
Lasnamäe - Tallinn

Russian Orthodox church and social housing at Lasnamäe district.

Typical 18-storey housing estates in Lasnamäe district.

The main traffic channel of Lasnamäe.

Russian Orthodox church and social housing at Lasnamäe district.
Numbers:
-
date of construction: late 1970s and 1980s
-
planned population: 12 neighbourhoods (200 000 people)
-
built by 1990: 8 neighbourhoods
Today:
-
area: 2747 ha (17,2% of Tallinn)
-
municipal owned land: 460 ha
-
population: 120 000 people
-
60 % Russian-speakers
-
26% Estonian
Lasnamäe is the largest housing estate of Tallinn, Estonia. The district lies on the eastern part of the city, comprising of 27,47 km² which is 17,2% of Tallinn’s territory. Lasnamäe was built during the late 1970s and the 1980s – period of fast industrial growth and immigration of workforce from other Soviet republics. Initially, Lasnamäe was planned as a district of 12 neighbourhoods for 200 000 people. By the end of the Soviet period, however, 8 neighbourhoods with 650 panel houses were built. Today, approx. 120 000 people reside in Lasnamäe which is roughly about 1/4 of entire population of Tallinn (approx. 448 000).
Interestingly, Lasnamäe is the only district in Tallinn where Russian-speakers are a majority with about 60% and 26% Estonians. Recent studies on trends in segregation patterns show that the concentration of low-social status residents and Russian-speakers overlap increasingly in Estonian cities. Municipality policies do not fully acknowledge these trends, because recent real estate developments in large housing estates and in Lasnamäe in particular are rather visible. In addition, all municipal developments concerning social housing taking place in Lasnamäe.