Housing several services together with a school or kindergarten is a growing trend worldwide, and moving from the "one house, one service" mindset to the community center model would be beneficial in rural Estonia as well, Foresight Center expert Eneli Kindisko said according to a press release.

"Community centers are built around kindergartens or basic schools, bringing together various services needed by local residents, such as remote work spaces, day centers for the elderly, hobby groups, a family doctor's office or care homes as is common in other countries," Kindisko highlighted.

The think tank's latest short report, "Community Schools in Estonia," reveals that 26 percent of Estonia's schools and 68 percent of its kindergartens are currently monofunctional. At the local government level, it is the country's small islands, peripheral areas as well as Raasiku Municipality, located outside of Tallinn, that currently stand out the most in terms of school and kindergarten buildings housing three or more services.

One in three schools in the capital itself, however, remains monofunctional.

Due to shortages of students, a third of Estonia's school buildings are half empty, several decades old and often run-down, and they serve children from the same sparsely populated areas. Nearly 100 school buildings across the country need capital investments, and one in four basic or high school buildings qualify as being in only satisfactory shape and are functionally outdated.

Meanwhile, one in three cultural centers and half of day centers for the elderly are in barely even satisfactory condition.

"Together they would achieve economies of scale in savings on the administrative costs of various buildings and premises," Kindisko explained, adding that this would ideally in turn boost their capacity to renovate buildings into more multifunctional and energy-efficient ones as well.

The single building model could benefit Estonia's rural areas the most. According to the report, however, it is municipalities of Harju County, which includes the capital city Tallinn, that are currently more active in establishing such multifunctional spaces.  

Across the country, there are around 45 cultural centers located on the same property as a school or kindergarten building – of these, six are located in Harju County.

One possible influencing factor here may be the greater capacity of municipalities surrounding Tallinn to invest in new educational buildings that are designed from the start as multifunctional. Rural areas, however, are often left with run-down buildings, and their outdated layouts make it more difficult to move in new services.

Studies show that there is a high demand for community centers in rural parts of Estonia.

"For example, many people living in rural areas and working remotely want their community centers to include shared office spaces with high-speed internet and other infrastructure necessary for remote work," the think tank expert highlighted. "Establishing them next to schools or kindergartens would also be logistically convenient for parents."

The Foresight Center notes that currently, schools and kindergartens mostly include services for children, such as libraries or hobby groups, but highlighted that, especially in rural areas, community centers could also improve accessibility to a wider range of public services, and even prevent some from disappearing locally.

"The future of rural schools, as well as other public services in rural areas, depends on whether and how we consider public services as a whole," Kindisko said. "Does each service have to fight for itself alone, or does their strength lie in cooperation? Which should be the advantage of rural areas – small and agile!"

The Foresight Center is a think tank at the Chancellery of the Riigikogu that analyzes socioeconomic trends and generates future scenarios. It conducts research on a range of topics in order to anticipate emerging trends as well as potential disruptions.

The short report "Community Schools in Estonia" is part of the Foresight Center's research stream "The Future of Spatio-temporal Accessibility of Public Services," the objective of which is to map the availability of public services now and in the future and determine which models of service provision could be the most beneficial in the future.

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