Meaningful places & spatial mobility: second-homeowners community engagement, Estonia

Due to increased mobile lifestyle, free time residency is growing in importance in Northern Europe, especially in rural areas close to protected areas, providing recreational opportunities and solitude. Second home tourism or... [ view full abstract ]

Due to increased mobile lifestyle, free time residency is growing in importance in Northern Europe, especially in rural areas close to protected areas, providing recreational opportunities and solitude. Second home tourism or free-time residency tourism is seen as a major means to maintain the vitality of the countryside when traditional means of livelihoods are rapidly decreasing and peripheral regions struggle with outward migration. Second homeowners’ role in local development has the potential to shift from mere transfer of capital to potential transfer of knowledge to become competence brokers for local development. An onsite survey of second homeowners’ motivations for free-time residency and willingness to engage in development of local municipalities in Saare County on Saaremaa Island, Estonia was conducted summer 2011. This study will be replicated in summer 2016 for comparison with the emphasis on second homeowners’ interest and willingness to become competence brokers for local entrepreneurship, innovation and nature conservation. From the 2011 study, results from the 231 free-time residents surveyed include their visitation patterns, perceived sense of place, interest in flexible work opportunities; their willingness to and current participation in local municipalities, importance ratings and satisfaction with local services, evaluation of the local environment, and expressed concerns and desires related to local development. Uncontrolled development, including tourism development was viewed as the greatest threat to perceived sense of place along with the decline of rural lifestyle and changing landscapes. Improved public transportation, basic medical services and Internet connections were considered important for the revitalization of the countryside. Nature conservation activities and engagement on village level was expressed of greatest interest, yet the majority of second homeowners were not involved in any local initiatives. The reasons for the low involvement include reported lack of information and the perception that local governments are not interested in their involvement in local developments at a level and in a manner expected. The predictive power of sense of place, evaluation of local environmental attributes and expressed concerns related to local development on willingness to and current participation in local municipalities will be discussed for a comparative analysis (2011 vs. 2016 data).