The City as Operating System

(image from MetroModeler)

An interesting post by Khoi Vinh at Subtraction talks at the usability of cities, and got me thinking of cities not as applications, as Vinh suggests, but as Operating Systems, each running a number of different applications (eg transport, telecommunications, policing, social customs etc) in different ways.

Guidebooks and travel guides function as the 'misssing manuals' of cities, explaining to beginning users, ie tourists and visitors, how to use the Operating System for a particular city.

What strikes me about this paradigm is that while uniformity and standardisation might be good for computer operating systems, it's not such as good thing for cities. We want our cities to be unique, to have their own identity, however confusing non-residents might find it. And yet architecturally cities are becoming more and more blandly similar, and increasingly the typologies suggested by urban masterplanning exercises are about overlaying the same identikit forms over the underlying terrain.

Given that Helsinki is the birthplace of Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system (originally conceived as a portable OS), might we be able to apply a different approach to urban masterplanning to the operating system of Helsinki? The philosophic cornerstones of Linux: interoperability, portability and community might serve as a good set of guiding principles for any mid-21st century city.

I clicked with excitement to a news story that in Korea a city is about to be selected to become Linux City, but the mundane, prosaic reality is that rather than a city built upon the principles of Linux as an open-source operating system, it will merely be "required to install open-source software as a main operating system of their infrastructures, a job which the ministry will support with funds and technologies."

This is a missed opportunity. Imagine a truly open-source city, open to anyone to 'program' the design, development and infra-structure of the city? Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language and SimCity can be our new guidebooks to a user-generated urban morphology.

On Culture

"Culture is who we are, the sum of our beliefs, attitudes and habits. (…) Cultures create artefacts – things people make or have made that have meaning for them. These punctuate the city, typically monuments to past leaders or heroes in the main square or in front of a government building. Religious monuments have pride of place, especially those representing the dominant religion. In most modern cities the artefact might equally be a Henry Moore or Alexander Calder sculpture sited in front of downtown office towers, symbolizing the wealth and power of corporate capital. The meanings of artefacts change over time as new interpretations of history evolve.

Cultures need economic, political, religious and social institutions to provide and enforce regular, predictable patterns of behaviour so that the culture is reinforced and replicated. (…) Cultures pattern how we behave and relate. This becomes the social structure – how we behave in crowds, make eye contact, how much personal space we need or whether we queue for a bus or just go for it.

Our culture shapes how we create and make our places, from the physical level – from the design of street furniture to icon buildings – to how we feel about ourselves and the place. So the scope possibilities, style and tenor of social and economic development in a city is culturally determined. If as a culture we are more closed-minded or strongly hierarchical and focus on traditional values, it can make our culture inflexible and might make adjusting to major transformation more difficult. (…)

By contrast, if our traditions value tolerance and openness, those adjustments to the new world may be easier. Those places that share ideas and have the capacity to absorb bring differences together more effectively. This does not mean their culture is subsumed – identity is still shaped by where you came from. There is, however, sufficient mutual influence and counter-influence, coalescing and mixing over time to create a special fused and dynamic identity, not one hardened into an ossified shell.

These views about how life is managed do not happen by accident – they are a response to history and circumstance. If the culture esteems hard work and the taking of responsibility, the outcome will be different than if it assumes others will take decisions for you. If a culture has an ethos that assumes no one is to be trusted, collaboration and partnership is hard to achieve and bureaucracy likely to be extensive; by contrast, where trust is high, regulation tends to have a lighter touch. (…)

Cities are places where varied publics can come together to co-create a civic realm – a precondition for a confident civic society to uphold rules and justice. This is where citizenship is more important than the ethnic group, clan, tribe, religion, party or cadre allegiance. Cultures and societies that place such an emphasis on citizenship are likely to be more resilient, flexible and ultimately prosperous than those that are divided along lines of ‘blood’ or traditional allegiances.

What we call the culture of a place, whether a village, a city, a region or a country, is the residue of what has stood the test of time. It is what is left and deemed important after the ebb and flow of argument, the fickleness of fashion and negotiation about what is valuable has passed. Culture is the response to circumstance, location, history and landscape. (…) All this leaves people in a specific place with intangible things like views and opinions about their world and the worlds outside; passions about certain things and rituals; the role and importance of higher beings and the spirit; moral codes and ethical positions about what is right and wrong; value judgements about what we think is good, beautiful and desirable or ugly and bad; and attitudes about how we approach problems, conduct our affairs, organize ourselves and manage business.

The values of a culture leave tangible marks: the buildings respond to weather and wealth and the spirit of the times; their quality, design, style or grandeur reflects the values and foibles of the powerful; how good the buildings of the poor depends largely on how well they are empowered; places of power, ritual and worship reflect the role of politics and religion; places for culture like museums, libraries, theatres or galleries from more reverential times demand obedience through their appearance – they seem to say ‘come to our hallowed ground’ – whereas more modern and democratic buildings invite and entice, they are more transparent in style. This is reflected in the materials used, perhaps granite in one and glass in another.

The industrial landscaper too shapes and is shaped by culture. The best factories of the industrial age project the pride of manufacture and production, the worst the exploitation of their workers. Grime and filth live often side by side with the raw beauty of gleaming machinery. Culture spreads its tentacles into every crevice of our lives: how we shop and the look of shops markets and retail; how we spend leisure time and how the parks, boulevards and places of refuge are set out; how we move around and whether we prefer public or private transport; and, most importantly, how and where we give birth to our children and how we bury our dead. (…)

Appreciating culture is even more crucial in periods of dramatic transformation, because it is then that the culture needs to absorb, digest and adjust. Culture, when acknowledged, gives strength in moving forward, even if it’s culture itself that has to change. It then becomes a backbone that can create the resilience that makes change and transformation easier."

Charles Landry, The Art of City-Making p.245-249

Society & Culture (First Draft)

Finnish society is based on egalitarian principles of humanism, tolerance, justice and equality. The wage and taxation structure and a strong welfare state have kept the gap between high and low income earners relatively narrow. At the same time Finland has maintained its position as one of the most competitive economies in the world. However, with continued population growth, an aging population, increased immigration and more spatial segregation, the structure of society faces change over the coming decades.

Helsinki was one of the fastest growing European urban centres through the 1990s and the population is expected to increase by a further 50% over the next 50 years, requiring 70 million square metres of additional residential development to meet increased demand. More people living in the same area will lead to an intensified urban structure and a change in the way that individuals interact and live their daily lives.

Before 1970, Helsinki was clearly divided into working, middle and upper class areas. Social mixing policies in the 70s and 80s greatly reduced spatial inequality, as can be seen in Ruoholahti. Today, in a European context, levels of inequality are low. However, in recent years spatial segregation has begun to increase. Following the recession in the early 1990s the ICT industries, centred in Eastern Espoo and Western Helsinki, recovered quickly and have been growing at an increasing rate whereas, faced with increased competition from abroad, many traditional industries to the east of the city have continued to decline. This has resulted in the beginning of an educational divide between the eastern and western sides of the city, manifest in growing disparities between levels of income and employment. If socio-economic trends continue those dependant on social support would tend to be concentrated in areas to the east and north of the city, with attendant social problems. Espoo, Kauniainen and some other parts of the region would become progressively wealthier and more entrenched enclaves for the well off, especially high paid workers from the IT sector.

