MASTER THESIS: Taskscapes of Tartu suburbs
AUTHORS Tiina Laineste MsC (Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia)
SUPERVISOR Martti Veldi PhD
LOCATION Tartu, Estonia
TIME September, 2022- May, 2023
LINK TO FULL THESIS:
THIS master thesis focuses on suburbanization problems, possible solutions and mainly the
situation in suburbs with examples of Tartu suburbs. Suburbanization is a big probleem an
todays suburbs do not have good enough quality. Four bigger suburban areas next to Tartu
are being looked at and the methodology to research them is derived from Tim Inglods
taskscpes ideas. In his paper from 1993 he states that landscape is quantitative whereas
taskscape is qualitative. Taskscape happens when people live their every day life and Word,
change areas trough that and make noise.
This thesis hopes to find out if the suburbs have been planned with good quality services and
outdoor areas, why and who chooses to live there. The answeres will be found through
reviewing literature, comparing different suburban areas, conducting interviews and
fieldwork. By the end it could be clearer, why should and how can planners start creating
diferent suburban areas for the future people.
TARTU has changed a lot during the last few centuries. As seen on the figure on the right, up until the end of the 20th century Tartu grew as a city and after that started to grow suburban areas, areas outside city borders.
Some suburban areas (marked on the right with orange) came to life thanks to farm establishments and therefore worker's apartments and houses. For example Märja and Ülenurme.
Some suburban areas on the 1992 part of the figure have become part of the city by 2021, such as Kvissentali and part of Ihaste.
Ihaste was the first suburban area of Tartu and for a long time was spatially cut off from the city. People buying properties in Ihaste had to own a car because even buses didn't run to the area at first.
Vahi area is the newest suburban area of Tartu. It was "unlocked" to be built after a long time of serving as a Soviet military base and airport. Today people can buy apartments with windows looking onto the former airport take-off area.
FOUR bigger suburban areas were selected for a more in-depth analysis. These figures depict the development of the suburban areas I chose, how the built areas and roads have developed. With all the areas exept for Ihaste, big developments have been made in the last century.
Most of Ihaste was built in between the 70-s and the 90-s, similarly to Vahi area. However, bigger areas of new housing has been built to all the areas but Ihaste which is simply proportionally bigger than the other areas and the older housing areas dominate even if new space for new houses is being found.
taskscapes
TASKSCAPES is a theory introduced in 1993 by a British anthropologist Tim Ingold. He described how for example land and landscape are very different sightst. Land is quantitative and landscape qualitative, landscape is created by people working in it, cahnges happeing, it does not have borders, one steps into a new landscape after taking just one step.
In the context of this thesis I would look at Tartu suburban areas through different lenses: talking to people about their experiences to find out, where they like to go, which places they use, what bothers them about the space they live in etc. Also, I would visit the areas myself in the autumn, winter and summer to see if there are perhaps more people outside in some times of the day and during different seasons, what do people do outside, which paths do people use?
Analysis of landmarks and places in each of the four suburban areas (Ülenurme, Vahi, Ihaste, Märja):
Example of a drawing made after fieldwork in Vahi area:
Example of a drawing made after fieldwork in Ihaste:
Example of a drawing made after an interview in Vahi area: