In the spring of 2022, the first Tartu climate conference was held, where together with the city’s residents they looked for ways to make the city space safer and more attractive. The meeting also produced proposals to the city administration to plan a more climate-friendly future and to reduce noise and air pollution in the university city.
45 citizens of Tartu took part in the Kliimakogu, chosen through random sampling, who formed a cross-section of the city’s residents, taking into account gender, age, place of residence, profession and mother tongue. The proposals put forward by the entire party to the city were very different: from replacing excessive hard surfaces with greenery to creating pedestrian zones in front of schools.
According to Tartu Deputy Mayor Elo Kiivet, the city government has considered almost all of the 66 proposals put forward and is currently working to implement them.
“It was about how to make the school environment safer and more pleasant for children. We hope to continue on this path with greater momentum in the new year. The schools themselves have also shown interest in this regard. We are also trying to think about how to make the school surroundings safer,” Kiivet said.
The current budget period, i.e. the years 2022-2025, is indicated as the time for the implementation of most of the proposals considered by the city government.
Kristiina Tõnisson, a member of the Estonia 200 faction of the Tartu council, said that 80% of the council’s climate proposals go in the direction the city of Tartu itself wants to move in the long term.
“The plans are in the works, and I think they were already before, and this perhaps gave an additional push. There is no feedback for the participants, who has now been put to work, and, of course, the question is exactly how many trees have been planted or how many pavilions have been repaired. But perhaps it is too early to ask how much has actually been done,” Tõnisson said.
Kiivet added that the city of Tartu had flagged some as being ignored by the Climate Council’s proposals, including a proposal that the city could itself clear sidewalks of snow, ice and dust from start to finish.
“Those who did not satisfy us were very few, and here too we can say that the reason was not ideological, but rather financial,” Kiivet said.
According to Tõnisson, the first involvement of people in this way was quite successful. There are no objections to the implementation of the process, but according to Tõnisson there are gaps precisely in the effect that such a format of popular assembly could have on the formulation of city policies.
“The second idea of the Climate Council is to make policy formulation and involvement such that it is a continuous process and the citizens of the city can participate, this has been left behind. You can say that there has been an immediate impact on participants and on the officials who were involved in this council. I wonder if there is something like that. It was not possible to continue the co-creation process in the future, for example regularly,” said Tõnisson.
According to Kiivet, the climate council is still a success, because it has provided important inputs for the citizens of the city and through it has also simplified the definition of the city’s major goals and objectives:
“In the meantime, if we were to discuss here about where to start or what is more important, what to include in the budget or what not, it would be a very effective argument if we could say what is important for citizens,” Kiivet said. .
2023-12-26 07:30:00
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