Estonian pavilion at EXPO 2010 sounds the call to save the cities of the world
Estonia is a small and innovative Nordic country that wants to optimize environments for living and creating.
At EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, which opens in May of this year, Estonia will unveil an interactive pavilion that calls on people to join in an initiative to “save” the world’s cities. The pavilion will allow people to make their voice be heard regarding urbanization, encouraging all visitors to think about and look for solutions to topics related to growing cities.
The Estonian pavilion will be literally clad in bright folk costume, distinct from other Nordic pavilions with their more modest shade of colour. An Estonian flag on the roof of the pavilion will wave to Google Earth. Inside, an art installation offers participatory possibilities – situated throughout the entire pavilion are giant piggy banks that will fill up with good ideas from visitors for making the world’s cities better. The big screen in the pavilion will demonstrate to visitors what the world’s best city is like.
The last few decades have seen an increase in community-oriented thinking worldwide. The greater level of civic association stems from a desire to do something to make living environments better. Community networking is facilitated by modern information technology solutions – the Internet, and the online telephony application Skype, which was developed in Estonia and continues to be based out of the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
Estonia has put into practice a number of initiatives worth sharing with the world. Consider the “Let’s Do It” campaign in 2008, when 50,000 volunteers countrywide took part in trash cleanup event. Valuable experience has been shared on the global arena – similar actions have been carried out in India, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania, among other countries. In 2009, people turned out en masse for countrywide brainstorming sessions on how to improve governance and make life in society better – a valuable exchange of experience that instilled self-confidence and spawned many new initiatives.
The Estonian pavilion’s seedbed for global synergy is an online interface called SAVECITY.ORG, dedicated to gathering good thoughts and ideas and sending them to different cities. Ideas and solutions will be posted on the portal for exchanging and developing experiences. For instance, a city with a problem with trash left on the city streets might learn from the positive experiences of another urban area.
SAVECITY.ORG also provides a way for those who cannot make it to Shanghai to address issues concerning their own hometown and other cities. And to allow visitors to continue to communicate and exchange positions, the portal boasts a forum categorized by topic and city, where visitors can interact and comment.
One of the portal’s central goals is to use a community-based mindset to improve the situation in the world’s cities. Part of the interface focuses on offering a means for creating and administering well-functioning communities of engaged people all over the world – people who will continue to keep these virtual cities active even after the EXPO closes in October 2010.
The concept of the Estonian pavilion at EXPO 2010 was created by a team from the brand agency Identity, the architecture offices of AET-Arhitektid and the interior design office of Ruumilabor.