Espoo is growing and we need more homes, services, jobs and recreational opportunities for our residents. The purpose of planning is to ensure that enough housing construction is being planned for the growing population. Planning also ensures that the places relevant for daily life, such as schools, recreational areas, shops and workplaces, can be reached by foot, bicycle or public transport – without forgetting driving. 
One of the important tasks of planning is also to ensure that residents will still have the opportunity for recreational activities in a natural environment and that natural values are not weakened. A good living environment is verdant and includes local recreational areas. The consistency of an ecological network and the adequacy of carbon storages and sinks are ensured. The aim is to achieve a pleasant and safe living environment and smoothly running daily life.

In the Planning Report, we annually provide information about the current state of urban planning. Each plan has its own webpage where current information about the progress of the plan is continuously available.

Zoning objectives 2024

We are planning sustainable options for different lifestyles

Diverse housing construction from blocks of flats to detached houses is being planned. Urban centres and areas by efficient public transport connections emphasise the construction of blocks of flats; elsewhere, the construction of detached houses is more prominent. The individuality of residential areas will be enhanced by protecting their characteristics in complementary planning.

Urban areas by rails

In accordance with the Espoo Story, construction will be concentrated along good traffic connections, especially rails. Urban areas that attract service sector companies and provide jobs are being planned around the stations of the West Metro, the City Railway, and the Jokeri Light Rail. 
Significant housing points are the Kera and Kauklahti plans that develop the urban centres along the Rantarata railway and the metro extensions in the Finnoo centre and Kiviruukki area.

Vitality, local nature and sustainable growth

For the vitality of Espoo, many different types of livelihood points are crucial: office jobs, commerce or the different operational preconditions of different companies. The Keilaniemi workplace plans are the most important ones among the livelihood plans.
In Espoo, local nature can be accessed by anyone. The aim is to ensure and increase the green aspect in city centres as well. The significance of recreational areas as part of the city structure will be enhanced. The numerous valuable cultural environments in Espoo will be protected through planning.  
The themes of sustainable development will also be made more visible in detailed planning.  Through planning, we will promote a climate-efficient city and way of living. Read more about the climate efforts of city planning.
Sustainable and smart urban solutions make daily life and movement smoother.  When we improve the preconditions of public transport, walking and cycling, traffic becomes smoother and emissions decrease.

Low-density housing in Kalajärvi, Northern Espoo.Photo: City of Espoo

Master planning in 2024

Espoo Master Plan 2060

The city-wide Espoo Master Plan 2060 is a general land use and transport plan that guides the development of the urban structure and coordinates different functions. The master plan is prepared in cooperation with residents, stakeholders and other parties concerned.
The City Board approved the objectives of the plan in March 2023. In 2024, a draft master plan will be prepared and made available for public review. During the public review, people can give their opinion on the draft master plan. The draft master plan will be revised on the basis of opinions, statements, impact assessments and further reviews and turned into a master plan proposal.

Read more about Espoo Master Plan.

Planning for the northern and central areas of Espoo

The Supreme Administrative Court issued its decision on the master plan for the northern and central parts of Espoo on 21 February 2024, making the plan legally valid. The plan entered into force on 13 March 2024. With the entry into force, detailed planning in the area will truly start and the planning of detached houses can be promoted.

Master plan for the archipelago

In connection with Master Plan 2060, measuring and surveying for partial master planning and detailed planning will be carried out in the archipelago. Based on the measurements and surveys, the preparation of the partial master plan for the archipelago and the Stora Bodö–Lilla Bodö partial master plan can be continued. The partial master plan for the archipelago will determine the location of holiday housing and other land use in the archipelago. The partial master plan for Stora Bodö–Lilla Bodö will examine the possibility of moderately increasing holiday housing in the northern part of the island. The goal is to use both partial master plans as a basis for granting building permits.

The Waterfront Walkway enables outdoor recreation by the sea. The photo shows the Nokkalanniemi quay area.Photo: Noora Nilsén / MySome

Focus areas of city planning in 2024

  • The competition for central Leppävaara is coming to an end in 2024. The vision will be updated in a wider area than before.
  • Kera will be developed into a new urban local centre. The area will turn into an international example of the circular economy. 
  • Infill development is being planned for the station area of Espoon keskus. The traffic connections in the station area will be improved. 
  • Kauklahti prepares for the expansion of the City Railway. The Lasihytti area south of the railway will be developed as a diverse urban area.
  • The reformation of the centre of Tapiola continues.  The detailed planning of the Kulttuuriaukio area continues.
  • The premises development in Keilaniemi will be supplemented by new residential construction. The recreational use of waterside areas and the Waterfront Walkway will be developed.
  • Otaniemi will be developed into a diverse campus-like city district where the university operations, workplaces, services and living are mixed together. 
  • The construction of the centre of Suurpelto will be promoted with changes in local plans. The northern parts will be planned on the basis of the district plan. City planning is underway on both sides of Ring II.
  • The station areas of West Metro will be planned to be diverse urban centres.
  • The detailed planning for Kiviruukki will continue, based on the partial master plan. The detailed planning of Kiviruukki will continue on the basis of the partial master plan. A district plan will be prepared for the area.
  • Planning of detached houses will be promoted, mainly in Western and Northern Espoo.

The plan reserves

Plan reserve

The plan reserve refers to unutilised permitted building area included in the valid city plans. The legally valid city plans of Espoo include 2.6 million floor square metres of unutilised permitted building area for residential use. Of the amount, about half is for detached houses. In the plan reserve, 1.7 million floor square metres are on empty or almost empty plots. The plan reserve of empty or almost empty plots is calculated to correspond to the apartment production target of about six years. Of all the plan reserve for residential use, about a quarter is on land owned by the city. This calculation used the plan reserve situation in August 2023.

Plots for detached houses

The detached house reserve is distributed around the city in places such as the Gobbacka, Kalajärvi, Kurttila and Espoonkartano and Miilukorpi areas. The volume of the detached house reserve is decreasing.

Reserves for blocks of flats

There is capacity for constructing blocks of flats in Kera and near the West Metro since the city structure has been made more compact along good public traffic connections. In the last ten years, the amount of the reserve for blocks of flats has doubled.

Preparing for growth

Planning ensures a sufficient and diverse plan reserve for the needs of a growing city. In the next few years, significant city plans including floor square metres for residential use will be up for approval, especially in the railway zone near the Kera station and in the Tapiola major district.

Espoo’s first light rail line started operating on 21 October 2023. Light rail line 15 runs from Keilaniemi in Espoo to Itäkeskus in Helsinki. There are 34 stops along the line, 12 of which are in Espoo. The total length of the route is 25 km, of which 9 km is in Espoo. Few people travel the line from end to end – the average distance a passenger travels is about 4.2 km.Photo: City of Espoo

Traffic planning

The aim of traffic planning is to take, in a balanced manner, into account the needs of different modes of travel and user groups as part of the sustainable development of the city. The leading objectives in the joint planning of land use and traffic are traffic safety, smooth flow and operation of traffic, and prevention and decreasing of traffic-related adverse impacts.

Sustainable movement will be promoted in the plan solutions. These include city centre areas that emphasise pedestrian traffic and continuous and safe cycling connections. The preparation of the one-way target network aiming to promote cycling will be continued. The service level of public transport will in the future be ensured with adequate space provisions. In the planning projects, the operating preconditions of public transport are improved by things such as easily accessible stops and stations and good transfer locations.

Traffic planning experts will participate in the preparation of the planning projects of the City Planning Department in close cooperation with master plan and city plan experts. Additionally, we participate in regional cooperation.

Transport planning is based on research 

The City Planning Department collects data about traffic and mobility. Based on this data, we can plan the City so that moving about will be smooth and safe.  

