4 Vuosaari: suburb of the third millenium

Including existing suburbs built in 1960's, Vuosaari will eventually be composed of six suburban areas. Final total population is estimated to be 37 000 inhabitants. A gross floor area for housing of 1 500 000 m². Construction time will span between 1990-2010. It is estimated that 13 000 jobs will be created. (Helsinki City Planning Department 1996). Traffic roads, metro line, and main service network have been implemented, the construction of housing areas will be continued in future.

There are some 30 kilometres of coastline available, and the intention is to interfere as little as possible with the natural environment, except for the zone running directly south from the central station of Vuosaari, which will be designed as a park for public use. Some of the housing areas will also be located along the coast. (Helsinki City Planning Department 1996).

Citizens in Vuosaari are active. There are at least five organisations, which have responded to the planning aims of the area. These five organisations have completed a report, where they, area by area, discuss an over-dense building in Vuosaari. In the beginning of this report they emphases on issues of intensifying building in the cost of nature. They note a demand for large green areas to compensate dense structure of the area. In addition, the green areas are necessary for the sake of recreation and biodiversity. They also state that the open spaces are part of the identity of the area.

In addition, there is Vuosaaren paikallisagendaryhmä which has based its ideology on the United Nations Conference in the 1992, where a range of major agreements was signed on sustainability, biodiversity and climate change. The Vuosaaren paikallisagendaryhmä has chosen five view points as follows: nature building and housing, traffic, recycling, employment and social issues.

Furthermore, there is also a concern on the new harbour project. It has been noted that it does not contain sustainable planning. It has been suggested, that instead of this massive harbour construction, the area could be built as a housing area within work places and services. However, limited harbour-related functions would be possible in the area.

It seems, that in Vuosaari the interactive and collaborative planning has taken its place. There are certain type of constraints between the policy of the City of Helsinki and citizens of area. They both have announced their willingness to reserve the nature-related landscape setting. However, citizens are very concerned on extensive planning and implementation, which will destroy the nature-related identity of Vuosaari. The area is under transformation process; so it is evident to lean to the identity, which comes from the history of the area, while the settling down is under process. The identity of the area will be formulated through its physical environment but also through social actions and functions.

References

Vuosaari. An urban development by the sea. City of Helsinki, s.a.
<http://www.hel.fi/kkansl/taso/keto/english/vuosaari.html>

Local associations in Vuosaari:
Vuosaaren Paikallisagendaryhmä
Vuosaari-Seura
Vuosaaren Asukastoimikunta
Vuosaari-Säätiö
Pelastetaan Vuosaari! -kansanliike

Websites:
Activist center of Vuosaari <http://www.vuosaari.hai.fi/fokka/>
City of Helsinki <http://www.hel.fi/>
Vuosaari projects <http://www.hel.fi/kkansl/taso/keto/english/vuosaari.html>
Websites of people who live in Vuosaari <http://www.vuosaari.hai.fi/fokka/kotisivuja.html>