Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) encourages all the capital's residents to participate in the voting process to ensure the most favored community projects in each district are selected.

"It is gratifying to see the active engagement of our citizens in contributing to the city's development – this year, we received a record number of proposals," said Kõlvart. "The submissions cover various key areas, with a significant focus on the development of an eco-friendly urban space and projects promoting sports and leisure activities. Our goal is to implement at least one community-chosen project in each district from next year's budget. However, these proposals also provide valuable input for the ongoing development of urban spaces."

492 ideas were submitted for Tallinn's 2024 participatory budget. After their feasibility was assessed by an expert committee, 149 proposals were shortlisted for the public vote. 35 are in Nõmme, 26 in Kesklinn, 20 in Kristiine, 18 in Lasnamäe, 15 in Pirita, 13 in Mustamäe, 12 in Põhja-Tallinn, and 10 in Haabersti.

The shortlisted proposals, along with their descriptions, are available on Tallinn's participatory budget website here.

The most popular types of proposals this year were those connected to the creation eco-friendly urban space, with 140 ideas submitted, representing 28.5 percent of all proposals. The sports and leisure and safety categories also received significant attention, with 129 and 83 ideas submitted, respectively. Fifty-five submissions were for projects related to children and youth, with 85 ideas fitting into other categories.

Tallinn residents can vote for their favorite projects during the public voting, which runs from November 20 to December 3.

All individuals aged 14 and above, whose official residence is in Tallinn, are eligible to vote. Each participant can vote for up to two ideas to be implemented in their home district.

Votes can be cast on the participatory budgeting website, at local district governments, or at the Tallinn City Office on Freedom Square (Vabaduse väljak 7). At least one project meeting the participatory budgeting criteria will be implemented in each of the city's districts, and will be determined by receiving the most votes.

€1 million euros has been allocated in the 2024 budget for the implementation of the projects chosen as part of the participatory budget. Seventy-five percent of this sum will be distributed equally among the different districts, with the remaining 25 percent allocated proportionately according to the size of each district's population as of July 1.

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