We design Espoo

Elina works in the Master Planning unit as one of the four planning managers. The unit is responsible for drawing up the master plans and land use reviews in the works at any given time. Elina’s work includes guiding the master planning work and coordinating the work of the team.

“The master plan is an interesting level of planning that matches the city’s land use with the rest of the region. Master planning must take into account the regional plan while also giving direction to detailed planning. The master plan defines the direction in which the city will develop in the next decades,” Elina says.

The goal of master planning is to create a comfortable, safe and healthy living environment. According to Elina, many different phenomena and developments must be taken into account in the work.

“Working on the master plan is interesting and challenging. The master plan must reconcile the wishes of residents, decision-makers and the business community in order to achieve a good and sustainable city,” Elina says.

A new City of Espoo Master Plan covering the entire city is being prepared, with goals set for 2060. It anticipates the city’s development over the coming decades.

“Master planning must prepare for and anticipate changes in the long term. This also makes it possible to make shorter-term plans within the master plan,” Elina says.

According to Elina, Espoo is a diverse and interesting city that combines the old and the new. There are many opportunities and much potential in the development of urban culture.

“Espoo is the second largest city in Finland, but at the same time it is a young city. We must balance between urbanisation and preservation of the existing nature. Espoo residents value nature a great deal,” Elina says.

In Elina’s opinion, the best thing about her work is being able to help planners succeed in their work. Master planning allows her to build a better world and good solutions for people and the city.

“It is important that the team is encouraged to brainstorm and achieve a comfortable city, the best possible city. As an Espoo resident, holiday cottage owner and employee, I find it really important to work for these things,” Elina says

Elina hopes that the Espoo of the future will be a vibrant city where a strong nature connection will prevail in the years to come. 

Ruusu studied planning geography and considered a career as a researcher during her studies. However, city planning swept her away. She moved to Espoo’s Master Planning Unit from a similar position in Nurmijärvi.

“Here at the Master Planning Unit, we solve long-term questions. The youngest of us planners may get to see some of the things included in the master plan,” Ruusu says.

Ruusu says that master planning must anticipate changes in the world and influence them. Things such as mobility, energy production and work are transforming. Overcoming the challenges brought about by the changes requires comprehensive and flexible planning.

“The City’s future is full of challenges and opportunities. It’s inspiring to work in this sector,” Ruusu says.

The purpose of master planning includes reconciling the needs of a growing city and the challenges brought on by climate change, for example. As Espoo grows, developing all five of its city centres is important. At the same time, protecting local nature and its biodiversity is an essential part of master planning.

Ruusu would like Espoo to be a pleasant and green city in the future, where the challenges of reconciling different aspects have been solved. Residents would enjoy their urban environment, and sustainable mobility would be easier than before.

The City Planning Unit of the Espoo City Planning Department employs seven landscape architects tasked with planning the city’s landscapes and green areas. One of them is Ina, who started her job in 2021.
“In my work, I aim to design a comfortable and people-oriented urban environment in Espoo that supports people’s wellbeing and everyday life. I mainly work on preparing various detailed plans with a planner and a traffic planner,” Ina says.
Landscape architects evaluate the effects of plans and anticipate the change in the city. According to Ina, the work is multidisciplinary and varied, involving the coordination of large entities.
“The expertise of landscape architects plays a significant role in rising to the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. The increasing density of cities only increases the need for such expertise. Finding solutions to multifaceted problems requires a wide range of experts,” Ina says.
According to Ina, Espoo’s diverse landscapes should be cherished as part of the city’s growth. 
“Espoo has seashore, an archipelago, cultural environments, fields, forests and lakes. These are special areas whose specificities must be preserved. Many Espoo residents agree with this,” Ina says.
As the city structure becomes more dense, the sufficiency, comfort and quality of green areas must be taken into account. In addition to public green areas, a significant portion of urban green areas is found on plots and in city blocks. The greenery of the city blocks is controlled by the Espoo green factor, which Ina helped to develop.
“The green factor controls, for example, the size and diversity of planted areas in yards. Planning for stormwater management is also important,” Ina says. 
Ina hopes that the Espoo of the future will have good solutions for adapting to climate change and combatting biodiversity loss.

The Town Planning Unit employs two planning managers who direct the operations of the Unit.

One of them is Meiri. She worked with Espoo’s urban planning in various areas for a long time before moving to a planning manager position in 2016.

A planning manager participates in city planning from various perspectives. Meiri is the supervisor of landscape architects, place name planners and IT specialists. She is involved in town planning and supports area planning architects in their work. Planning managers are involved in various working groups. For example, Meiri participates in the work of the City Museum.

In her own work, Meiri likes the surprising elements and the vastness of the duties. Developing the operations of the Town Planning Unit requires constant reflection, coordination and anticipation.

“You never know what you’ll encounter next. City planning is multifaceted and fascinating,” Meiri says.

Every employee’s contribution counts. It is everyone’s common goal to plan a good city.

“I hope that the Espoo of the future will be a functional and pleasant city with both places for solitude and places for activity.”

Of Espoo’s values, Meiri highlights the sea and nature. She hopes that Espoo’s shores, archipelago and nature will also be looked after in the future.

Area planning architect Sampo from Espoo City Planning Department is designing the Espoo of the future.

Sampo is leading the planning team for the major area in Tapiola. This team is in charge of the city plan projects in the area. Sampo’s work involves interacting with different people, from landowners to residents.

“I engage in a lot of discussions and negotiations daily. Town planning largely involves cooperation with various parties,” Sampo says.

