“Re:Regional” is a diploma work by Sanna Alm and Ylva Hedin, for the Master’s
Programme in Spatial Planning presented at the Blekinge Institute of
Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden. “Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 – International
Ideas Competition” was the starting point of this study. The competition was
launched the 15th of December 2006 and the closing date was the 31st of May.
During the spring term of 2007 we focused on developing and completing our
entry. The competition organizers asked for visionary solutions and fresh
new-thinking. This gave us, as participants, a great freedom of action and
possibilities to form visionary plans for the future. The main assignment was
to illustrate a land use plan for the Helsinki region.
The regional planning perspective permeates every part of this study. When the
entry had been sent to the jury we wanted to gain higher knowledge about
different planning models regarding city planning in regional contexts. Our
diploma work is therefore divided into two main chapters. The first chapter has
a practical orientation and the second chapter is more theoretical:
Part 1. Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 – International Ideas Competition:
Apart from a presentation of our competition entry, the first part of this
study contains information about the competition, the main assignment, required
documents e.t.c. Our proposal “Re:Regional”, that is the regional plan and the
detailed studies, is presented after a review of our process of thought.
We don’t want to see Greater Helsinki develop into a grown-together grey mass
with a centralized and standardized monocentric structure. In our proposal the
three cities Nummela, Hyvinkää and Mäntsälä are being developed and
strengthened. Less pressure is therefore put on the Helsinki metropolitan area
regarding the fast building development that is needed. We suggest that today’s
big city district develops inwards with different projects and solutions
regarding cheaper dwellings, larger living spaces, new living forms and new
forms of urban greenery.
“Re:Regional” shows Greater Helsinki as a region with a multicentric structure,
where old typologies and dichotomies have faded and where centralizing and
decentralizing forces are not seen as opposites. We claim that differentiation
can create integration, therefore the region is divided into areas with
different characteristics and different levels of urbanity. These are the four
so called “Regional Blocks”:
- Helsinki Metropolitan Area
- The mid-dense centres Nummela, Hyvinkää och Mäntsälä
- ”Polycentric Space”, an area within the roads that link Helsinki and the
mid-dense centres together
- Block number four consists of sparse polycentricity, mainly woodland and
agricultural landscape
The comprehensive idea to form an integrated regional structure, with
well-connected cities and smaller communities, can be described as an important
task in many regions today – the fast population growth demands flexible and
multicentric solutions. Our working method “Regional Blocks” can be developed
and applied in other regions where the aim is to create widened but yet
coherent structures.
Part 2. Study objects/Comparison/Discussion:
In the theoretical part of this study we introduce six study objects that we
have chosen together and then divided between us. During the selection of
objects we first and foremost didn’t look at the physical structures, instead
we focused on the underlying aspects – how the cities in the regions have
developed due to different trends in society.
Our study objects and the literature we have analysed:
A CITY CONCEPT - Social City - Sanna Alm – The book “Sociable Cities The Legacy
of Ebenezer Howard” from 1998, by Peter Hall and Colin Ward.
AN UTOPIAN REFORM - Urban Field - Ylva Hedin – The article ”Urban Field” from
”Journal of the American Institute of Planners” vol. 31: 4 from 1965, by John
Friedmann och Johan Miller.
A PLAN OF ACTION - The big city region Portland - Ylva Hedin – The homepage:
www.metro-region.org (available: 2007-10-10).
A DEVELOPMENT PLAN - The Stockholm Region - Sanna Alm – ”Regional
utvecklingsplan 2001 för Stockholmsregionen”, by The Office of Regional
Planning and Urban Transportation.
A STRATEGY FOR URBAN RENEWAL - Urbana England - Sanna Alm – The report ”Towards
an Urban Renaissance” from 1999, by The Urban Task Force.
A MODEL FOR SOCIETY FORMATION - Linear Grid - Ylva Hedin – A vision for the
Helsinki Regions urban structure from 1993, by Arken Arkitekter.
First our study objects are introduced and analysed one by one, then follows a
text where the objects are compared with each other and with our regional plan
“Re:Regional” on the basis of seven factors: Central idea, Density, Green
space, Transport network, Social structures, Planning perspective and The
future. The conclusions are drawn in the chapter ”Jämförelse och
diskussion” (Comparison and discussion). The study objects are also analysed in
relation to different trends in society. Through an evaluation of the study
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