As the baby boomers grow to retirement age, the average age of the population rises and as it does public expenditure increases, work input decreases and the preconditions for economic prosperity deteriorate. This problem affects a large number of western countries and a common response has been to allow increased immigration. Although Finland has a history of social homogeneity, it also has the lowest proportion (2%) of foreign citizens in the EU. The successful integration of immigrants is one of the main challenges facing Finnish society over the coming years. 5% of Helsinki’s residents are foreign citizens, with the largest groups from: Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Somalia, Serbia, China, Iraq and Germany. The policy has been to spread the housing of immigrants across the city however, the residential patterns of recently arrived immigrants reinforce existing spatial segregation in the city, as highly educated immigrants tend to settle near the concentrations of high tech industry to the west, whilst the less well educated in areas to the east and north.

In an increasingly globalized world, culture is playing an ever more important role in differentiating one place from another and reinforcing a sense of identity and common purpose within a community. Helsinki is the cultural capital of Finland and in 2000, on its 450^th anniversary, was one of nine European Cities of Culture. In the metropolitan area cultural industries employ around 27,000 people and turnover €4.8 billion, 9% of the total turnover for all industries in the city. Helsinki is the centre for many of Finland’s creative institutions and industries including museums, galleries, concert halls, stadia, commercial designers, artists and musicians. It is also home to the national television and radio channels, newspapers and magazine publications, as well as to an extensive regional press. A number of cultural festivals take place in Helsinki throughout the year. The largest, the Helsinki Festival, held every August, includes concerts, exhibitions and a Night of the Arts.

There are around 80 museums in the city, the largest being the National Museum of Finland. The University of Helsinki contains a number of important museums including the University Museum and the Natural History Museum. The Finnish National Gallery is made up of three separate museums: Ateneum Art Museum with more than 18,000 works of classical Finnish art; Sinebrychoff Art Museum with 7,500 works of classical European art; and Kiasma Art Museum with 8,000 modern art works. More than 500,000 people visit these galleries each year. In addition to these state run institutions, there are around 50 independent galleries in Central Helsinki holding exhibitions throughout the year.

In recent decades Finnish media art has risen to international prominence. This field includes video, installations, computer processed image and music as well as sound art. It has been showcased in Helsinki at a number of festivals, galleries and museums. The recent development of new media art and crossover festivals now plays an important part in the cultural life of the city.

Both classical and popular music have a strong presence in Helsinki. The city has 14 music schools with more than 5,000 pupils. The main musical venues are the Finnish National Opera and the Finlandia concert-hall. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Hartwall Arena or the Helsingin Jäähalli. Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, The Helsinki City Theatre and the Finland Swedish Svenska Teatern and a further nine other professional theatres.

Along with other Nordic countries, Finland has an international reputation for high quality design. Helsinki is the national centre for commercial design including jewellery and fashion design, graphic design, furniture design and industrial design. Around 1,500 people in the metropolitan area are employed in design industries. The University of Art & Design is an integral part of the expanding design, media and art complex of the Arabianranta district. The Design Museum exhibits modern commercial and industrial design.

The city has 46 cinemas with 8,800 seats. In 2003, 11 feature length films were produced in Finland, 5 of which were shot wholly or partly in Helsinki. The same year the Helsinki Film Festival (Love & Anarchy) attracted 40,000 cinemagoers to watch 250 screenings of 90 films. The city’s DocPoint Festival is among the world’s 10 leading documentary festivals. In 2004 it screened 100 documentaries in 80 shows, attracting an audience of 14,000.

Finns are avid readers and their use of public libraries is among the highest in Europe. On average Helsinki residents visit a library once a month, totalling 9 million visits a year. In 2000, the city’s libraries had 1,800,000 books and 225,000 items of other materials available for loan. Libraries are centres of culture, learning and information, they act as a meeting point, providing a means of social contact, promoting equality and help prevent social exclusion. Finnish libraries were quick to adopt information technology and today Helsinki City Library has over 300 internet connections at its 27 branches. There are a wide range of university libraries in the region all of which are open to the public. There are 3 extensive cultural centres in the suburbs of Helsinki providing a varied range of artistic and cultural activities to the local population. All three centres have a library and adult learning facilities.

The architecture of modern day Helsinki dates back to the Empire Style buildings of Engel, built in the early 19^th Century. The Lutheran Church and the Palace of the Council of State building on Senate Square are his most prominent works. At this time Helsinki was being rebuilt in stone following a great fire that razed many of the city’s old timber buildings. The Russians, who had recently taken control of Finland from the Swedes, remodelled Helsinki in the image of St Petersburg, the Russian capital. During the 19^th Century most of the city’s houses were still built of timber. There are still many areas of Helsinki with distinctive old wooden houses such as Kapyla, Kumpula, Toukola and Puu-Vilila.

Dating from the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries are the Jugend, or Art Nouveau, districts of Katajanokka, Eira and Ullanlinna. The chief exponent of the Jugend style was Eliel Saarinen who came to prominence with the design of the Finnish Pavilion for the World Fair in 1900. This building was influenced by German Jugenstil, traditional Finnish timber houses and the Gothic Revival in Britain. This style became known as Finnish National Romanticism or Jugend.

The architecture of the 1920s and 30s was marked by classicism and functionalism, as seen in the newer districts of Toolo. The best known functionalist building in Helsinki is the Olympic Stadium. The best known Finnish Modernist architect is Alvar Aalto who moved his office to Helsinki in 1933. His works in Helsinki include the headquarters of Enso, the Social Insurance Institution building, the Academic bookstore, the Hall of Culture and Finlandia Hall.

The 1990s produced such major public buildings as the new Opera House; Mantyniemi, the official residence of the President of the Republic at Meilahti; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma by the American architect Stephen Holl, one of the few major projects in the city to be designed by a foreign architect. The decade also saw a large amount of conversions of old industrial properties for cultural and other activities.

Helsinki has developed as a balance between the urban and nature. Fingers of green stretch from the rural hinterland towards, and sometimes into, the city centre. These narrow parks are important recreation area for the city’s residents. The close proximity of nature makes outdoor leisure pursuits easy. The city has more than 500 kilometres of hiking and jogging tracks and 950 kilometres of cycle paths. There are over 350 sports and ball fields and 70 municipal playgrounds. During the winter the city maintains over 200 kilometres of ski trails as well as eight ice stadia and more than 70 outdoor skating rinks. There are 14 indoor swimming pools and, during the summer, two outdoor pools and 26 beaches that are clean and safe.

Helsinki has hosted a number of international sporting events including the XV Olympiad in 1952, the first World and two European Athletics Championships, World and European Championships in ice hockey and figure skating, and European Swimming Championships at the Makelanrinne stadium. The Helsinki City Marathon is held in August and attracts runners from all across the world.

Themes- Housing (Continued)

Planning and Housing examples
This post contains some background and some examples which I will expand on and add to in the coming weeks all the areas below are mapped in the google earth helsinki map on the side bar.

Population and Housing Overview
Current population is approx. 560,000. The city has a construction target of 4,500 houses a year, and owning 70% of the land tends to drive development. The city aims to control the amount, quality, and cost of housing in Helsinki. Social mix aim of housing policy is specific and defined, no social segregation is the aim. Average apartment size is 62msq (34sqm per person). Two thirds of the entire housing stock is post war. Housing blocks predominate at 86%.

Prefabrication

Since the 60's estates have been built as integrated neighbourhoods using mostly prefabricated methods of construction. Precast concrete block construction for quick and easy assembly and weatherproofing. Row and single houses tend to be timber frame come concrete breeze block.

Following the 2002 city plan Key planning areas for the Helsinki Planning Department are identified. They each have their own strategic aim within the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Below are listed some planning schemes, recently completed, ongoing, and future.

Recently Completed

Pikku Huopalati
Late eighties and early nineties development on reclaimed land. Some post-modern styling which has dated.

Ruohlahti
A redevelopment from the 90's which includes the rope factory offices, and housing. A successful extension to the centre of Helsinki.

Herttoniemenranta
Herttoniemenranta or the Herttoniemi Waterfront is a new urban residential area for 9,000 inhabitants located by the sea some 7 km to the east of the city centre. Herttoniemenranta is a high-rise area, but there is a wide employment area nearby on the Herttoniemi industrial estate.

The main commercial services are located near the metro station in the centre of Herttoniemi.

Ongoing

Arabianranta

North East of the City of Helsinki goal to make it a kind of Virtual Village (of 7,000) knowledge centre see webpage (helsinki virtual village).
The aim is to make it a key centre for design and industry and with University of Art and Design Helsinki and other educational institutions as well as area residents all located there. Also housing here is a good example of designed blockhouses with reserved money for purchased art for the urban fabric.

Vikki
Ecologically developed area or green zone. Viikki has become a green university campus district. The Viikki Science Park is at the heart of the new town district. The Science Park is a centre for research, study and entrepreneurship focused on biology and biotechnology that has grown up around Helsinki University institutions. At present, some 7,000 people live in Viikki. By the year 2015 the number of inhabitants will grow to over 15,000. The number of jobs in Viikki will be 7,000–8,000 and the number of students around 6,000.

Future Projects

Sörnäistenranta-Hermaninranta
The Harbour area of Helsinki is being moved to Vuosari and the whole 117 hectare area redeveloped marking a major addition to the city centre. With 15,00 inhabitants, 6,000 jobs and a new metro station.

West Harbour
Another harbour redevelopement and extension both of Ruohlahti and the city centre.

Kruunuvuorenta
Laasjasalo oil terimanl will be closed down in 2010, and the terminal and surrounding district will be redeveloped into a city neighbourhood of 10,000 people with 50,000msq of office space. Project from 2010-2025-

Kuninkaantammi
New area in historically rich are for 5,000 people.

Pasila
Central Pasila and old railway yards
An extension to the cenre built in the 70's and 80's but because of the relocation of the harbour and railway requirement change a large redevelopment will take place. Construction to begin 2010. To provide for 2,000 residents and 10,000 jobs.

Töölönlahti
The end of Helsinki's central park and start of the centre of Helsinki. New music centre which has started construction. in many ways the realisation of Aalto's plans for this area of Helsinki previously and sort of sums up the advantages and disadvantages of the methods of development in Helsinki today.

HOUSING EXAMPLES

Some Housing projects which were in the 0405 Finnish Architecture awards judged as best Finnish built Architecture between 2004-2005 are below only the three below one in housing category.

Helsingin Arabianvillat Housing Company
gunnel Nymanin piha 2, Helsinki
by ARK-house architects. 0405 winner

Helsingin Ahomansikka Housing Company,
Nuppukuja 5-7, Helsinki
by Kirsti Siven & Asko Takala Architects
www.arksi.fi 0405 winner



(photo of Lehtovuori House)
Lehtovuori House , helsinki
by A-konsultit Architects
www.a-konsultit.fi 0405 winner

Kamppi centre
mixed use in the centre of Helsinki by Davidsson Architects

an example of a loft apartment conversion ( a rare thing in Finland) by the same firm in Vantaa.

Background Opinion to the 2002 city plan and general Helsinki town planning policy.
Two things strike me about the 2002 planning policy which are not stated . Firstly they borrow much from Aalto's and Saarinen's masterplanning visions for Helsinki (see Töölönlahti ) Secondly a reinforcement of a largely successful creative Industries planning policy which has been in place in Helsinki since the economic crash on 1991-1993. The strategic goals being;

• Developing Helsinki as a centre of science and research and the new knowledge-based industries
• Improving traffic and communication links
• Consolidating the cultural profile of the city
• Developing a high-quality urban environment
• promoting the city internationally and creating new international networks.

The history of this is that a company called Comedia consulted for Helsinki and wrote a report for them to this effect. This policy in some way predates but matches the book 'The Creative City' by Charles Landry founder of Comedia. This is more famously put forward by Richard Florida and his creative class theories which have been welcomed in many cities as well as Helsinki. Although perhaps any advances made by Helsinki city can be put more firmly at the door of Nokia a private company than any city effort, the city strategy in any event ties in with commercial realities pretty well.

Comment
Prefabracation in the housing sector has been taken to a high level in Finland but has this stifled design and creativity in this area also. Are there opportunities for looking at more diverse solutions within the prefabricated methods currently employed by all major builders in Finland? I take this as implied in the brief, and that they are well aware of this. Plan shows desire by authorities to decentralise within Helsinki and to add distinctive character to different developments.

References

City Planning Department webpage
Estonian Architectural Review- From Economic Policy to Creative City Ideas - The Helsinki Experience.
Finnish Architects.com (some firms with examples of their work)

Perfect City Article

Perfect City is an internet forum concerning the future of the worlds cities. It has a number of interesting posts and it is well worth a look. An article has been published on their website today about the Team Helsinki project. http://www.perfectcity.net/2007/02/26/team-helsinki/#more-71

The Great Urbanist Game

(This title references an article by Catherine de Zegher in an exhibition catalogue of drawings, models, prints and writings by the Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys. The exhibition presents the visionary global architectural project ‘New Babylon’ which was developed by Constant Nieuwenhuys between 1956 and 1974. He was profoundly concerned with the issues of ‘unitary urbanism’ and the future role of art in an advanced technocratic society.)

Game 1

When you ask a child to describe and think about what a city could be like in the future, their response and aspirations are part projection. Their psychological contemplation of this question is about remaining in the present and potentially about adding ‘things’ from the future into their current space.

This could also be looked at this the other way round: instead of trying
to guess the unguessable, imagine the idyll and work backwards from there,
tracing the changes that bring about the dream. (Lead – 14^th
February 2007)

Game 2

‘People need to live, work, travel, eat, consume, respond, play, grow, create, rebel, disrupt, communicate, migrate, wander etc in the 21st Century city’

What is daily life in a city? Where does the modern flanuer wander? Do they wander the streets or the World Wide Web? They do both at the same time. What is architecture is the often placeless age of electronics and technology?