Regarding city planning, Sampo is particularly interested in the social impact the planning has. The most rewarding part of the work is seeing the finished results of the planning being used by people. The work is long-term in nature, since the planning process takes years, and construction only starts after this process.

“I get to influence our living environment becoming high-quality and good. The environment also needs to be good for future generations,” Sampo says.

Espoo is a growing city, which sets the requirements for city planning. The city is becoming denser, but at the same time, local nature, forests and parks are valuable.

Sampo also believes it is important to preserve the old in city planning.

“When working as an city planner you need to remember that the city is never complete. The city is always built on the old. Historical layers are a part of the city’s story,” Sampo says.

The Traffic Planning Unit of the City Planning Department employs 20 people. Hannu works as a planning engineer on the traffic planning included in town plans. For him, traffic planning was a natural career choice, since the development of urban environments and functional and pleasant living environments have fascinated him since he was young.

Hannu is involved in the preparation of detailed plans for the area from Tapiola to Kivenlahti.

A densely populated city has little space. Traffic planning ensures that the plans reserve sufficient space for all modes of transport, both for present and future needs. When traffic planning is successful, walking, cycling and using public transport are easy and travelling by car goes smoothly.

In traffic planning, taking all travellers into consideration is key. Moving about should be both smooth and safe for everyone. In school and daycare centre projects, in particular, traffic safety is emphasised.

Espoo is changing and developing rapidly. Traffic planning aims to take the changes in people’s mobility into account as well as possible.

“Mobility is transforming, and the types of transport available will increase in the future,” Hannu says.

Sustainable modes of transport will become increasingly common. These include walking, cycling and public transport. As the city grows, housing becomes denser, which necessitates improved public transport. The goal of traffic planning is to reconcile people’s varying mobility needs.

Every path, street and any other place in Espoo needs to have a name. The City Planning Department has three people working on this; one of them is Sami.

Sami says that name planning requires extensive research and preparation. The names are not chosen at random; instead, they need to be justified and fitting for the place in question.

The study of place names falls under linguistics, but the planners also need knowledge of history and geography. Bilingualism is also key in Espoo’s place names.

“It helps us that we have access to extensive place name collections collected decades ago both in Swedish and Finnish,” Sami states.

In practice, place name planning starts with research into the previous names for the place in question or its surroundings. Sometimes, the name may be related to past activities that took place in the location. For example, Lasihytti, ‘glass studio’, is named after the Kauklahti glass factory that used to operate in the area. The characteristics of each place are studied, based on which a suitable name is created.

Sami says the place name planning starts with the residents and the place names they use.

“People give names to places that matter to them. We’ve included these folk names in the City’s place names. For example, most names of the city districts are based on the centuries-old names of villages and farms,” Sami says.

Sometimes, the name planning team gives talks about name planning to locals at events such as residents’ evenings. They also visit schools.

“Well-planned names provide meaning for residents, and serving the residents is the goal of all urban planning. The names need to be functional,” Sami says.

The justifications for the place names are included in the town plan descriptions available to everyone.

Heli-Maija leads a five-person team charged with the communications and interaction of the City Planning Department and the development thereof.

“City planning impacts the city both in the near future and long-term. It is important for Espoo residents to be able to participate in the planning and discuss the future of their home city,” Heli-Maija says.

Her day-to-day involves network cooperation, organisation of workshops and writing and editing texts, among other tasks. The key communication channels are the website of the City Planning and various residents’ events, about twenty or thirty events every year.

Working with Espoo’s various networks is an important part of the work, since cooperation provides opportunities for learning and, through it, developing the operations. Residents offer essential feedback and ideas.

“I want to bring city planning closer to people and make it easier to understand,” Heli-Maija says.

City planning plays a major role in creating a sustainable future, which is something Heli-Maija values. She would like Espoo to be a lively and pleasant city in the future, where it is easy to live in a resource-wise and carbon-neutral manner.

“The future is the life of children and young people, in particular. As adults, we need to take responsibility for their future, and city planning offers concrete and effective solutions for doing this.”

Tiina manages the twelve-person Services and Development service area. Their job is to ensure that the City Planning Department keeps running smoothly every day. In practice, Tiina and her subordinates make sure that planners and decision-makers can carry out their work smoothly and that residents are provided with information, guidance and opportunities for participation. 

“We play a small but important part in urban planning processes. The City Planning Department could not function without us providing decision-makers with their agendas and making sure that information flows to the right places. My days are full of problem-solving, listening and relaying information.” 

According to Tiina, the best part of her job as development manager is the variety: She gets to work on all kinds of issues in need of development, and with many different people. Recently, her tasks have included facilitating the deployment of new electronic tools, which she considers particularly important. Tiina has always been keen to learn new things. 

“There is never a dull moment in urban planning, which suits me well. I tend to get frustrated if I don’t have enough work to do. Learning new things and tools has always inspired me, and I’ve studied a great deal in the different stages of my life.” 

Another important aspect of Tiina’s job is the City Planning Committee meetings, which are held every one and a half weeks. The Committee’s decision-makers recently changed as a result of the municipal elections, and the new members have been introduced to the intricacies of urban planning throughout the autumn. 

“From the perspective of residents, this is one of the most important municipal committees. Their decisions help build the effectively-functioning city in which we all live and work.” 

For Tiina, Espoo is both the city of her childhood and her place of work. At present she lives in Vantaa, just by the Espoo border. The commute over the municipal border is swift. 

“I hope that Espoo will continue to be a city that everyone enjoys living and working in in the future as well.”