The pilot site of the CENTRINNO project, which lasted three years, was the community centre Kopli 93 in Tallinn, developed by the City of Tallinn, the Government of North Tallinn and Tallinn University of Technology.  The closing event “Community – resource or a difficulty?” focused on the development journey of Kopli 93, its joys and concerns, but above all on the role and importance of the community from the perspective of the individual, the municipality and the state.

Anne-May Nagel, Research Fellow at the Centre for Crisis Studies, gave a presentation at the event on the central role of communities in preparing for crises, in the active phase of crises and in post-crisis learning. “It is common to think of communities in crises primarily as something that needs to be trained to cope independently. However, communities could and should also be an important partner in actively coping with a crisis, as well as in learning from crises,” said Nagel.

A good example of the importance of communities in active crises is the pollution crisis that hit the islands of West Estonia in the spring of 2022, where people from Hiiumaa and Vormsi spent weeks cleaning up the beaches of the islands, making the work of the Rescue Board and local authorities much easier. You can read more about how the crisis was managed at the time and the role of the community in our May 2023 report here.

Photos: Andre Pichen, Karin Kruup.