Research on spatial development and regional policy has been carried out at CASS since 2012, when Veiko Sepp joined the center. The focus of the thematic group has remained on conducting applied research projects—project management, the development of research methodologies, the application of these methodologies, and the preparation of research reports.

In recent years, impact assessments have become an increasingly significant part of the thematic group’s portfolio, covering spatial development (analysis of updates to Estonia's Planning Act) and regional policy (mid-term evaluation of the urban areas measure), as well as broader policy instruments (analysis of the relevance and timeliness of the Sustainable Estonia 21 development plan, ex post evaluation of the 2014–2020 SF programming period; impact assessment of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support Programme in the 2014-2020 ERDF Action Plan).

The focus is on conducting applied research and evaluation studies commissioned by central government institutions through public procurement processes.

Other CASS analysts, as well as experts from the University of Tartu and partner organisations, are also involved in conducting the research. Key collaborators for the thematic group have included Tallinn University, Tallinn University of Technology, the law firm Sorainen OÜ, the planning and consulting company Hendrikson DGE, the consulting and training center Geomedia, and Civitta Estonia AS.

Key Topics

• Socio-economic spatial development – spatial distribution of jobs and economic activities; regional inequality; accessibility of services (education, healthcare, transport); urbanization and quality of living environment
• Spatial planning – spatial visions, impact analysis of legal acts and plans
• Regional and local strategic planning – development strategies and plans; monitoring systems; organization and accessibility of public services
• Local and regional administration – service efficiency and quality; governance and cooperation models
• Policy-making and implementation practices in central government sectors – analysis of sector functioning; assessment of strategic policy documents; coordination of sectoral policies

Our work has been the basis of:

• Territorial network of primary health care centers in Estonia (Assessment of the geographical accessibility needs of primary healthcare services and the creation of an optimal model for organizing primary healthcare services, 2013-2015)
• Hierarchical network of services and service centers in county planning (Study on the spatial location and accessibility of private and public services and their treatment in county planning, 2015)
• Local government monitoring system "minuomavalitsus.ee” (Development and testing of methodology for monitoring local public service levels, and conducting analysis, 2017–2018)
• Smart specialization monitoring system (Smart specialization monitoring system and effective governance, 2020–2021)
• National planning framework and settlement system vision (Spatial impact analysis of trends. Basic study for the Ministry of Finance on the national planning “Estonia 2040,” 2022–2023; National planning study on settlement development scenarios, Phase II, 2024–2025)