Hosting Cyril Blondel from France

In April, Geomedia hosted RegPol² senior researcher Cyril Blondel. Cyril took part in the undertakings of the company and Rivo Noorkõiv, the head of Geomedia, introduced him and Bianka Plüschke, a fellow RegPol² researcher who is currently employed at Geomedia, to consultancy work in Estonia. In Cyril’s words, the visit also provided him a good opportunity to discuss empirical research into the dimensions of peripheralization in Estonia. Among the activities, on April 1 Cyril participated in Geomedia’s meeting with the representatives of the Municipality of Tartu and the researchers from the University of Tartu, focusing on the preparation of Tartu’s population forecast. The discussion covered methodology issues and other details of the forecast, including databases to be used, process modeling, spatial and temporal scales of the analysis, and the usage of scenarios to work through the different alternatives of the forecast. On April 24, Cyril attended a public seminar in Jõgeva rural municipality, dedicated to the renewal of the municipality’s development plan. Among the participants were the members of the rural municipality council, officials and representatives of the third and private sector. The discussions focussed on the socio-economical development of the municipality and on its development. This event offered a good occasion for Cyril to get to know more about the challenges faced by small-size local governments in Estonia and what could be learned from it for international research. Furthermore, it enabled Cyril to see how Geomedia implements development plan preparation methodology and participative public engagement methods in the preparation of development plan.