The “Let’s Save!” exhibition or environmentally friendly Estonian towns of the future

The socially minded exhibition “Let’s Save!” opened in the bus terminal of the Viru Keskus shopping centre in Tallinn on 20 November. The running theme of the photographic story is Estonian towns and cities of the future, where environmentally economical ideas and projects will be the norm. The pictures present future scenarios in Estonia’s urban spaces and the everyday lives of their inhabitants, using different combinations of photography and illustration.

Curators Helena Uri and Kadri Laugas describe the exhibition: “Eco-friendly, economical development is something that’s being talked about more and more in Estonia, and green ways of thinking are taking root not only among people living in towns and cities, but those living in the country as well. Having said that, you still encounter a lot of entrenched bias and preconceptions when you’re dealing with this issue. Some people see anything to do with being environmentally friendly as a minority group obsession. People with green world views are often considered weird. That’s why eco-friendly ways of thinking will still need getting used to, and practice.”

The exhibition attempts to answer the question: Do cities, the people who live in them, environmentally friendly development and green ways of thinking go together? A good example of future ideas being implemented and of the idea behind the exhibition is the SymbioCity project which has been successfully launched in Sweden. Entire towns and cities and city districts are taking part in the project, with the population as a whole – individually and collectively – being guided by conservation principles. Conservation and sustainability are also two of the priorities of Sweden as the current presiding nation of the European Union.

The exhibition has been organised by the Estonian office of the European Commission in association with the Swedish embassy and the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia.