Objectives
The project supports sustainable urbanization in Finnish cities and urban areas. It is carried out during 2019 and 2020 in collaboration with Syke, Ministry of the Environment, Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (Väylä) and The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA). Most of the work in the project is carried out in the case cities and regions. Cities and regional councils join the project with their local planning questions. The project seeks answers and solutions to practical planning problems and researches phenomena that affect the urban form. The research is executed in close cooperation with local planners and other agents. The main objective of the project is to produce information about best practices and solutions in planning. The results of the study support the process of the revision of the Land Use and Building Act.
Case studies
The project began with the search for case areas. Municipalities, cities, urban areas, and regions were sent an invitation to join the project at the turn of the year 2018-2019. These case studies deal with distinctive planning problems. Therefore, the project explores a variety of themes and approaches. Research topics include climate change mitigation in master planning, planning questions of areas with decreasing populations, and the integration of spatial planning and transportation engineering.
Results
The case results are summed up into thematic summaries, and handbooks to support spatial planning in the case areas. The final report of the project:
Case studies
The Helsinki region case study was carried out during 2018. The developed method for modelling urban fabrics enables the integration of spatial, transport and service planning as a whole. It also supports the reaching of climate targets and forms a uniform set of spatial data for the planning of the Helsinki region.
The objective of the Vihti case study is to examine how the Nummela city centre is connected to the possible future Espoo-Salo-track railway station in Höytiönnummi, Vihti. The case study aims to identify the urban fabrics elements of the walking, transit and automobile city.
The objective of the Lappeenranta case study is to determine principles for the development of the zone surrounding the walking fabric area of the city centre This is done by identifying the urban fabrics elements, functions and lifestyles in the walking, transit and automobile city.
In the Kuopio city region case study, the focus is on the interaction between urban and rural areas and the functionality of the service network. The key topics in the study are schools in rural areas, rural development and mobility.
The Mikkeli city region case study also focuses on the interaction between urban and rural areas in the region. The case study analyzes the local level dynamics and the future development of areas with declining population.
The Kajaani case study focuses on the dynamics of different types of residential areas. The study concentrates on the development of rural and urban residential areas and the changes in residents' migration behavior.
The Turku region case study focuses on housing dynamics, migration and their impacts on the development of the Turku region urban form. It also takes into account local level dynamics and the changes in residential areas.
In the Oulu region and Northern-Ostrobothnia case the objective is to study the geography of employment areas in the urban structure of the Oulu region. Furthermore, the case study focuses on the sustainability of commutes in the region.
The objective of the Tampere case study is to create A GIS-based tool for calculating the climate impacts of new plans. The tool is developed especially for the use of the master planning process. Syke takes part in developing and evaluating the calculation model.