Congratulations, Otaniemi, the Borough of the Year!

The traditional student culture played a crucial role in the decision on the winner of the Borough of the Year competition this spring. Otaniemi residents won the competition by sending a record number of well-founded proposals detailing the neighbourhood’s warm communality and its sturdy roots in the city.

"Otaniemi was the clear winner of the Borough of the Year award with their strong, lively engineering student tradition. The theme of the 2023 competition was living heritage. The students understood the assignment well and their responses were given with a twinkle in the eye. How else?" says Hanna-Kaisa Siimes, Chair of the department for city work of the Finnish Local Heritage Federation.

In its decision, the department for city work of the Finnish Local Heritage Federation stated that the neighbourhood, which is traditionally known for Aalto University, its campus area and students, has developed into an increasingly diverse direction over the last few years. In addition to the world-renowned architecture, a prestigious cultural environment and rich local nature, Otaniemi also includes workplaces, schools, services and transport connections – in other words, ordinary everyday life. The culturally diverse population of the borough is a natural part of the lively community.

However, Otaniemi's winning asset in this year's competition is the appreciation of intangible cultural heritage: especially during the student festivities around May Day and during the spring, almost the entire Helsinki Metropolitan Area gets a glimpse of the traditions maintained and proudly promoted by engineering students and other students. Decades-old traditions stay alive in the neighbourhood and among its people but at the same time, they live, develop and change over time.

"Otaniemi has been a significant and dear campus area to me, and it is great to see that through reformation, Otaniemi has a great future ahead of it again!  Otaniemi deserves the recognition it has received, and the award warms my heart very much," says Mayor Jukka Mäkelä. ”With the new subway connection, the area received a new "entrance" framed by the new centre and Aalto's traditional architecture, creating a complete entity. Otaniemi is a neighbourhood with a distinctively individual spirit and soul. Here we believe in working together, communality and the ability to solve future challenges through bold and radical creativity. Impact, when Otaniemi flaps its wings!”

With the Borough of the Year award, the Finnish Local Heritage Federation emphasises the importance of the activity of local actors in urban districts in building comfort and security in the neighbourhood. The competition starts in January every year, and the proposals are submitted by the end of March.

In particular, the competition is in search of a neighbourhood where people, associations and other actors are active and which is a good place to live. In a good neighbourhood, the activities are diverse, renewing and open to all. This year emphasis was also placed on the living cultural heritage of the neighbourhood, i.e. intangible cultural heritage and traditions that are present in people's everyday lives and celebrations.

This year's theme hit the nail in the head in Otaniemi. "Otaniemi is a community formed around hard-working, innovative, open-minded and caring young people. A unique culture has been created in Otaniemi, in which thousands of students leave their mark every year. Otaniemi is a multicultural, encouraging and safe neighbourhood, which is why it is the best one in Finland," says one of the proposals. The Finnish Local Heritage Federation received 55 proposals on behalf of Otaniemi.

Sampo Suihko, Chair of the Board of the Finnish Local Heritage Federation, will hand the certificate for the Borough of the Year to Chair of the Campus Division Veeti Kahilainen, Chair of Aalto University Student Union Ida Parkkinen, and Mayor Jukka Mäkelä on Saturday 12 May 2023.