Projects

Projects made within the LHT framework include the network’s own reports, assigned development projects and cooperation with R&D organizations.

Year 2012 was an active project year. Three projects funded by the network came to an end: RAJATON, Zone planning and Attractive urban housing. MAL Network participated actively also in Maapaikka I project, funded by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

LHT Network’s own projects will be carried out in a smaller scale in 2013. However, the network is active in cooperation with partners and collaboratorsd in establishing new projects, publications and workshops and meetings for city regions as well as by disseminating good examples and project results.

Attractive urban housing 

Simo Turunen, University of Tampere, 2012

One of the most recent own reports from the network is the Attractive urban housing that examined different research and development projects carried out in different parts of Finland during the last five years. The projects were divided into three categories based on their main themes: neighborhoods (1), complementary building, infill-constructing, and inclusive planning (2), communality and special groups in planning (3). The focus of the study was on projects made in city or municipal level.

RAJATON (The Borderless)

Airix Oy, 2012

The project RAJATON focused on the combining of urban structure and service networks within the border area of two or more municipalities. The three pilot cases were: the cooperation between Joensuu and Kontiolahti in the area of Pilkko, the cooperation between Tampere and Kangasala in the area of Ojala-Lamminrahka and the planning of new Oulu. 

Zone Planning Project

Sito Oy, 2012

The idea of zones and zone planning was tested in the project Zone planning in controlling the building in peri-urban areas of city regions. Tampere region, city of Jyväskylä and Pietarsaari region participated as case examples in the process.

Maapaikka Project portfolio The development of a GIS-based planning system for land use and services in rural areas)

Aalto University (Espoo, Helsinki), 2011-2013

The goal of Maapaikka I phase was to create a tool for strategic planning in rural areas. The project aimed to develop a management model for land use and services which uses the existing spatial data and which can be used in both communal level planning and regional planning cooperation. There were seven participating regions in the study: Kotka-Hamina region, Kouvola region, Mikkeli region, Salo region, Seinäjoki region, Tampere region, Upper Tampere region.

The management model is a combination of GIS-based building zones, service network zones and zones that were created by combining these two. At the same time the project enhanced the dialogue between the different sectors in the case regions. Maapaikka II phase included the piloting of the planning model with the viewpoint of one case region, Salo region with its inhabitants, organizations, landowners and industry. The aim of the current Maapaikka III phase is to develop workshop-based training material (the learning workshops) and a method with which the management model can be implemented in the municipalities and regions as a part of the daily planning routines. Within the project, workshops will be held in all of the case regions that were involved in the Maapaikka I project. The case regions are the same than within the phase one.

The LHT Network is not a funding body for the projects but a collaborator and disseminating partner for the projects and the Aalto University.

Implementation and the concepts of business sector cooperation in LHT-planning

Panu Lehtovuori, Livady Oy, 2012-2013

The aim of the work is to help the cities and regions of Turku and Jakobstad to incorporate the views of the local business sector into the city-level and regional urban planning. Based on the experiences in the case regions, LHT Network develops in cooperation with Panu Lehtovuori and Sassi Heiskanen an interaction model that can be transferred to other city regions and that LHT Network can further develop. The review Role of the business sector in regional planning (Jani Hanhijärvi, 2011) preceded this project.

The workshops in Jakobstad were organized on November 2012 and the workshop in Turku was organized on 27.2.2013. There were two case regions in the first phase of the project, and in 2013 there are discussions taking place to widen the project to one or more regions. The project launched a report on expericences in Jakobstad region and Turku region in June 2013.

An international review: LHT cooperation in city regions (Metropolitan area LHT-cooperation)

Iina Sankala, University of Tampere, 2013

This study examines how land use, housing and traffic planning is organized in city-regions outside Finland. The object of the report is to examine practical solutions made in other city-regions and to disseminate good practices to the authorities of Finnish city-regions. The focus of the study is both on the structures and on the action of the regional cooperation. Particular attention is paid on the following questions: What fields of urban planning or policies are governed on a city-regional or sub-regional level? What kind of city-regional structures have been formed? In order to broaden the discussion in the national urban planning and policymaking field, practical examples or policies of urban planning used outside Finland will be gathered, with the focus on regional-level governance of land use, housing and traffic issues. The final report will be published in the LHT Network website in the early autumn of 2013.

Keywords: metropolitan area, functional urban area