A species-rich linear park and movement corridor in Tallinn

The Pollinator Highway is a species-rich meadow-like natural environment, a green corridor between city districts, and a movement corridor for green mobility that passes through 6 districts. The Pollinator Highway runs along a former railway dam and today's high-voltage power line corridor. As the high-voltage power lines are being put to an underground cable, a potential for a city-wide linear park is born.

The name 'Pollinator Highway' refers to an already existing movement corridor, used by pollinators (butterflies, bumblebees and honeybees) and other groups of animals to move from one green area to another.

The first stage of the Pollinator Highway to be realized is located in the area between the garages in Pelguranna, Northern Tallinn, which is delimited by Ehte, Sõle and Puhangu streets and Kolde boulevard. In its entire length, the Pollinator Highway spans from the Telliskivi creative city through the Kopli cargo station to the area between the garages in Pelguranna, Northern Tallinn and Merimetsa city forest along the border between Kristiine, Mustamäe, Haabersti and Nõmme districts to Hiiu.  

The Pollinator Highway is defined both by biodiversity and urbanization. City and nature are not opposites: the guiding principle of the Pollinator Highway is to preserve natural biodiversity while offering diverse opportunities for leisurely activities as well as environmentally friendly ways of urban mobility.

In the future, the Pollinator Highway will become a vibrant city-wide linear park, a public space offering new green mobility connections and various opportunities for activities, but there is already a lot to discover today.

The Pollinator Highway is divided into 9 spatial sections. Research has shown that people perceive the boundaries of the different spatial sections that the Pollinator Highway passes through, differently. We divided the Pollinator Highway into sections on the principle that the distinct parts of urban space are caused by strong urban interruptions, which intersect. with the Pollinator Highway: for example, multi-lane highways (such as Paldiski road and Ehitajate tee) or clear changes in the urban or natural environment. 

The concept of the Pollinator Highway is developed with the support of two European Union projects. Both the Augmented Urbans (2018-2020) and B.Green (2020-2022) are funded by the Interreg Central Baltic Program, which supports cross-border cooperation, sustainable urban mobility, and cohesive communities. The project is lead by the Spatial Design Competence Center of the Tallinn Strategy Unit.

Read more: Pollinator Highway co-creation site