Municipality described Kallaste as a town facing demographic decline, ageing population and an underused city centre, while also possessing significant tourism and landscape potential linked to Lake Peipsi and the historic urban environment.
The municipality aims to reposition Kallaste as a leisure, cultural and creative destination with improved public space and new development opportunities. The central square redevelopment acts as a catalyst for broader urban transformation and future investments.
An architectural competition was organised in cooperation with the Estonian Association of Architects under the “Good Public Space” programme. The winning concept, “Kaldapääsuke” (“Coastal Swallow”), proposed a people-friendly and climate-resilient public space connecting the town centre with the lakeside.
Climate resilience measures were integrated directly into the spatial and landscape design of the square. These included minimising asphalt and hard surfaces to reduce overheating, preserving mature trees, adding extensive green areas and using permeable and draining surfaces for parking and public areas. Rainwater and meltwater are directed into landscaped green areas through inclined surfaces.
Additional adaptation and sustainability measures include biodiversity-supporting shrub zones, solar panels on the future bus station roof, electric vehicle and bicycle charging infrastructure, and bicycle parking facilities.
The project also reflected evolving EU climate-proofing requirements for public investments, including climate risk assessments and the integration of mitigation and adaptation measures into infrastructure projects.
Presentation 3 – Restoration and enhancement of tree-lined alleys to mitigate urban heat island effects in Põltsamaa
Landscape architect Sulev Nurme presented Põltsamaa’s long-term work on urban green infrastructure and the restoration of historic tree-lined streets and public spaces. The presentation emphasised that the town’s development strategy increasingly relies on green infrastructure as both climate adaptation and place-making infrastructure.
A key foundation for this work was the 2020 green infrastructure study carried out for the municipal spatial plan. The study mapped the town’s green structure, analysed connectivity between green spaces, explored better integration of the river into urban space, and addressed the condition and future role of historic alleys and street landscaping.
The presentation showed how tree alleys and urban greenery help mitigate heat island effects, improve thermal comfort and strengthen ecological connectivity across the town. The work also supports biodiversity, improves public space quality and preserves the historical landscape identity of Põltsamaa.
Several implemented projects were introduced, including the reconstruction of Roosisaare Garden, Kuperjanovi and Kesk streets, the Põltsamaa promenade, castle courtyard and riverfront public areas. These projects improved pedestrian connectivity, integrated greenery into streetscapes and enhanced links between parks, the river and the historic urban core.
The presentation highlighted a broader landscape architectural approach where climate adaptation is not treated separately from heritage, urban identity or public space quality. Instead, greenery, stormwater management, biodiversity and social use are addressed together through coherent long-term urban landscape planning.
More information about the project: Interreg Europe DECA project