Tyyliä ja korkeutta! Kaupunkisuunnittelu ja kaupunkiunelmat 1900-luvun alun Tallinnassa

At the beginning of the 20th century, Estonia, likemost of European nations, faced the turmoil ofindustrialization, urbanisation, and social change.Economy was booming especially in Tallinn whereEstonians gained the political rule in the city councilfor the first time replacing the Baltic-Germans. Thearticle analyses the discourse in Estonian newspapersraised by the rapid urbanisation and political change.In the discourse Estonian nationalism, modernization,social justice, and city planning were closely linked.The discourse reveals a dichotomy in Estoniannationalism. On one hand, the city planning wasconsidered an effective way of transforming thefuture Tallinn into a modern, European metropolis.On the other hand, traditional nationalists idealisedthe countryside instead of the city. However,there was a bold effort to realize the vision ofmodern metropolis. The city of Tallinn launched aninternational city planning competition won by aFinnish architect, Eliel Saarinen with his utopistic andgrandiose plan, called the Great Tallinn