The Kera development commitment steers towards a sustainable neighbourhood – innovation recognised at the national level
A sustainability tool developed in Espoo, the Kera development commitment, has been granted an honorary award in the Finnish Quality Innovation Award 2022. The development commitment for Kera is a new urban development tool that directs operators in the new area to implement sustainable development solutions in a long-term and collaborative manner. The jury of the competition organised by Excellence Finland judged that the development commitment promotes the pioneering of climate work in Espoo and builds Kera into a national and international example of circular economy.
The former industrial and logistics area, Kera, will be transformed into a sustainable circular district for at least 14,000 residents. The solutions and commitment goals for the area have been developed in long-term cooperation with a developer network. A wide range of partners have been involved in the development, including AINS Group, Espoon asunnot, Fortum, LähiTapiola, Neste, Nokia, Ramirent, SOK and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.
The Kera development commitment, created as a result of this collaboration, has been signed by both the City of Espoo and the local landowners. All operators are committed to close collaboration to create a carbon-neutral area. Kera’s carbon neutrality roadmap supports the implementation of the commitment. The roadmap is a collection of impactful measures that fit with the themes of construction, energy and transport.
The development commitment for Kera has also achieved success in the Mayor’s Innovation Competition, where it received shared first place. “Sustainability issues will be solved in cities. This requires both new solutions and extensive collaboration. The goal is for the solutions developed in Kera to also benefit other areas. This will also increase the handprint impact of Espoo. As an innovation, the commitment can also be applied to the rest of Finland to promote sustainability in urban development,” explains Emmi Kauhanen, Development Manager of the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development at the City of Espoo.
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- Sustainability
- Urban development