Improving Resilience of Multifunctional Neighborhoods within 15-minutes City Concept: Workplaces Perspective (PARE, Estonia)

Express your interest in SMAR3TS secondment - Your opportunity at PARE (Tallinn, Estonia)

This I3X challenge is initiated by PARE within the SMAR3TS project and requires a secondment with a minimum duration of 30 days (to take place starting from Dec 2025). Fully funded by the European Commission, the four-year SMAR3TS project started in October 2025 and unites 35 partners worldwide to accelerate resilient, restorative and regenerative transitions through research and innovation mobility.

For more info: please see the details in the attachments.

Please note: the secondments are open only to SMAR3TS Consortium Partners.

Necessary skills and capabilities across disciplines

- HR analytics and quasi-experimental causal inference (DiD, synthetic controls, event studies).

- Urban design & public-health expertise (walkability/greenness/food environment measurement; GIS, remote sensing).

- Environmental sensing (portable noise and air-quality monitors) and digital phenotyping (privacy-by-design).

- Economic evaluation (productivity, absenteeism/presenteeism, turnover) and business case modelling.

- Stakeholder engagement & co-creation with employers, commercial landlords, and municipalities.

- Implementation science and impact evaluation (process + outcome metrics).

Examples of challenges that need to be addressed

- Causality & internal validity:

Separating neighbourhood effects from selection (e.g., high-performing firms choosing premium districts). Use natural experiments (streetscape upgrades), phased rollouts, or instrumental variables; triangulate survey, HRIS, and sensor data.

- Measurement:

Standardizing WNQI across contexts; integrating objective GIS/sensor measures (walkability, greenness, noise, PM₂.₅) with perceived quality and usage patterns. Existing studies emphasize activity and well-being but rarely tie to core HR metrics.

- Equity & inclusion:

Ensure interventions benefit lower-income workers, shift workers, and SMEs with limited on-site amenities; avoid displacement.

- Data governance & privacy:

GDPR-compliant handling of fine-grained mobility/sensor data; differential privacy for HR analytics.

- Adoption & scaling:

Align incentives among employers, landlords, and cities; quantify ROI (absenteeism reduction, retention, engagement, productivity) vs. capital/operating costs.

- Environmental externalities:

Coordinating with city policy on air/noise mitigation where evidence shows productivity penalties.

I3X at PARE – About the initiator

1. Background info

Estonian HR Association PARE is a non-profit union of human resource management professionals established in 1993. PARE is Estonia’s national community of HR professionals, advancing evidence-based people practices, strategic HRM, and healthy work ecosystems through advocacy, capability building, and research-practice partnerships. Our website: https://pare.ee/

2. Research Group/Company Department

PARE convenes employers, municipalities, and researchers to co-produce actionable evidence on the future of work, including built-environment determinants of HR outcomes.

Link to the website: https://pare.ee/
Contact:

Contact person in the project is Managing Director Kai Saard, kai@pare.ee. Current project initiator is the Vice Chairman of the Board Maria Kütt, mariakytt@gmail.com

See attachment: Expertise and available technologies at PARE within the SMAR3TS project and examples of strategically relevant I3X Initiatives.

Alignment to Work-Packages (Nutrition, Mobility, Energy, Housing)

SMAR3TS domains that are relevant to the work of PARE organization:

Within the domain of HOUSING:

1) Sustainable cities and communities:

the multifunctional or workplace-neighborhood as a micro-district (5–15-minute catchment) where public-realm quality (shade/green, crossings, seating, noise/air) influences workers’ daily exposures and community vitality.

Example questions:

- Which neighborhood attributes around worksites are associated with healthier daily routines and equitable access to restorative spaces?

- How can employer–city micro-investments upgrade these attributes?

- How can different functionalities (e.g, housing, workplaces, services) be best integrated to support resilience of urban space?

2) Healthy work and mobility:

links between the immediate surroundings of the workplace and employee well-being, micro-restoration during breaks, and active travel at/around work hours.

Example questions:

- Do walkability and proximate green/blue spaces shift sedentary time and affect during the workday?

- Do local food environments around worksites nudge healthier choices?

3) Data-driven decision-making and urban governance:

translating neighborhood features into HR-salient indicators for employers and simple, governance-ready signals for city partners.

Example questions: What minimal, privacy-preserving metrics allow employers to benchmark workplace-neighborhood quality and co-prioritize upgrades with cities?

Alignment to Resilience, Restoration, Regeneration (R3)

- Resilience: Active-travel-supportive and amenity-rich worksite areas reduce sedentary time and promote everyday activity—protective against stress and chronic disease; organizational resilience via higher attendance and performance (Adlakha et al., 2015; Cantley et al., 2024).

- Restoration: Nearby greenspace and restorative micro-break options are associated with better affect and well-being at work; nature-based interventions around worksites show benefits for creativity and mental health (Gilchrist et al., 2015; Lygum et al., 2023).

- Regeneration: Employer–city partnerships can co-invest in public-realm upgrades (shade, seating, pocket parks, safe crossings), improving urban equity and environmental quality (air/noise), with productivity co-benefits. Evidence links air pollution and noise to lower worker productivity and cognitive performance, building a case for environmental regeneration near worksites (Dechezleprêtre & Vienne, 2025; Jafari et al., 2019).

Note:

The expression of interest for this secondment must be submitted via the platform. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and you will be contacted as soon as possible. For any questions, please contact: info@smar3ts.eu

References

Adlakha, D., Hipp, A. J., Marx, C., Yang, L., Tabak, R., Dodson, E. A., & Brownson, R. C. (2015). Home and workplace built environment supports for physical activity. American journal of preventive medicine, 48(1), 104-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.08.023

Cantley, A., Hurley, J. C., Todd, M., McEntee, M., Hooker, S. P., Ohri-Vachaspati, P., ... & Adams, M. A. (2024). Walkability around the worksite and self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity among adults. Health & place, 85, 103143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103143

Dechezleprêtre, A., & Vienne, V. (2025). The impact of air pollution on labour productivity: Large-scale micro evidence from Europe.OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers,14,https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/318cb85f-en

Gilchrist, K., Brown, C., & Montarzino, A. (2015). Workplace settings and wellbeing: Greenspace use and views contribute to employee wellbeing at peri-urban business sites. Landscape and Urban Planning, 138, 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.02.004

Jafari, M. J., Khosrowabadi, R., Khodakarim, S., & Mohammadian, F. (2019). The effect of noise exposure on cognitive performance and brain activity patterns. Open access Macedonian journal of medical sciences, 7(17), 2924. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2019.742

Lygum, V. L., Dupret, K., Bentsen, P., Djernis, D., Grangaard, S., Ladegaard, Y., & Troije, C. P. (2023). Greenspace as workplace: benefits, challenges and essentialities in the physical environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(17), 6689. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20176689