The playbook is co-authored by Christian Pagh, a Copenhagen-based urban strategist and former director of the Oslo Architecture Triennale and Mattias Malk, an Estonian urbanist and researcher based between Munich and Tallinn. Together, they distill global best practices into 18 actionable strategies, grounded in empathy, creativity, and long-term thinking.
“Urban development today is so technical that it often forgets the cultural and social life that makes places thrive,” says Christian Pagh. “With this playbook, we’ve created a shared language that brings empathy, creativity, and long-term social thinking into the planning process, not just for building structures, but for building relationships and lasting value. We hope it contributes to shaping more thoughtful, resilient neighbourhoods in Northern Europe and beyond.”
Markus Hääl, CEO at Hundipea, underscores the importance of future-proofing urban design: “The sooner we integrate social infrastructure, flexible design, and inclusive thinking, the better we can mitigate future risks and economic volatility. We needed a document that could stand alongside the spreadsheets and complement them.”
Mutualism at the core
Structured around key themes—such as social infrastructure, meaningful streets, abundant nature, and placemaking—the Hundipea Neighbourhood Playbook bridges the gap between development documents and the lived urban experience.
“In Estonia, neighbourhood playbooks are still a relatively new concept,” adds Mattias Malk. “But internationally, particularly in Scandinavia, they’ve become essential tools for coordinating the many actors involved in large-scale development. This one provides a shared language for building not just places, but relationships and long-term value.”
At its core, the playbook introduces the idea of local mutualism – a model of neighbourhood-making where different people, places, and functions reinforce each other. The aim is to spark new forms of collaboration between residents, developers, municipalities, and investors.
About Hundipea
Hundipea, located on Tallinn’s seaside Paljassaare peninsula, covers 42 hectares and is one of the most ambitious urban regeneration projects in the Baltic region. The development is planned over several decades, with space for more than 6,000 residents and approximately 6,000 workplaces, alongside a rich mix of public life, services and waterfront spaces.
Availability
The Hundipea Neighbourhood Playbook is available as a free e-book to download https://hundipea.ee/en/playbook/, open to planners, city leaders, students, investors and anyone interested in shaping more livable cities.