A
multidisciplinary design approach can work in terms of designing ‘clever’ places
that are adaptable and ever-changing. The iconic architecture of ‘future cities’
is no longer the target but instead the non-existence of design and its
replacement with a generic way of thinking. The city becomes the canvas of
people’s lifes and it is truly usable. (Monospace – 14^th February
2007)

Game 3

Bridges and Parks.

Bridges link 2 fixed points over something. They are elevated; exist on a different layer in a city to a park. They are primarily to get you from A-B, to traverse, commute, and wander. Although you may meet on bridge and take in the view, there is no other reason to be there than to get from one chosen destination to another. What else can happen between these fixed points? Can a bridge be a park also?

Parks suggest leisure, green space, children’s space. Maybe parks should not be perceived solely as a space you occupy when you are not working/consuming. As the modern flanuer knows with access to open air wireless in some European cities, parks are and could be the new office hubs of the 21^st century.

Themes - Geography (first draft)

Physical Geography

• 338,000 square kilometres, of which 10% is water and 69% forest;
• 187,888 lakes, 5,100 rapids and 179,584 islands;
• Europe's largest archipelago, including the semi-autonomous province of Åland

Finland is situated in northern Europe between the 60th and 70th parallels of latitude. A quarter of its total area lies north of the Arctic Circle. Finland's neighbouring countries are Sweden, Norway, and Russia, which have land borders with Finland, and Estonia across the Gulf of Finland. Forest covers about 75 per cent of Finland, while bodies of water - mainly lakes - cover almost 10 per cent. Finland is the most heavily forested country in Europe, with 23 million hectares under forest cover. There are approximately 190,000 lakes and about 180,000 islands. Europe's largest archipelago, which includes the self-governing province of the Åland Islands, lies off the south-west coast.

Helsinki geography
Total area 686 sq.km
Sea 500 sq.km
Land 186 sq.km
Shoreline (mainland) 98 km
Islands 315

Weather

The climate of Finland is marked by cold winters and fairly warm summers. In the far north of the country the sun does not set for about 73 days, producing the white nights of summer. In winter the sun remains below the horizon for 51 days in the far north.In summer the temperature quite often rises to +20 Celsius or more and occasionally goes close to +30 in southern and eastern parts of the country. In winter, temperatures of -20 Celsius are not uncommon in many areas. Finnish Lapland invariably has the lowest winter temperatures. The mean temperature in Helsinki in July is +17 Celsius and in February -5.7 Celsius.Helsinki is a summer city of parks and water. But lots of opportunities for skating and ice fishing on the Baltic in winter. The Baltic is the least salty sea in the world, its closer to freshwater and as its also the youngest sea there are relatively few fish adapted to it yet.

Average maximum and minimum temperature ( ° C ) for the period 1961-1990 in Helsinki.

	Helsinki		Milan		London		New York
Month	max.°C	min.°C	max.°C	min.°C	max.°C	min.°C	max.°C	min.°C
January	-2	-7	5	-2	7	0	3	-4
February	-2	-8	8	0	7	1	5	-3
March	1	-4	13	3	10	2	10	2
April	7	0	18	7	13	3	16	7
May	14	6	22	11	16	6	22	12
June	19	11	26	15	20	9	27	17
July	21	14	29	17	22	11	30	20
August	19	13	28	17	21	11	29	20
September	14	8	24	14	19	9	25	16
October	9	4	18	8	15	6	19	10
November	4	-1	10	4	10	3	12	5
December	0	-5	5	-1	8	1	6	-1

Demography

• 5.3 million, 15.5 inhabitants per square kilometre
• 62% live in towns or urban areas, 38% in rural areas
• Principal cities: Helsinki (561,000), Espoo (232,000), Tampere (204,000), Vantaa (187,000), Turku (175,000) and Oulu (129,000)
• About one million people live in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
• Finland has a Sami (Lapp) population of 6,500

Post-war demographic changes have been quite radical in Finland. Notably in the 1960s, Finland saw what may have been the fastest rural depopulation among the western industrial countries, and a corresponding change in the structure of the economy. More than 600 000 people left primary production. Manufacturing was no longer creating new jobs, but the tertiary sector absorbed some 300 000 new employees. In ten years, urban population figures increased by about 600 000 and the urbanization rate went up from 38.4% in 1960 to 50.9% in 1970. Rural depopulation continued, with people moving from the outlying areas of rural municipalities to the centres. Thus, rural municipalities took on an increasingly urban character.

These population movements within Finland took a very distinct course. The primary growth areas were municipalities in the Helsinki area and the major provincial towns. Movement into the towns was channelled into countless suburbs, making town structures uncharacteristically dispersed. As Finland was already sparsely populated, this further decline in the rural population led to cuts in public services.

The Finnish economy was unable to adapt to these structural changes, and in consequence some 200 000 Finns left the country in the 1960s, moving mainly to Sweden, some temporarily, many permanently.

The number of foreigners living in Finland has quadrupled over the past fifteen years. This is partly to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening up of borders, Finland joining the EU, and the internationalization of Finnish companies and Finnish society; but marriage to a Finn is probably still the the most common reason for someone moving to Finland. Most immigrats live in Helsinki Metropolitain area.

Helsinki population

Total population (1.1.2006) 560,905
Men 46.6 %
Women 53.4 %
Finnish-speaking 86.7 %
Swedish-speaking 6.2 %
Population density 3003 inhabitants per sq.km

Language

Sweedish and Finnish are official languages in the 2001 cencus, 91.3% of the population were Finnish speakers and 5.4% (281 000) Swedish speakers. There are about 1 700 people whose first language is Saami and 21 000 whose mother tongue is Russian. Note Russian and English are catching up fast.

The Finnish language is a member of the Finno-Ugric linguistic family that includes, in one branch, Finnish, Estonian and a number of other Finnic tongues, and in the other, Hungarian, by far the biggest language of the Ugric group. Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. The official status of Swedish has historical roots in the period when Finland was a part of the Swedish realm, a period that lasted from the early 13th century until 1809. Another indigenous language is Sami, spoken within the small community of Sami people in Lapland (also known as Lapps). English has become the most popular foreign language and is widely spoken.

Urban Structure

Helsinki's geographical location is on a narrrow peninsula jutting out into the sea. This has had a significant effect on its urban structure. Not until the late 20thCentury were the bays on either side of the centre bridged, so before this Helsinki and its suburbs had to extend north, inland. The centre was thus effectively hemmed in on three sides by water. Traffic problems in the centre are problematic and getting worse because of this. Helsinki now forms a kind of half wheel with the centre at the hub. The city and its numerous town plans have seeked to provide a balance always with nature so the provision of parks has always been there and these extend in fingers and radiate out roughly speaking also from the centre.

