1st of April Urban Models studio and its final project Caring for Ida-Viru? Tracing Frontiers of Shrinkage explored various questions related to tangible and intangible aspects of habitation in Ida-Viru county. Urban districts and towns of Ahtme, Järve and Kiviõli, where changing policies and approaches in urban governance aim to respond to the surplus of housing caused by the outmigration of people were in focus. Students of urban studies, architecture and interior architecture collaborated in exploring, reinventing and rethinking approaches towards shrinkage, adaptation and re-use. Some tried to trace the stories that are subsumed in the industrially toxic air of Ida-Virumaa. Others took the attempt to take a peek into the everyday life that has somehow frozen in time. The students’ used relevant literature and explored case studies with experimental media and techniques in order to deliver final projects challenging the condition of shrinkage in Eastern Estonia.
Photos by Mira Samonig.
