Lost in Regulations: Digitalization as the Key to Transparent and Efficient Building Permit Evaluation in Estonia

Abstract: The Estonian building permit process has evolved from paper to digital systems but remains document-centric and fragmented. This study identifies key issues in the Estonian building permit process using the Design Science Research (DSR) framework, combining secondary data analysis, semi-structured interviews, and theoretical analysis. The findings show that the primary challenges are inconsistencies and subjectivity in decision-making, lack of procedural transparency, a generally worded legal framework, and fragmented and non-standardized requirements. This study proposes introducing a pre-consultation phase to permit processes and provides a foundation for developing an artifact that streamlines said process.