Espoo by contrast built up quickly like Vantaa after the second world war and the increasing urbanisation of Finland. Espoo went from a small village to second largest city in Funlnad in a generation. Really a dormitary ciry or suburb of Helsinki structurally it is built up on the opposite bay around Tapiola, and along the main roads towards Turku. So it is roughly speaking orientated perpendicular to the coats in two corridors with another large central park in between.

Vantaa also mainly built up along road and rail lines on a north south axis north east of Helsinki.
Helsinki area is low lying rocky, good for building on, only in Espoo is there more clay type soil areas. Buildings in Helsinki area have traditionally never been over 100m tall about 16 floors is the max at the moment although a tall housing block over 100m is being built in Espoo.

Politics

The Finnish Parliament is celebrating its centenary in 2006-2007. Universal and equal suffrage was enacted in Finland in 1906 the first country to do this in Europe, and the first elections for the Parliament were held in 1907.
There is quite strong often bitter competition between rival cities within the metropolitain area. Central government are analysis the countries number of city and area councils and some in Helsinki greater area may be merged with Helsinki in the future. There are even border disputes, where Helsinki council has tried to buy land in other council areas for development in East Helsinki. The three four main cities making up Helsinki greater area are Espoo Kaunianen, Vantaa and Helsinki. Helsinki and Vantaa are probably more SDP, leftwing while Espoo and Kuanianen are more rightwing voting with slightly higher average income and slightly more Sweedish speakers.

Finland may or may not be part of Scandinavia, geographically not really but culturally yes. See this post about it.

Further Reading
pdf of economic and population info about helsinki.
pdf of facts about helsinki2006

Themes - Business & the Economy

Finland’s Economy: a National Context

The Finnish economy has undergone a profound structural change and rapid economic growth during the past few decades, despite the challenges of its remote location and relatively small population. There has been a transformation from an economy based on agricultural production in 1950 to the innovation based economy of today. There has been a commitment to social equity and a demonstration that this need not disadvantage a country’s economic performance. However, since the recession in the early 1990s this has proved more difficult to maintain and the region has seen greater spatial and social differentiation as well as an increase in inequality of personal income.

The Finnish economy was growing faster than other Western industrialized countries throughout 1980s but, faced with increasing competition from abroad, there was an economic restructuring and a shift from traditional manufacturing to high technology industries. Having industrialised relatively late, manufacturing did not play as important a role in the Finnish economy as it did in other European countries. This made the transition to a new, knowledge based industries less difficult to sustain.

The global economic downturn at the beginning of the 1990s had a more profound affect in Finland than in other western countries, coming at the same time as the collapse of the former Soviet Union: at the time Finland’s largest single trading partner. The service sector and high tech industries have since recovered whereas traditional manufacturing has not.

For centuries Finland has been dependent on world markets and international trade. The opening of the internal European market, Finland’s joining the European Union in 1995 and adopted the Euro in 1999, have supported Finland’s foreign trade. The value of exports doubled during the 1990s from 19% to 38% of GDP. Today, two-thirds of international trade is with other EU members. However, markets outside of the EU, such as the United States and East Asian countries, are more important for Finland than they are for most other EU countries. Since the end of the 1990s, EU membership and globalisation have led to a rapid increase in the flow of foreign investment in Finnish companies. There is now a significant share of foreign ownership in large Finnish companies but the stock of Finnish companies’ investment abroad is still twice that of foreign investment stock in Finland.

With a gross domestic product of US$30,818 per capita, Finland was among the 15 richest countries in the world in 2005. Finnish GDP per capita was 108% & 104% compared with OECD and EU averages and around 75% of that in the United States. Inflation, which had traditionally exceeded that of other industrialized countries, fell below 4 percent in 1986 and today runs at 1%: the lowest in the euro area.

The Finnish economy is now among the most competitive in the world. The Institute for Management Development placed Finland at number six in the world in business competitiveness in 2005 and the World Economic Forum ranked Finland as the most competitive economy in 2004. It was ranked first in terms of growth competitiveness and second in terms of business competitiveness behind the United States.

The Finnish economy is based on a concept of cooperative capitalism. There is a belief in the power of social capital and cooperation, which has been a major competitive advantage for Finnish firms and the economy. Such cooperative practice includes a consensual relationship between workers, management and government.

Finland has a history of successfully utilizing advanced technologies. In the late 19^th Century it was among the first to adopt electricity and more recently it has been amongst the leaders in forest industry technology and shipbuilding, as well as mobile communication technology. According to the Global Information Technology Report of 2004, Finland is the third most advanced country in terms of exploiting IT.

One of the major factors behind the success of the Finnish economy has been the continued investment in research and development. In 2002 Finnish expenditure on R&D as a proportion of GDP stood at 3.51% (around 5 billion euros), 50% higher than the EU average. Two-thirds of this investment came from the private sector. At the same time there has been heavy investment in human capital i.e. education and training.

Finnish researchers are at the leading edge of developments in a number of fields including forest improvement, material technology, environmental technology, neural networks, low temperature physics, brain research, biotechnology, genetic technology and communications. Nokia has been the main driver behind the growth of the mobile communications sector but there is also an established network of small and medium sized companies. In terms of patent applications per capita, Finland is ranked fourth in the world behind Japan, the United States and Germany.

Specialisation is important to a country the size of Finland if it is to be competitive in the future global marketplace. However, its reliance on the mobile communication sector makes the economy vulnerable. Demand for such technologies, products and services have demonstrated susceptibility to global economic slowdowns and in the long term, market growth may not be as rapid as it was during the 1990s. Since the turn of the millennium there has been a marked weakening in growth performance in the Finnish economy. The contribution of the ICT sector to aggregate productivity has been much smaller and increases in employment rates have been low. Income growth is faces further challenges associated with an aging population. The number of employed workers to each welfare benefit recipient could fall from 1.7 currently to 1.0 by 2030.

Finland has among the highest prices in the euro are, 23 % higher than the average. Its remote location, above average taxes, low population density and a relatively small population keep prices high. The level of household debt has traditionally been relatively low but it has been growing rapidly in recent years. Finland has a history of house price volatility which has potential damaging effects on the wider economy: a reciprocal relationship existing between house price movements and general economic conditions.

Business & the Economy in Helsinki

Helsinki is the engine of the Finnish economy and one of wealthiest capitals in Europe. The metropolitan area contributes around one third of the Finnish GDP, 1.5 times higher than the national average. In 2004, economic growth in the region was 3.2%. Its status as a capital city, good international connections, logistics network and availability of a skilled workforce mean that most large Finnish companies have their head offices and other important functions in the metropolitan area and it is the favoured location for regional head offices of international companies operating in Finland.

Until the 1960s the local economy was reliant on engineering, printing and textiles. The service industry has since overtaken manufacturing as the main generator of wealth in the region. Traditional industries that suffered heavily during the recession in the 1990s and have never really recovered. The service sector was also affected but has since continued to grow at an increasing rate and today dominates the regional economy.

As the service sector has grown, employment relationships have undergone change. Fixed-term and part-time contracts have become more typical. An increased amount of work is carried out at home or at client’s premises. Combined work and training or employment and retirement are other growing trends.

