Kera district
The City of Espoo plans to construct a 14,000-strong city centre in Kera, which will be built around the existing rail traffic between the Nokia campus and the Kutoja area. The area will be transformed from an old industrial and logistics area into an urban centre oriented towards walking and cycling. In addition to commercial services, Kera will have day-care centres and schools, as well as sports and recreation services. New houses will be constructed and the reuse and temporary use of old buildings in the area will be promoted.
Known as an industrial area, Kera was named after Kera Ltd ceramics factory (ceramics = keramiikka in Finnish), which was established in the area in 1920. Algol, which specialises in technical trade, and a number of smaller companies still operate in Kera. The largest employer in the area is Nokia, whose campus and headquarters are located in Karaportti, in the Kera district.
The objective of Kera is to develop into an international example of circular economy. The new Kera will be built sustainably according to the principles of the circular economy, favouring carbon-neutral solutions. The existing rail traffic and the 5G technology under development in the area enable the implementation of modern mobility solutions as early as the construction phase.
Over the past decade, large industrial and logistics operations have left the Kera area, allowing the temporary use of the old logistics halls – the current Kera halls – for organising events, urban food production and sports services, for example. In Espoo, the change has freed up space for urban development in an area where infrastructure and transport connections are already in place, and there is no need to intervene in untouched nature for construction. Kera is planned to have a dense urban structure, which will enable the location of diverse services in the area and efficient mobility services, and will leave room for green and recreational areas between the city blocks.