6 • 2002
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City planning from the driver’s
seat? The competition for migrants and new companies taking place between the municipalities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area has forced Helsinki to search for new land for development and to increase plot ratios in low-density suburbs. The new harbour in Vuosaari will free several square kilometres of land for residential development. An estimated 34,000 residents will move to the new housing areas in the present West Harbour and the harbour area in Sörnäinen. The general plan of Helsinki aims at absorbing large numbers of migrants, but the proposed traffic arrangements are conflicting. Underground parking facilities for hundreds and hundreds of cars are being dug in the heart of the capital - in an area that has excellent public transport services. The idea of the city centre tunnel is to make shopping trips to the centre as easy as to the hypermarkets along Helsinki’s ring roads. Transforming the harbours into residential areas will bring several thousand more cars into the city centre. We are already choked by exhaust fumes at the busiest street crossings, and the results of air quality measurements are disturbing. Nearly half of the road users in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area would be willing to place restrictions on car traffic. The City of Helsinki intends to restrict the use of private cars in the future Jätkäsaari housing development. The planned number of parking spaces is only half the normal, and residents would be encouraged to cycle, walk and utilise public transport and as well as car sharing. Changing attitudes is by no means easy, as the present Neo-Liberalist trend includes the dream of a private car, created through image marketing. In Finland, 55% of all journeys are made by car, 35% by light traffic and only 10% by public transport. Traffic causes approximately one fifth of all Finland’s carbon dioxide emissions and thus accelerates global climatic change. Moreover, one in five people in Finland are affected by the harmful effects of traffic noise. Although journeys of less than seven kilometres within the capital region can be travelled quicker by bike than by car, Helsinki’s network of pedestrian streets and cycle routes is still only in an early stage of development. At present, the hourly rate of buses leaving from Helsinki for Espoo during rush hours is 120 while the number of private cars can be counted in the thousands. Car traffic is increasing rapidly. This necessitates the construction of the westbound metro line, and future building development in Espoo should be based on that. It would be wiser to direct car drivers to do their shopping in the future in Keski-Pasila and reserve the historical centre of Helsinki for culture and specialised retail services. Planners have the challenging task of solving how to create attractive, liveable and urban centres for suburban areas, so that people from all the housing areas would not have to drive to the centre of Helsinki to experience urban culture. Helsinki with its islands, green zones and surrounding municipalities of low population densities, is one of the most congenial capitals in the world. To preserve these unique qualities in the future we need a general plan for the entire Helsinki Metropolitan Area. An old working class area undergoes transfiguration This issue also covers new office and educational facilities. The Arabia area is an example of transforming an old industrial area into a centre for design, culture and education. The new office facilities of the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health and the Senate Properties are examples of insight into the spirit of a locality. The modest industrial building with its silos has been skilfully refurbished as offices. The extension is pertinent and the in-situ brickwork pays homage to the industrial tradition of the area. Old industrial milieus are much in demand today. A new generation has taken the lead, and businesses have come to respect the historically layered structure of urban culture and the added value it brings. Hopefully, old harbour buildings and cranes will be retained in Helsinki’s future waterside housing areas as reminders of the city’s rapidly changing face. 20.11.2002 |