There are currently around 48,000 businesses in Helsinki employing 280,000 people. The city’s economy is primarily service-based, having gradually moved away from heavy industry. 80% of Helsinki’s workforce is employed in the service sector. 16% work in IT. Unemployment rates remain high and structural unemployment poses a major problem. The unemployment rate in Helsinki is around 7% against a national average of 9%. The region is not as reliant as it once was on the centre for employment. In the mid 1960s the city centre accounted for 75% of all jobs in the metropolitan area. Today that figure has fallen to 40%.

Information technology and financing sectors form the backbone of Helsinki's economy. The IT industry is centred on Western Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. High tech entrepreneurship and start ups are yet to gain prominence in Helsinki. Relatively few start ups have achieved a global market position, despite highly favourable conditions. Despite the decline in manufacturing, Helsinki is still Finland’s main industrial city with strong printing, electronics, textiles, metal and shipbuilding industries. The Port of Helsinki, the fourth largest in the Baltic, is a focus for commercial activity. Biotechnology has a strong presence and is one of the predicted areas of growth in the future. The new Helsinki Science Park at Viikki focuses on biosciences and biotechnology. There are 3,400 retail outlets in the city employing 15,000 people. Scandinavia’s largest shopping centre called Itäkeskus with 190 shops and 27 restaurants is in Helsinki, ten kilometres east of the city centre.

Introduction - Ways of Doing Things - Part 1

“ The urban masterplan is a conceptual framework that offers a strategic diagnosis for cities and our environments. It attempts to encapsulate the multiplicity and interdisciplinary approaches required to develop and implement sustainable and innovative solutions to the programmatic, functional and cultural identity of cities”

Tamara Horbacka – Theme Park, Home Issue 2001

As an artist and educator, this quote resonated with me as it outlines the importance of the notion of ‘roots’ and ‘wings’ in relation to any kind of interdisciplinary activity/practice and in particular the working process and strategy of Team Helsinki.

The ‘roots’ of the city are its programmatic structures, functional necessities and existing and inherent cultural identities. People need to live, work, travel, eat, consume, respond, play, grow, create, rebel, disrupt, communicate, migrate, wander etc in the 21^st Century city.

For me, to give a vision of a city is to allow it to have ‘wings’, to think conceptually and laterally about what a city could be in 40 years time, an almost impossible conception in real terms but this is about ideas, about standing real objectives alongside expansive, playful and conceptual thought.

Themes - Housing (First Draft)

The population of Greater Helsinki is expected to grow from a figure of 1.3 million today to over 2 million in the 50 years time. An additional 70 million square metres of residential development are expected to be needed to meet the demands of this enlarged population. If this additional housing is to be developed in a sustainable manner a number of existing challenges need to be met.

Efforts to improve the housing of workers in Helsinki began during the nineteenth century. After World War II significant measures were taken to subsidize housing through what is known as the Arava legislation. These laws came into force in 1953 and became the basis of a housing policy that helped foster the surge in construction that followed over the next two decades and beyond. This boom in construction has meant that the majority of homes in the region are relatively modern. By the 1980s about 75% of residential dwellings in the city had been constructed since the Second World War.

Population movements during the first half of the 1970s saw a rapid growth in residential construction in the region, when as many as 70,000 dwellings were built in a single year. By the first half of the 1980s this figure had dropped to 48,000 units. Additionally, the type of dwellings being built had changed. During the 1960s and 70s about two-thirds of new dwellings were apartments, and a third houses. By 1980 this ratio had reversed and much of the construction work involved the renovation and refurbishment of existing buildings. Migration into the region continued in the latter half of the 1990s with population growth in the metropolitan area running at 1.5% per annum, compared to an average of 0.5% for other European metropolitan areas.

In 2004 there were 42 million square metres of residential floor area in the Greater Helsinki Area. Two thirds of the housing stock was in blocks of flats, half were owner-occupied and 40% were rented. The various municipalities show a marked difference in the make-up of their residential building stock, with a concentration of flats in Helsinki and large numbers of detached houses in the more affluent suburbs. There are around 300,000 dwellings in the City of Helsinki and a further 300,000 in the wider region. The majority (86%) of homes in the city are in blocks of flats. The size of dwellings in the region is relatively small. In 2004 the average was around 34 square metres/person, this figure having doubled since the 1960s. The average size of dwellings in the city is 62m2.

Since the 1970s housing policy has been based on a concept of social integration, with special attention having been paid to the spatial dispersion of ethnic minorities. The idea has been to avoid the formation of disadvantaged enclaves and deprived neighbourhoods. To a large degree these policies have been successful, making Helsinki one of few European cities without neighbourhoods with concentrations of poverty. However, in recent years the situation has begun to decline and an east/west divide has started to develop.

The private sector housing market in Finland has been prone to instability since the 1980s. House price fluctuations have been greatest in the Helsinki region, due to the strength of the local economy and the effect of inward migration. A boom occurred in the years 1987 & 1988, with real house prices rising by over 50% followed by 3 years of heavy falls, when almost all of the preceding gains were lost and thousands of households were exposed to negative equity. One of the main factors that contributed to this house price bubble was the deregulation of the Finnish banking sector. Before deregulation, interest rates on home loans had been rationed and kept at low levels which, together with generous tax relief, often lead to negative interest rates. When the banking system was deregulated loan to value ratios increased, sometimes to 100%, and repayment periods doubled to between 12 and 15 years. Pent up demand was released and prices soared.

Another gentler but more sustained period of house price growth took place between 1996 and 1999, when real house prices again rose by 50%. It is generally believed that these increases were brought about by a growth in real disposable incomes, at the same time as a fall in real interest rates. In recent years prices have levelled out and remained stable. Although loan subsidies have been reduced, owner-occupied housing still has a favoured position within the Finnish taxation system. Interest rates for the purchase of new homes are amongst the lowest in Europe. The government operates a mortgage guarantee scheme which covered 25% of new loans in 2004.

The Finnish rental market was regulated until 1995. Government control over rents controls often meant that their real rates were continuously falling and consequently supply was restricted. Since deregulation rents have risen considerably along with the supply of rented accommodation.

Public housing in Helsinki has an international reputation for its attractive design and its mix of tenures. In Helsinki 18% of dwellings are owned by the state, with rents set below the market rate. The City of Helsinki owns 55,000 residential properties which are home to 100,000 of its inhabitants. There is no upper income limit for public housing in Finland although it is assigned on the basis of need. Nearly three-quarters of Finland’s population are eligible for social housing programmes and even relatively high income earners live in government subsidized housing. While public housing is in physically good repair there are increasing problems with vandalism, crime and property repair. If these issues are not adequately addressed there is a danger that those tenants with greater mobility i.e. the better educated and those with higher earnings will move out, leaving public housing as a last resort for those with no other option. Something the region has strategically avoided until now. Although public housing and socially equality are in decline, compared to many other European cities, it is still at an early stage.

