The influence of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War on the growth and decline of the peripheral town of Valga/Valka
Estonia’s location in the geopolitically turbulent frontier area between the Russian and Western worlds has always affected the spatial development of Estonian cities and regions. Frontier lands inevitably experience militarisa- tion at times when international tensions build and demilitarisation and disarmament when tensions ease (Woodward 2005). In the 1990s, when Europe transformed at the end of the Cold War, one of the fastest growing research areas in the field of urban and regional studies was demilitarisation. Thirty years later, we are again living in times of rapidly growing military capabilities in Russian-Western border territories, including in Estonia where the deployment of military installations is back on the agenda (e.g., deploy- ment of NATO troops, residences of military personnel, and expansion of training grounds).
Leetmaa, K., J. Tintěra, T. Pae and D. B. Hess. 2023. “The Influence of Nuclear Deterrence During the Cold War on the Growth and Decline of the Peripheral Town of Valga/Valka.” in Urban Planning During Socialism: Views from the Periphery (Kadri Leetmaa and Jasna Mariotti, eds.) Taylor and Francis. [doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003327592-10]