Built environments of care from the late Socialist to post-Socialist Estonia (PSG 2025–2029)

Wheelchair race in central Tallinn. Still from a clip in Prillitoos 1987

The project rethinks the developments in the Estonian built environment of the last forty years from the perspective of care. Based on the intersectional feminist viewpoint, the project asks how has architecture contributed to taking care of people’s physical, emotional and social needs, and how do changes in this realm reflect the social values and their development from the late Socialist to post-Socialist period. In the second half of the 1980s, a more caring attitude towards the environment was part of Perestroika-era identity construction, marking a conscious alternative to teh Soviet mentality that was perceived as careless and unscrupulous. In the feverish years of neoliberal transition, the issues of care took a back seat in the professional realm of architecture. However, this does not prove them being insignificant – in a way or another, the concerns were expressed through the activities of community activists, disability rights activists, heritage enthusiasts, amateur architects and others. In the last decade, the  spatial environment as an agent of care has again resurfaced in the context of the climate crisis and other global environmental issues, triggering a more thorough rethinking of architectural practice. The project aims to maps these developments on a large scale, to contribute to the understanding of the processes, attitudes and decisions that have led to today’s situation. Focusing on aspects of the built environment that have hitherto been deemed marginal like the industrially produced housing in rural areas; spatial experience of disabled people; spaces of mental health; manifestations of spiritual aspirations; spaces of alternative communities; entanglements of sustainability, nationality and the vernacular; as well as normative practices in taking care of the labour forces as a backdrop, the project broadens the existing architecture historical narrative, demonstrating the strong relationship of the built environment and care as one of the central categories of a society.

 

Principal Investigator: Ingrid Ruudi

Senior Researcher: Epp Lankots

Duration of the project: 2025–2029

Project type: PRG (personal research grant)

Funder: Estonian Research Council

 

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Posted by Annika Tiko
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