The article analyses the use of cultural programmes and trash as tools for urban speculation in Tallinn, naturalising an urban strategy that entails an extensive real estate revaluation and socioeconomic intervention. Through an anthropological perspective focused on the use of the terms “potential” and “trash” in relation to the central-north shoreline, the analysis shows how these speculative narratives were mobilised to justify a capitalist development of the area. As a result, the area was framed as moving towards completion and as a playground for cultural activities in order to increase the real estate value and visibility of the shoreline, therefore allowing real estate developers to exploit the synergies generated and make profit from the revaluated plots. As the case study shows, when an area is classed as having ‘potential’, it becomes defined by the fulfilment of that restrictive conceptualisation, which allows the economy to dictate urban planning and also cultural policy.