University of Tartu
Tartu Ülikool

The University of Tartu (UT) is the oldest (founded 1632) and the biggest research and education organisation in Estonia. UT is Estonia's leading centre of research and training and belongs to the top 3% of world's best universities. UT includes nine faculties and four colleges and hosts around 17 000 students. To support and develop the professional competence of its students and academic staff, the university has entered into bilateral co-operation agreements with 64 partner institutions in 23 countries. University of Tartu covers all major research fields and education levels.

This “Smart City and Communities” project is coordinated by the Chair of Human Geography and Regional Development of Department of Geography in University of Tartu. The main research focus of the Chair of Human Geography and Regional Planning is on urban geography, mobility studies, population geography and urban planning. The team is very competent in spatial analysis and GIS, urban mobility studies and smart city development and also studies assessing the impact of climate change. Our speciality is mobile positioning and GPS-based space-time behaviour studies and real-time mapping experiments.

Role in the project

The Chair of Human Geography and Regional Planning will be the main responsible partner a) for developing suitable social innovation model for citizen participation in smart city planning process; b) in exploiting smart technological solutions for mobility analyses developed by the project; c) in developing integrated urban planning solutions for test areas. The aim is to develop a model and business plan which engages citizens in yielding sustainable and energy efficient life styles and be co-creators for smart city solutions. Its main role will focus on strategic and theory based activities concerning citizens’ engagement and social innovation (WP2), impact assessment of the district interventions (WP7), analysis of future smart cities scenarios (WP8). Furthermore, the role includes publishing results in scientific literature and developing public engagement in Tartu.

Website

www.ut.ee