Jätkäsaari – city life for the new millennium?
What is the city of the future, and what will the good life there be like? With construction soon beginning on the new district of Jätkäsaari,
west of the existing city centre, Helsinki now has the chance of the millennium to make a planner's dreams come true.
The designs combine top technology, ecological considerations and the centuries-old traditions of city life: streets free from unnecessary traffic with space for pedestrians and trams, garbage removal underground, and a compact fabric providing full potential for true urban culture.
An entire new district flanking the city centre
By the end of 2008, the goods harbour which for decades has occupied a spit of land west of the centre of Helsinki will be moved to Vuosaari at the eastern extremity of the city. In its place, an entire new city district named Jätkäsaari will emerge. Housing for about 15,000 is planned, together with some 6,000 jobs. The construction of a big new urban district from scratch is rare by any standard; hence the enormous interest that the project has aroused.
A real city is for people, not cars
Jätkäsaari will run counter to today's constant growth in the number of cars; this will be a district designed primarily for pedestrians, with excellent public transport. It will have up to three tram lines, and the Helsinki Metro already runs close to the northern edge of the area. Cycle paths are being planned with great care to serve those living and working in every part of the district.
The area will have very few streets allowing vehicular access, and every residential street will be a cul-de-sac. Through traffic will thus be minimal. The principle of minimizing motorized traffic will also apply to waste management. A process has been designed in which sorted household waste will go straight into a pneumatic conveyance system leading to a central underground collection point. This means that residents will not need to avoid garbage collection trucks navigating the narrow streets.
Favouring a car-free lifestyle means a return to the traditional practice of having ground-floor shops in a continuous line along the streets. The plans include as many as five food stores in convenient places, lots of restaurants, and premises for cultural and recreational pursuits. Municipal services such as daycare centres and schools will also be located within walking distance of users' homes.
Detached houses on top of apartment blocks
The Jätkäsaari skyline will be essentially similar to that of Helsinki city centre, comprising buildings five to seven storeys high. However, the plans include a few landmark-type buildings very much taller than that. All the housing blocks are enclosed, with courtyards that can be converted to meet the residents' needs: for leisure pursuits, for socializing, and for children to play in.
Housing for all kinds of Helsinki dwellers
Compared with many other cities in Europe and elsewhere, Helsinki has an extremely homogeneous social fabric. There are no slums, and differing socio-economic groups live close to one another all over the city. Town planning aims to encourage this assimilation.
But the cost of living in Helsinki is rather high by international standards, and there is a housing shortage. The housing authorities are particularly concerned about families in which the parents have low-paid jobs in middle-class professions such as teaching, the police and nursing. Their incomes are too high for them to qualify for subsidized rented housing and too low for them to afford family-size accommodation on the free market.
In Jätkäsaari, about one third of all the housing will be social housing i.e. moderately priced rental flats owned by the City and other non-profit landlords.
See, sense and smell the sea
The future residents of Jätkäsaari will have the sea nearby. The passenger harbour on the east side of the area will remain in its present position, catering for some 3 million passengers per year travelling from Helsinki to Tallinn and St Petersburg and vice versa.
For the residents' enjoyment, a beach will be created on a sheltered cove in the area, with water suitable for swimming. Just off the cove, a little island will be built, and on it will be a church with a view of the open sea from its windows.
By Salla Korpela
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