  • Pedestrian and bicycle traffic is monitored at a total of 30 fixed points, and there are also some dozens of changing points and crossings. 
  • The number of passenger boardings in public transport is being monitored and its development is reported on. 
  • In park-and-ride parking spaces, the utilisation rate of the car and bicycle spots in parking areas is calculated in spring and autumn. 
  • Data from car traffic is collected with movable calculation devices and data systems at a total of 150–200 points. 
  • Additionally, crossings calculations and other traffic surveys are carried out on the basis of information requests. 
  • The sharing of traffic data is being developed further in the map service and the websites. Pedestrian traffic censuses are taken in pedestrian traffic centres.

Every year, we publish a transport review. You can learn more about traffic data on our Transport and streets website. We are developing the sharing of traffic data on the website and map service.

Promotion of a pleasant and functional walking environment

In 2022, the elements of a pleasant and walkable urban space and the target-specific measures of two city centres were investigated within the responsibility areas of the City Planning Department.

The work will continue for the three remaining city centres and the promotion discussions will be expanded towards the responsibility areas of the other offices of the city.

City logistics report

Different distribution services will become more common. The role and needs of service traffic are an increasingly prominent part of planning. The change is evident in traffic and the use of common spaces. Taking the varied needs of city logistics into account in city planning and the planning of common spaces becomes increasingly important as the city structure becomes denser. There is the need to form an overall understanding of the current state and future development of Espoo’s city logistics and how they affect movement and the use of street spaces. At the same time, shared principles for the entire city and a shared understanding of the use of plan regulations are needed. The report, to be prepared in cooperation with the Public Works Department, will also consider the option of possible emission reduction measures in relation to freight logistics.

Planning the Helsinki region transport system

The experts of the City Planning Department participate in the planning work for the regional transport system. The MAL 2023 plan has been completed and will now be submitted to the municipalities in the region for approval. On the basis of the plan, an update of the MAL agreement will be prepared and negotiated between the state and the municipalities in the region.

We are looking for a location appropriate for a depot of commuter train services

The Espoo City Railway will be built around the current railways from Leppävaara to Kauklahti in 2022–2028. The state committed in the MAL agreement to covering some of the costs of the city railway with the condition that the municipalities find a suitable location for the depot of commuter train services. The City Planning Department investigated suitable locations for the depot in late 2021. The planning will continue in the context of the master plan work.

We will participate in the planning of the Espoo–Salo direct line

The general plan of the Espoo–Salo direct line was again made available for public review by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency in early 2024. After the approval of the general plan, the City of Espoo will most likely comment on the railway plan prepared by the project company West Railway Ltd.

Noise abatement action plan 2024–2028.

In summer 2024, an action plan for noise abatement is due to be completed. The Espoo and Kauniainen noise abatement action plan mainly concerns the traffic on the main and distributor streets. In addition, some of the actions are related to noise abatement on roads, which is the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and the Uusimaa ELY Centre. In addition, some of the actions concern air traffic noise abatement at Helsinki Airport, which is mainly the responsibility of Finavia Oyj. The action plan is based on a noise mapping carried out in 2022.

Uusimaa regional plan

The Uusimaa regional plan guides the master planning of Espoo. When a master plan is being prepared in Espoo, the plan must take into consideration all existing regional plans. The Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council is responsible for the regional land-use planning of our area.

Uusimaa-kaava 2050 (“Uusimaa Land Use Plan 2050”) is the name of a plan compilation that contains the sectorial regional plans for the Helsinki region, Eastern Uusimaa and Western Uusimaa. The planning of Espoo is guided by the sectorial regional plan for the Helsinki region. The plan compilation became legally valid by the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision on 13 March 2023, and there were no amendments to the Espoo area in legal proceedings.

The Regional Council has identified needs to supplement the Uusimaa-kaava 2050 plan compilation. The updating will likely begin in 2024.

You can view the current regional plans on the website of the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council(external link, opens in a new window).