Publications

Writing by and about SPIN Unit.

Papers, press, talks and exhibitions about our work, 2013 — 2026. Each one links to where it was published.

about one of our projects: its picture, in its colourthe page where it was published

Papers and book chapters

15

2026Assessing parallel urban dynamics through local-scale morphological and activity indicators in German and Spanish citiesCity, Culture and Society, vol. 45, art. 100709 (Elsevier)Paper↗

2025Making room for the future? Half-emptiness and the ordered demolition of Soviet housing in EstoniaJournal of Baltic Studies (Taylor & Francis)Paper↗

2025Lecturers and tutors — TURNS International PhD School (Panu Lehtovuori bio)Tampere University — TURNS (Tampere Urban Research Network for Sustainability)Paper↗

2021Implementing Gehl's Theory to Study Urban Space. The Case of MonotownsSustainability (MDPI), 13(9):5105Paper↗

2021Feminist Futures Helsinki Hackathon: Transdisciplinary co-creation of socially engaged projects (master's thesis)Aalto University (Aaltodoc)Paper↗

2020Optional and necessary activities: operationalising Jan Gehl's analysis of urban space with Foursquare dataInternational Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 11(1):68-79Paper↗

2018Simulating Pedestrian Movement (in: Humanizing Digital Reality — Design Modelling Symposium Paris 2017)Springer (book chapter)Paper↗

2018toisten Helsinki (master's thesis, Department of Architecture)Aalto University (Aaltodoc)Paper↗

2017Making Sense of the City: Exploring the Use of Social Media Data for Urban Planning and Place BrandingAnais do Workshop de Computacao Urbana (CoUrb), Brazilian Computer Society (SBC)Paper↗

2017Instagram and Contemporary ImageLev Manovich (open-access scholarly book, manovich.net)Paper↗

2017Transience and Permanence in Urban Development (contributor credit; incl. chapter by Lehtovuori & Ruoppila)Wiley-Blackwell (ed. John Henneberry)Paper↗

2016Assessing Quality of City Development by the Acquired Criteria of Landscape UrbanismArchitecture and Urban Planning 2016/12 (RTU / Sciendo), DOI 10.1515/aup-2016-0012Paper↗

2016Semantic and Geospatial Mapping of Instagram Images in Saint-PetersburgAINL FRUCT 2016 Conference (IEEE) / Tampere University Research PortalPaper↗

2015A Sense of Place: Exploring the potentials and possible uses of Location Based Social Network Data for urban and transportation planning in Turku City CentreTurku Urban Research Programme, Research Report 1/2015Paper↗

2013Spacial Intelligence Unit (SPIN UNIT), Tallinn (External organisation) — activity recordUniversity of Helsinki Research PortalPaper↗

Press and features

12

2023metaPARK: A Performance-based Parking Policy for the City of TallinnurbanNext (Actar publishing platform)Press↗

2023Shrinking Patterns in EstoniaurbanNext (Actar publishing platform)Press↗

2022The Challenge of Food Production in a Planetary CityArchDailyPress↗

2022Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2022 will explore 'Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism'World Architecture Community (worldarchitecture.org)Press↗

2022"Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism": TAB 2022 reveals participating projects and "EDIBLE" Symposium key speakersArchisearchPress↗

2021Demos Helsinki. Human-Centered Smart CitiesMAJA — Estonian Architectural Review (ajakirimaja.ee)Press↗

2020Beyond Smart Cities | How e-Residency supports urban transformatione-Residency blog (e-resident.gov.ee)Press↗

2020Parkimine on säästliku linna loomise tööriist (Parking is a tool for creating a sustainable city)Sirp (Estonian cultural weekly)Press↗

2019How Urban Planning Turns into Interaction PlanningPop-Up CityPress↗

2017Spin Unit: Revealing the City through Art and ScienceDeep BalticPress↗

2015'Self-driven city': the 2015 Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB)Urbanista (urbanista.org)Press↗

2014Estonian Academy of Arts PhD student launches Spin UnitEstonian Academy of Arts (artun.ee)Press↗

Talks, exhibitions and film

10

2026What About Scale and Complexity in Analytical Time Geography? (invited talk slides, Toronto, July 2026)Harvey J. Miller, Ohio State University (u.osu.edu)Talk↗

2023Damiano Cerrone: AI for Participatory Planning (lecture and workshop, LINA 2023 programme)VI PER Gallery, PragueTalk↗

2022'Tallinna Aed' — SPIN Unit in the TAB 2022 Curatorial Exhibition 'Edible' participants listTallinn Architecture Biennale (2022.tab.ee)Exhibition↗

2022Curatorial Exhibition EDIBLE opening at the Estonian Museum of Architecture (TAB 2022, with SPIN Unit)Tallinn Architecture Biennale (2022.tab.ee)Exhibition↗

2022Tallinn 1.5 — A vision for a planetary city (SPIN Unit project for the Tallinn Architecture Biennale)LINA European Architecture Platform (lina.community)Exhibition↗

2022LINA fellows: SPIN unit (video presentation)Facebook — LINA European Architecture PlatformVideo↗

2019The 'Metamorphology' Approachconnecting data to information to knowledge (ioannouolga, academic blog)Essay↗

2019Symposium 3 - Damiano Cerrone (recorded symposium talk, Helsinki)YouTubeVideo↗

2015TAB-Lab Research and Development Exhibition, Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2015 (SPIN Unit as curators)Tallinn Architecture Biennale (2015.tab.ee)Exhibition↗

—Damiano Cerrone — speaker profile, Urban Future Global ConferenceUrban Future Global ConferenceTalk↗

Citations and awards

6

2024Parkimisuuring (Tartu parking survey)City of Tartu (tartu.ee)Cited↗

2024Reimagining Helsinki: Participatory urban planning with Generative AIInteroperable Europe Portal (European Commission, Public Sector Tech Watch)Cited↗

2022Üleriigiliste regionaalse arengu, ruumiplaneerimise ja kahanemisega kohandamise uuringud (National studies on regional development, spatial planning and adaptation to shrinkage)Planeerimine.ee (Estonian Ministry of Finance / national planning portal)Cited↗

2022SPIN Unit — LINA fellow profile (Tallinn 1.5 – A vision for a planetary city)LINA — European Architecture PlatformAward↗

2021Socio-Spatial Analytics of Yerevan (report authored by SPINUNIT Lab Oy, published by UNDP Armenia)UNDP ArmeniaCited↗

2015SPIN, SPAN, SPUN - SPUNK! (ESRI Young Scholar Award 2015 and ESRI Most Unique Map, 2nd place)Estonian Academy of Arts (artun.ee news)Award↗