Young people’s wish for Espoo’s future: verdant and diverse metropolis
The Espoo City Planning Department and Youth Services collected young people’s thoughts on their urban environment and its future. More than 220 young people from different parts of Espoo responded to the survey.
The short mobile survey was conducted to find out, among other things, where young people prefer to spend their time, what they want the future of Espoo to look like, what kind of things they do not want in their city and what their dream city would be like.
Based on their responses to the open questions, young people want Espoo to be a safe, clean and colourful city with plenty of nature, good public transport, diverse services and fun things to do. The respondents’ current favourite places in the city were parks, beaches and sports facilities in the outdoor, while shopping centres, libraries and youth centres were indoor favourites.
Young people aware of the advantages and disadvantages of urbanisation
When young people were asked what they want the Espoo of the future to look like, the three most popular answers were “green,” “parklike” and “big city.” Many open responses described a large and lively city with plenty of shops, services, parks, cafés, events, places to hang out and recreational opportunities. Good public transport connections were also considered important.
The young people who responded to the survey seemed to feel positively about the opportunities of the growing city and even the image of Espoo as a big city. However, the most important thing for them was safeguarding the presence of nature.
Based on their responses, young people were also well aware of the downsides of urban development; the worst-case scenario for them was an unsafe concrete jungle – grey, polluted, dirty and deserted – plagued by violence and substance abuse problems. In the worst-case scenario, nature and services had also disappeared, and people moved around solely by car.
In general, the open responses revealed that young people think that the well-being of people and the social sustainability of society have a big impact on the safety and comfort of the urban environment. Young people experience the city strongly as a social and societal space, not only as a physical environment.
Responses to be used in planning
The survey responses will be utilised in the ongoing work on the Espoo master plan. Work on a master plan covering the whole of Espoo up to 2060 is under way. The material also provides useful background information for the local detailed planning of different Espoo districts.
“The people most interested in land use planning are usually of an older generation, but young people will spend more years living in the urban environments that we are currently planning, so it’s very important that we also ask Espoo’s young people for their views on what makes a good city,” says Tuuli Aaltio, Interaction and Inclusion Specialist.
Young people’s thoughts on the urban environment were collected at three youth centres in Tapiola, Haukilahti and Suvela. In addition, the same survey was conducted at Lippulaiva Library, in the Pointti youth space at Sello Library and in Kibe at Entresse Library. Supplementary responses were also collected in the social media channels of Youth Services. The age range of the respondents was wide, from pre-teens to young adults.
During the spring of 2024, similar survey data will be collected at youth centres in Northern Espoo, Kauklahti and Matinkylä.