Planning Review 2025

• Espoon keskus and Vanha-Espoo: pending detailed plans, land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)
• Espoonlahti: pending detailed plans, land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)
• Kalajärvi and Northern Espoo: pending detailed plans, land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)
• Kauklahti: pending detailed plans, land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)
• Leppävaara: pending detailed plans, land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)
• Matinkylä: pending detailed plans, land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)
• Tapiola: pending detailed plans(external link, opens in a new window), land use plans on the map(external link, opens in a new window)

Find out more about planning in your area by clicking on the items on the map below.

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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.

In accordance with the Espoo Story, construction will be concentrated along good traffic connections, especially rails. Urban areas that attract companies and provide a variety of 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, Espoon keskus and Kauklahti plans that develop the urban centres along the Rantarata railway and the metro in the Finnoo centre and Kiviruukki area.

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.

The importance of vegetation and various nature-based solutions in cities will increase as the city structure becomes denser and climate change advances. Urban green helps solve many of the challenges of the built environment, such as global warming, storm water management and loss of biodiversity. In addition, urban green supports the well-being of city residents and creates a comfortable urban space. In November 2024, Espoo decided on the introduction and target levels of a green factor tool for detailed planning. The tool is used to guide how much green area a plot to be built must have, how stormwater is managed and how biodiversity can be supported in yard and garden environments. Read more about the green factor tool.

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 city-wide master plan reaches to 2060.  The master plan is prepared in cooperation with residents, stakeholders and other parties concerned.

The draft master plan was available for public review in the summer of 2024, when nearly 1,500 opinions were submitted. In 2025, land use reviews, reports and impact assessments will be carried out to complement the draft. The aim is to make the master plan proposal available for public review in 2026.

Read more about Espoo Master Plan.

In connection with Master Plan 2060, surveying for partial master planning and detailed planning will be carried out in the archipelago. Based on the surveying, 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 planning of the northern part of Leppävaara centre is continuing on the basis of an idea competition held in 2024.
• 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 reformation of the centre of Tapiola continues.
• Keilaniemi will be strengthened as an employment and business area, and the area will be examined for a variety of uses. 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 of the area 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 on the basis of the partial master plan. A district plan will be prepared for the area.
• In northern Espoo, the focus will be on the development of new local centres and low-rise residential areas.
• Planning of detached houses will be promoted, mainly in Western and Northern Espoo.

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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 2024.

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.

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.

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.

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, both in the pending master plan for 2060 and in individual detailed planning projects. The city-wide master plan will enable the establishment of a common vision of the objectives of transport development and the steering of development. The key themes include the completion of the public transport network, city centre areas that emphasise pedestrian traffic and continuous and smooth cycling connections. The completion of the update of the cycling promotion programme in 2025 will define the key measures.

Urban logistics and the space it requires are important in a city that is growing in density. During 2025, the aim is to establish an overall picture of urban logistics in Espoo, provide a vision of the development of transport and distribution traffic and the impacts on movement and use of street space.

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 Information about traffic website. We are developing the sharing of traffic data on the website and map service.

The experts of the City Planning Department participate in the planning work for the regional transport system. The MAL 2023 plan has been finalised and used as the basis for an agreement between the state and the municipalities in the region at the end of 2024.

The key themes for 2025 are the initiation of the regional transport system planning and the preparation of the new MAL term, as well as the need for cooperation with the state authorities regarding roads, including the establishment of an administrative category for roads.

The Espoo City Railway will be built around the current railways from Leppävaara to Kauklahti with the aim of completing it by 2028. In cooperation with Kirkkonummi, the City Planning Department has continued its investigation of a location for a depot serving the commuter train services of Espoo and Kirkkonummi. The planning will continue as part of the detailed and master planning in 2025.

The Espoo and Kauniainen noise abatement action plan was completed in summer 2024. The plan sets out measures for improving the effectiveness of noise abatement as well as long-term goals. The 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 and and at Helsinki Airport. These are mainly the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, the Uusimaa ELY Centre and Finavia Oyj. The noise abatement action plan also includes measures to control noise from events and construction sites. The action plan is based on a noise mapping carried out in 2022.

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.

The Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council has initiated the preparation of a green transition sectorial regional plan. The preliminary themes to be considered include energy, technical maintenance, livelihoods, mobility, resources and attractiveness of nature and the environment, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation. The intention is to update the sectorial regional plan for the Helsinki region with the new themes and to leave the existing plan in force in other respects. The aim is that the Regional Assembly could approve the plan in 2027.

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