The Impact of Public Policy and Membership of the EU on Regional Policy in Estonia

The primary aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the development and topical issues of the Estonian regional policy along with public policy. In order to implement a public policy, choices must be made based on values, which in their turn considerably influence the actual result. Public policy is usually described as a process of making choices from the determination of the situation to evaluation of the policy being implemented. This process has often an irrational character, which is caused by limited information available to decision-makers and limited time. My approach moves on from the statement of Ludek Sukora and his colleagues (Balchin et al 1999, 163) which says that in Eastern European countries, thus, hypothetically in Estonia as well, the former centralised planning economy replaced by relatively small local governments under the conditions of new legislation, where national plans do not work and consistent regional development policies do not exist, has brought about a situation of uncertainty, application of ad hoc methods instead of long-term comprehensive planning, and the use of earlier experience in administrative techniques. Following the above I present following hypotheses: H1) governmental normative documents on regional development change frequently and are often contradictory; H2) institutions responsible for the implementation of regional policy are unstable; H3) national and EU plans do not work and sectoral development plans are not compatible; H4) regional political initiatives depend on activities of different officials or ministers - human factor is critical; H5) no attempts are being made in municipalities to achieve awareness of conceptual basics of national and EU policies and their objectives, instead, different lobbying methods have been applied. In theoretical part, we look at the concept of regional policy and it’s changes in Europe. The empirical part will give a description of the Estonian regional and administrative polices in time, primarily based on observations, on the content analysis of documents and the written media, and interviews carried out in 1990-2005.

Centre?periphery model explaining the regional development of the informational and transitional society

This paper analyses regional development and uses centre-periphery models (CPM) of Friedmann, Gibbs and Hautamäki as a base for theoretical discussion. In general, these centre-periphery models foresee stabilisation and de-concentration of population and economic agents after the concentration stages. The spatial processes of 1970s and 1980s were rather well described by the CPM. However, the 1990s turned to a new concentration in several countries. Classical CPM that assumed the continuity of industrial society and relevant factors, both negative and positive for concentration, influencing regional structures and settlement became useless. Therefore, first topic in this paper analyses concentration-deconcentration factors of the informational society and tries to plant the classical approach in the new soil. Secondly, we set a hypothesis arguing that Baltic Countries have followed partly similar, but simultaneously rather different spatial development stages. If the Western economies enjoyed particularly after the World War II economic and political stability, then regional development of their Eastern counterparts has been influenced by several political convulsions. Besides, even the same results in urban development may have had rather different causes in the West and former East. The empirical part analyses the regional development of Estonia in a historic perspective. The description of past developments attempts to outline (1) influencial causal factors, (2) periods of concentration and deconcentration, and (3) particularities compared with Western countries. The discussion is supported mainly by population data of past censuses, but uses also a limited number of soft empirical materials like small case studies, interviews and observations. Finally, we attempt to design a comparison of different urban development stages in UK, Finland and Estonia. This paper prepares and tests an extensive analyse of census and labour market survey as well as enterprise development data of the transition period, the 1990s. Key words: centre-periphery model, urban development stages, political factors in urban development

Central places versus networks: the future of collective farms built community infrastructure in Estonia

The aim of this paper will be to discuss possibilities to shift from a central-place theory towards to a network paradigm in local and regional planning practices. According to the first hypothesis, planning and development of social infrastructure (schools, sports halls, etc.) has remained rather central place oriented in Estonia. Even despite high and steadily increasing mobility (due to the rapidly spreading car ownership) and increasing share of city-population. The central-place approach would mean construction of overcapacity on the regional level. The social infrastructure built by the collective farms in rural areas has remained often unused already now, quite often because of the lack of collaboration between communes. The second hypothesis, therefore, argues, that application of the network paradigm and encouraging co-operation between local communes may considerably save public resources, create new jobs close to living estates, and reduce negative consequences of ongoing centre-periphery differentiation processes.

