I have to admit it: I miss urban planning. Maybe in spring 2017 I come back to urban planning department of the city of Espoo. In June, there are some decisions of the funding I have applied or where I would be employed if I continued my student leave with another 1,5 years.
Anyway, Helsinki has its brand new master plan. It is innovative and up to date and even pioneering. The most important extensions of inner city are bulevardisations of the free ways. I Google Mapped the nearest Free way of my neighborhood. It is also the one that extends deepest into CBD of all the free ways. Now is the time to debate in which areas there should be master or detailed plans started. Länsiväylä would be ideal to start with. Drivers of the Länsiväylä suffers the least from the change because they have already drove the longest via the free way and accessed CBD much faster than from the other directions. In the surroundings of Länsiväylä there is plenty of potential for innovative growth and demand for professionals according to earlier studies (Inkinen & Kaakinen 2016, Kiuru & Inkinen 2017) In the blue area in the satellite picture could be mixed for example high rises of offices and apartments with sea views. Area would need just a little filling into sea. Some small islands and the banks of the free way are already existing potential construction areas. One of the advantages of the infill is, that the buildings would block the noise from the free way to important recreation areas like parks, jogging paths and sand beaches across the bay. It is also wise to develop areas that have been concluded as one of the most potential clusters to grow. Picture 2 shows the innovation potential of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Visualisation is poor just in case of southern Helsinki where symbols of potential should be more northern than in the picture. These areas include the bulevardisation of Länsiväylä. There is especially a huge potential of innovative growth and knowledge intensive establishments along the today free way. There is also demand of more apartments for professionals. All in all Länsiväylä would be great as one of the first inner city extensions of the new master plan.
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Photo by Rob Hurson
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July 2018
AuthorJuho Kiuru, geographer living in Helsinki, Finland. |