Recently, the City of Helsinki has been aiming to increase the total housing stock by 3,500 units a year. Since 1997 an average of 3,000 dwellings have been built per annum, and since 2003 this figure has been around 3,500: in line with the city’s targets. 23 public housing corporations account for a third of the total number of new homes built each year. Current spatial policy results in most new housing production being met in existing urban areas, tending to be concentrated on major development sites of between 2,500 and 10,000 homes, quite often on former industrial sites. These large developments are often controversial with local residents as their scale is likely to greatly affect the existing character of an area. Municipal authorities produce detailed plans for new developments which are tendered on a combination of price and quality to private sector developers.

Around half of Finnish income tax is collected locally by the municipalities and is used to fund the provision of local services and infrastructural investment within the individual municipalities, as opposed to them being funded centrally. The result of this is that individual municipalities compete for high income (high tax paying) residents, with housing and other services for lower income earners being put under pressure. Property taxation was introduced in 1993 with municipalities able to levy property taxes at rates between 0.22% and 0.5%. These only account for 2% of the municipalities’ total income compared with the 50% generated from local income tax.

One of the major issues concerning housing in the Greater Helsinki area is the imbalance between supply and demand, with a lack of development sites resulting in an upwards pressure on house prices. Compared with the rest of the country, prices of homes in the region are as much as double and rents one and a half times as much. For historical reasons, the municipalities own a large proportion of the land within their borders. This is particularly the case in Helsinki where around 70% is owned by the city. The municipalities are able to exercise a large degree of control over housing production through their direct influence on the housing corporations and their release of development sites in their ownership.

The general shortage of sites in the regions may partly reflect the municipalities’ disincentives to provide sites for new housing, as they are responsible for financing expensive infrastructure required to support population growth. The current system causes municipalities to balance the gain from tax income against the added cost of new infrastructure and services. They are disincentivised to release land for social housing schemes because of the resulting imbalance between tax income and the cost of services. Another factor restricting the supply of new housing is the lengthy and bureaucratic planning procedure.

In Helsinki the city regulates the price and quality of owner occupied buildings by what is known as the HITAS system. In using the system the city aims to provide affordable housing for middle income groups. Around 500 Hitas homes are built on leasehold sites owned by the city every year. The system helps to regulate housing construction and ensures that the price of new homes correspond to their actual build cost. The resale price of Hitas homes are also regulated as part of the system. The city works with a number of major developers in the application of the system.

Population density in the region is very low considering its metropolitan status. In Helsinki there are 3,000 inhabitants per square kilometre which, compared to other European cities, is quite spacious: Dublin 4,300/km²; London 4,700/km²; Amsterdam 4,500/km²; Barcelona 15,700/km²; Paris 25,000/km². For the whole region the population density is a sparse 415 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Themes - Transport (First Draft)

The efficiency of the city’s traffic and transport system is an important factor in its future prosperity, both in terms of its quality of life and general productivity. Cities are increasingly competing to attract a skilled workforce: congestion and an inefficient public transport are not selling points for any city.

On a typical weekday the inhabitants of the metropolitan area make 3.6 million journeys. Almost 30% of these are made on foot or by bike, 44% by car and 27% by public transport. In Helsinki energy use per capita for transportation is double that of the average European city. Reasons for this include low density suburban living patterns and, at a time when the region is becoming less reliant on its traditional centre for the provision of employment, a centric public transport system that is weak in transverse directions. That said, the system is clean and efficient and has an international reputation for such. At a wider scale, the city’s remote position on the edge of Europe makes air traffic and shipping important for international trade and tourism.

Road Network

Since the mid 1960s the population of the metropolitan area has increased by 50% whilst car ownership has quadrupled. At the end of 2001 there 335 cars for every 1,000 inhabitants, with 200,000 private cars registered in the inner city.

Road traffic into the Helsinki is served by 9 radial arteries and 3 ring roads. Ring I is 7-9 kilometres from the city centre and Ring III 13-15 kilometres. An average of 6.3 million vehicle kilometres a day were driven on the streets of Helsinki in 1990, rising to 7.1 million kilometres in 2000. A growth in transverse traffic in the suburbs has led to a fourfold increase in traffic on Ring I since the early 1980s. A motorway network has been constructed in recent decades, linking Helsinki to Lahti and Tampere. Another stretch is under construction which when complete will link Turku-Helsinki-St Petersburg.

Traffic in the city centre is relatively balanced throughout the day, whereas the suburbs see marked rush hour peaks with a significant amount of associated congestion, particularly in the morning. Since the mid 1990s average speeds have fallen on the majority of routes in the metropolitan area and traffic flow has deteriorated. Congestion increases emissions from vehicles and increases fuel usage by up to 60%.

Parking in the inner city is fee based on almost every street. Street parking is reserved for three user groups with the following priority: service and delivery traffic; residents; and people transacting business, shoppers and visitors to the city. In 2002 there were 16,400 street parking spaces available to these groups. Park and ride facilities have been built to reduce congestion and parking requirements in the city centre. Most of these are located at train and metro stations and are provided free of charge. In 2002 there were 3,000 park and ride spaces in use.

Traffic emissions are a major factor affecting local air quality, with cars accounting for 90% of carbon dioxide and around 50% of nitrous oxide emissions. Diesel powered goods traffic is a major problem in terms of emissions and air quality. They are thought to account for 40% of nitrous oxide and over half of particulate emissions in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. In addition to emissions, noise pollution from traffic is becoming an increasing environmental problem across the metropolitan area.

The city centre’s speed limits were lowered in 2004 in an attempt to improve the area’s poor road safety record. The speed limit on most of the city centre’s streets is now 30 km/h; on the larger thoroughfares, main and collector streets, the speed limit is 40 km/h. Outside the city centre the speed limit for main and collector streets is typically 50 km/h; at access streets 40 km/h and in housing areas 30 km/h.

By 2010 the number of cars in Greater Helsinki will exceed 430,000 and traffic flows are expected to be 20% above their current level. The present road network will not be able to accommodate this increase without the prospect of worsening congestion. Helsinki will become more reliant on a well planned, high quality public transport system.

Public Transport

The Helsinki region has pursued a policy favouring public transport since the 1970s, when work began on the systematic development of the network. Low ticket prices and an expanding rail and metro network, together with tighter inner city parking controls, have resulted in growing popularity of public transport. The annual cost of running the system in the metropolitan area is around €100 million per annum with fares totalling €67 million, the difference subsidized by municipal contributions. 221 million journeys a year are made by public transport, accounting for 70% of rush hour traffic to and from the city centre.

The system is managed by Helsinki City Transport (HKL) for the lines that remain in Helsinki and by Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV) for the routes that run out into the municipalities. The system consists of trams, light commuter rail, the metro, local and regional bus lines and a number of ferry services. 500 buses, 90 trams and 45 metro trains serve the public transport needs of the city, with an extensive network of bus and tram lanes in the city centre. Around two-thirds of passengers use the system as their primary means of transport.

Bus routes in the city are drawn up and timetabled by HKL and operated by independent companies. Most routes are radial, entering the city centre from various directions, with transverse routes connecting local centres outside of the inner centre. Most services have their city centre termini near to the Central Railway Station. 340,000 bus journeys are made on an average weekday along 3,200 kilometres of bus routes. Many services operate as feeder lines for the metro and commuter rail systems. Passenger numbers have been slightly decreasing for a number of years, at least partly due to the expansion of the rail network. In the suburbs bus services to the city centre generally operate at 10 minute intervals during peak hours and 20 minutes off-peak and they travel through the city at an average of 26 km/h.