LEGO Mindstorms NXT compatible Renewable Energy Add-on Set and Activity Pack

Käesoleva bakalaureusetöö eesmärgiks oli kirjeldada LEGO taastuvenergia komplekti. Selleks koostati eestikeelne materjal, milles on juhendid komplekti iseseivaks kasutamiseks kui koos LEGO Mindstorms NXT komplektiga kasutamiseks. Lisatud on ka erineva raskusastmega ülesanded mõlemat tüüpi kasutusjuhtudeks. Antud materjal on edaspidi Kooliroboti projekti raames õppematerjaliks koolides. Antud lõputöö jaguneb kolmeks osaks. Esimeses osas anti ülevaade erinevatest taastuvatest energiaallikatest ning nende rakendamisest. Pikemalt keskenduti nendele taastuvatele energiaallikatele mis on kasutatavad koos taastuvenergia komplektiga. Peamiseks eesmärgiks oli lugejale konkreetse teema kohta alusteadmised anda ning selgitada mõningaid vajalikke nähtusi. Töö teises osas anti lähem ülevaade taastuvnergia komplektist ja selle kasutamise võimalustest. Lisaks komplekti iseseisvale kasutamisele anti juhised ka selle kasutamiseks koos LEGO Mindstorms NXT komplektiga ja NXT-G programmeerimiskeskkonnaga. Lõputöö kolmanda osa moodustavad erineva raskusastmega ülesanded, millele on välja pakutud ka lahendusideed. Lisaks on programmeerimist sisaldavate ülesannete juurde lisatud ka NXT-G keskkonnas koostatud näidislahendused. Käesoleva lõputöö koostamisel on materjali edaspidise kasutamise lihtsustamiseks lähtutud eelnevalt kindlaks määratud struktuuris. Sama struktuuri on kasutatud ka mitmete teiste LEGO Mindstorms NXT lisaandureid käsitlevate lõputööde koostamisel. Lõputöö kirjutamiseks seatud eesmärgid said täidetud. Lisaks vajalike ning praktiliste õppematerjalide koostamisele sai töö autor ise uusi teadmisi taastuvate energisaallikate ning taastuvenergia kohta. Kõige parem motivatsioon selle bakalaureusetöö kirjutamisel oli teadmine, et töö tulemus leiab reaalset kasutamist Eesti koolides, kus seda hakkavad kasutama õpilaste ning neid õpetatavad õpetajad.Technology is evolving with incredible speed and the society needs to adapt to the changes, so do schools. To keep learning interesting and to teach children how to cope in this world of technology, schools need to use new methods. One of these methods is using LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kit to teach various subjects. The main purpose of this bachelor thesis was to create educational material for the Activity Pack and LEGO Renewable Add-on Set that can be used together with the LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics kit. The material is designed for introducing and teaching the topic of renewable energy using robotics. All created materials are in Estonian. This thesis will be used at schools, as a way of popularizing green lifestyle, science and robotics among Estonian schoolchildren by teaching them programming and logical thinking skills combined with renewable energy. This thesis consists of three parts. The first part gives the basic background about renewable energy sources and explains how to use them. Mainly focusing on the types of energy sources that can be used with the Renewable Energy Add-on Set. The second part introduces the Renewable Energy Add-on Set and its components. It also gives directions how to use this set with LEGO Mindstorms NXT. The third part of this thesis consists of various exercises for using the knowledge acquired and to make learning more playful and fun. This thesis is part of a series of theses, written during last five years, to create educational materials about LEGO Mindstorms NXT and additional devices for Estonian schools. It is part of the “Koolirobot” project started in 2007

What Future for LEADER as a Catalyst of Social Innovation?

The LEADER Approach was initially designed to promote innovation in European rural areas by sustaining a bottom-up approach to local development. Nowadays the LEADER Approach includes elements that are generally considered to support social innovation. Classical features of the LEADER Approach \u2013 for example, area-based development strategies and cooperation and networking \u2013 are considered catalysts of social innovation as well. By drawing on key elements which support social innovation, the chapter discusses the future role of the LEADER Approach and Local Action Groups, and debates the challenges and potentials of the new rural development policy within emerging social, environmental and economic needs