Towards inclusive ownership in urban planning

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and by 2050 that proportion is expected to rise to two thirds. This trend can also be seen in Finland, where the city of Helsinki has been growing fast during the past decades, the last two years by even more than 10 000 persons yearly. This puts a lot of pressure on the city to build more apartments.

The local master plan of Helsinki builds strongly on the idea of a compact city, which translates into building dense areas around public transportation hubs. This is a trend in many cities aiming to reduce carbon emissions by facilitating a less carbon intensive lifestyle for citizens. 

One concrete outcome of the compact city planning can be seen in the suburbs of the city, where centrally located local shopping malls built in the 60s and 70s are being demolished to pave way for more apartment building.

More than half of the 26 suburbian shopping malls in the city have been demolished during the past twenty years and many more are planned to be torn down in the years to come. 

There is an increasing feeling among Helsinkians of not being heard in the development of the city and their own neighbourhoods.

More recently this development has been prone to criticism. For one, the tearing down of old buildings instead of renovation is, in itself, not sustainable. In addition, when it comes to the city’s suburban malls, the development raises questions of architectural values, local identities and entrepreneurship. 

In practice, the building of new malls and apartments has meant that entrepreneurs have given up ownership of their spaces: even the city is increasingly becoming a tenant instead of keeping public ownership of its facilities such as libraries.  

One interesting example of a more inclusive model of planning is Puhos mall in Eastern Helsinki. Most shops and services in Puhos are run by immigrants who were able to forgo the original plans of putting the development and ownership of the mall in the hands of an international real estate developer. 

Creating opportunities for entrepreneurship beyond international chain stores is an important factor to be weighed in.

Instead, the idea is now to plan the renovation and new buildings around Puhos in a way that keeps rents affordable, and makes it possible for the current entrepreneurs to keep running their businesses in the mall. This can turn out to be a model for other suburban hubs. 

Questions of power are central to urban development processes, and current participatory elements in urban planning processes are clearly not enough. There is an increasing feeling among Helsinkians of not being heard in the development of the city and their own neighbourhoods.

The city needs to take a more active role in building a shared vision of how its suburbs and other neighbourhoods should be developed. Creating opportunities for entrepreneurship beyond international chain stores is an important factor to be weighed in.