RISEN FROM THE DEAD: FROM SLUMMING TO GENTRIFICATION Mart HIOB Nele NUTT Sulev NURME Fransesco DE LUCA Mart HIOB (corresponding author) Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture, Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu College, Estonia Abstract Tel.: 0037-2-501.4767 Political tides are evident in most community E-mail:
[email protected] development practices. Sometimes it hinders good planning while at other times it aides development, Nele NUTT and sometimes the unintended consequences Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture, of politics preserve neighborhoods for a long Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu College, Estonia time, allowing for a totally different development outcome. This article is a detailed case study of Sulev NURME one such neighborhood. This neighborhood, known Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture, as Supilinn, in Tartu Estonia was a rundown area Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu College, Estonia slated for total demolition during Soviet occupation. Due to the lack of finances and low priorities, the Fransesco DE LUCA former communist regime abandoned the idea of Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture, demolition and left the neighborhood to deteriorate Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu College, Estonia further. Two decades later, Supilinn is a bustling community where young and old, rich and poor, existing and new, all co-exist. A community left to die has resurrected itself through bottom up planning and citizen initiatives to become one of the preferred places to live, so much so that the neighborhood now faces the threat of gentrification with social displacement and complete renewal. The authors, all active members in this neighborhood, have lived and worked there for a while.