Street artwork takes the foot off the gas in Kauklahti in Espoo

13.8.2021 9.57

A new kind of work combining traffic safety and art has been created in the Kauppamäki living street in Kauklahti. Its goal is to reduce the speed of motorists in the living street.

Street paintings on Kauppamäki in Kauklahti.

The idea of a new kind of project promoting road safety came from Autoklinikka-yhtiöt Oy. “At Autoklinikka, we repair cars, but not people, so we are looking for new ways to improve road safety. We are studying various options that could affect the speed of motorists, especially on children’s school routes. Since there have been positive experiences with street paintings around the world, we suggested an art experimentation partnership to the City of Espoo,” says Pentti Oksanen, Sales Director of Autoklinikka.

The Kauppamäki living street was selected as a pilot based on the feedback received from the residents of the area and the speed measurements carried out by the Public Works Department. Living streets allow both pedestrian and vehicle traffic, but pedestrians must have unrestricted access throughout the area. Measurements show that well over half of motorists exceeded the speed limit of 20 km/h. “Although the speeding was slight in most cases, we also saw cases of significant speeding. Motorists must remember that even slight speeding increases the risk of accidents and endangers pedestrian safety,” emphasises project manager Maija Salmela from the City of Espoo Public Works Department.

Distinctive features and colours of the area repeated in the work

Autoklinikka and the City of Espoo invited the Mimmit Peinttaa urban culture association to implement a street art work that would increase motorists’ understanding of the speed limit of the living street. The design of the work also involved the residents of the area through the Kauklahti-seura ry residents’ association.

An artist in her work.

The details and colour scheme of the artwork reflect the historical look of Kauppamäki. “The wishes and ideas of the residents are reflected in many ways in the work,” says Minttu Pyykkönen, an artist from the Mimmit Peinttaa group. “The colours and motifs of the work are based on the wishes of the residents regarding closeness to nature. This fits well with the architecture of Kauklahti, which is valuable in terms of cultural history. The shapes of the work are flowing and soft. The shades are broken and in harmony with the environment but still stand out well from the road surface. Purple in particular was wished as an accent colour, inspired by the flowers in the area. It was well suited to the nature of the painting because, according to colour psychology, purple reduces antisocial behaviour,” artists Rosa Hultman and Minttu Pyykkönen say. Street artist Viv Magia also participated in the painting.

Residents involved in the planning

Involving residents has been an important part of the project.

“The speeds of the Kauppamäki street section have been a concern for residents for a long time. It was great to be part of the unique pilot project. We are very pleased with the result, as it attracts the attention of motorists but is not offensive,” says Juha Hatakka, Chair of the Kauklahti-seura ry residents’ association.

Testing the effectiveness of the work

The City of Espoo will measure the speeds of the living street again in August–September. The street artwork is also part of the Agile experimentations programme coordinated by HSL, which tests various ways of promoting walking and cycling.

“We hope that the artwork and cooperation will have decreased the speeds. If the results are positive, the street painting experiment can also be expanded elsewhere,” says Salmela from the City of Espoo.

The artwork was created with funding from Autoklinikka. “In the design of the work, special care was taken to ensure that it would not get mixed with official road traffic markings. In addition, we took into account accessibility aspects. The painting was made with respect for nature with environmentally friendly paints. The work should withstand varying weather conditions quite well,” says Oksanen from Autoklinikka.

The details of the work.
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