Regional bus lines are managed by YTV in a similar fashion to the city centre routes run by HKL. They have been designed to move people between important points in the metropolitan area and linking those points back to the city centre. Regional services terminate at the new underground Central Bus Station in the Kamppi Centre, a short walk from the Central Railway Station.

Helsinki's tram system provides transport in the city centre and neighbourhoods close to it. It opened in 1891 and is one of the oldest in the world. Today, the network comprises 11 lines and 83 kilometres of tramway. It is operated by HKL with 200,000 tram journeys being made on an average weekday. In 2006 construction started on a new line connecting Kirurgi to Ita-Pasila via Vallila.

The metro opened in 1982, originally as a single straight line, with a fork added in 1998. Today there are 17 stations and 21 kilometres of track, with trains running every 4 to 5 minutes. The metro is very important for commuters in the growing suburbs of eastern Helsinki. 190,000 metro journeys are made on an average weekday and passenger numbers have been steadily increasing since 1991. The metro is managed and operated by HKL. It is interesting to note that when the system was planned in 1963 it was to have a total length of 86 kilometres and 108 stations. This was rejected on the basis that it was too expensive.

The commuter train system is the public transport backbone for the suburbs to the north of the city centre, where it branches out in three directions. It is managed by YTV and operated by VR, the Finnish national rail company. There are 15 train stations in Helsinki, the largest of which are the Central Railway Station and Pasila, and some 54 stations in the wider metropolitan area. Commuters are increasingly using the rail network to access the city centre, with a 50% increase in the passenger numbers since the early 1980s. In recent years the system has expanded, a line to Tikkurila in the north opened in 1995 and another to Leppavaara in the west in 2002. The Tikkurila line has recently extended to Kerava, 30 kilometres north of the city centre and a new line to Lahti opened in September 2006.

Three ferries, operated by HKL, link the island of Suomenlinna to the mainland, with 5,000 passengers using the service on the average weekday.

Helsinki’s public transport system increasingly runs with environmentally sound vehicles, technology and fuels. Vehicles account for 20% of total carbon dioxide emissions in Greater Helsinki. Of this, busses account for 8% and trams for 2%. An increasing number of HKL’s busses run off natural gas, cutting particulate emissions by around 85%. There are a total of 10km of lawned tramlines in Helsinki, which helps to abate noise, capture street dust and enhance the urban landscape. To mark car free day every autumn HKL offers travellers the chance to travel all day for the cost of a single ticket. In 2002, this resulted in a 5% increase in people using the metro and as much as a 20% increase on the trams and busses.

In 1994 the city council set a target to double the amount of cycling in Helsinki. There is now an extensive network of cycle routes covering over 1000 kilometres, with an additional 20 and 25 kilometres of new routes being built each year. There are 27 home district routes whose lengths vary from 12 to 25 kilometres. Adverse weather conditions mean that the main cycling season is from April to October. CityBikes was launched in 2000. 380 bikes can be borrowed from 26 stands around the city centre. A number of offices and departments within the city use more than 600 company bikes for business related purposes.

The city centre now accounts for 40% of jobs within the region. The increase in employment in the metropolitan centres has resulted in an increase in journeys that do not pass through the city centre i.e. from one metropolitan centre to another. The existing public transport system predominantly serves routes into the city centre, where it accounts 70% of rush hour journies. On transverse routes this figure is less than 20% and there has been a significant rise in road traffic in these directions. Any future public transport strategy needs to take into account such land use and movement patterns.

International Transport Links

Helsinki is Finland’s largest port, covering 217 hectares and 8.6 kilometres of quays. Most goods come into and out of the city by sea. The Port of Helsinki handles more than 10 million tons of cargo, 460,000 containers and 380,000 lorries each year. The development of Vuosaari Harbour will take over all goods traffic passing through the port when it opens in 2008. Most years the Gulf of Finland freezes, making icebreakers necessary to maintain shipping lanes.

There are regular ferry services to Tallinn , Stockholm and Tavemunde in Germany, as well as a limited service to St Petersburg. Services operate from Helsinki’s two harbours: the South Harbour and the West Harbour. During the winter around 80 passenger ships leave the port each week, more in the summer months. Passenger numbers have increased from 1.3 million per annum in the early 1980s to almost 10 million today, with more than 3 million a year using the ferry service to Sweden. Following Estonia’s independence, there has been a large increase in passenger numbers between Tallinn and Helsinki. Today more than 6 million passengers a year make the crossing.

The main international airport at Helsinki-Vantaa, 19km north of the city centre, handles 10 million passengers a year, the number having more than trebled since the early 1980s. Domestic flights are important in a country the size of Finland accounting for 30% of passengers passing through the airport. A third runway was completed in 2002 to cope with increased demand. Connection from the airport to the city centre is by regional bus which takes around 40 minutes, although a train link, Keherata, is planned. The airport provides around 10,000 jobs.

Helsinki’s second airport is at Malmi, 10 kilometres north-east of the city centre. It was opened in 1936 and was the city’s main airport until scheduled flights were transferred to Helsinki-Vantaa in 1953. For some time there have been plans to close the airport and redevelop the site a residential district. However, this has proved contentious and its future remains uncertain.

Finland and Russia use the same railway gauge. The rail link from Helsinki to St Petersburg extends on to Asia Minor, China and the Pacific Coast.

With increased car usage, the modal share of public transport has been declining since the 1950s. An expanding population will mean the total number of journies will increase. If further road congestion and vehicle emmissions are to be avoided there needs to be an increase in the proportion of journies made by public transport and/or the length of journies needs to be reduced. At the same time areas of new development need to be fully integrated with a high quality public transport infrastructure that matches the movement patterns of its inhabitants.


Transport - Additional Information and Links

Helsinki has a good basic transport system, with a well laid out road, bus, tram and metro system but with some structural weaknesses that have emerged in the last years of expansion and increased car use. The key transverse or cross city links are weak and emerging centres such as Leppavara are not so well served at the moment, and thus form bottlenecks to traffic flow. The Airport is currently only linked to Helsinki by road, so a Car or Bus journey is necessary, but underground metro line is planned. The metro is also planned to expand West into Espoo, linking some of Espoos' suburban centres to the centre of Helsinki. The centre of Helsinki has a relatively large network of underground facilities (see map) but which are not really coordinated either with themselves or with transport nodes. This is something that could be explored and expanded upon in the future.
The recent rise of large American style shopping malls in the outlying centres has probably increased transverse congestion and pressure on the public transport system in recent years. The transport system in the centre of Helsinki is excellent and coordinated, however the outlying systems tend to function as feeders for the city centre, with little alternatives to a car ride. A key strategic decision to build an tunnel link for the motorway under the centre of Helsinki itself. Also important is the move of the Helsinki port away from the centre freeing up space for planned urban development and altering further the transport requirements of the area.