How is Helsinki being designed?
THEMATIC PROGRAMMES and commitments affect the premise of city planning and other land use plans. At city level, policies have been drawn up on, for example, emission reduction, promotion of biodiversity and the amount of housing construction. More detailed objectives are set in the Helsinki City Strategy, drawn up during each council period of office. Furthermore, national and regional regulations and agreements set conditions for the planning.
A CITY PLAN is a general illustration of the way in which housing, services, jobs, transport, nature and recreational areas are to be fitted together when it comes to land use. A city plan can cover an entire municipality or municipal area, in which case it is referred to as a local master plan.
A city plan provides direction for land use for decades. Once completed, the city plan also steers the detailed planning process.
A DISTRICT PLAN OR PLANNING PRINCIPLES are more detailed land use plans than city plans and provide guidelines and are sometimes created in Helsinki to assist in the detailed planning.
A DETAILED PLAN regulates more specifically the purpose for which a given area may be used and the extent of allowable construction there. Among other things, these regulations apply to the height, location, protection and construction methods of buildings.
GENERAL PLANS may be drawn up alongside a detailed plan or separately. A traffic plan is often prepared as an appendix to a detailed plan, describing the allocation of street space to different modes of transport.
STREET AND PARK PLANS, as well as building plans, are used to decide how a detailed plan and other policies will be implemented in practice.
Planning process
Planning begins
Information on upcoming planning projects is shared on the City of Helsinki’s website. The parties involved are also notified by a letter and a press release, unless a plan only has a minor impact.
The parties involved include landowners, neighbours and others that may be significantly affected by the planning.
When planning begins, the planner creates a participation and assessment plan (OAS), which details how feedback can be given during the planning process. A resident event or survey will often be carried out if a planning project is notable in scale in order to hear the residents’ views.
Draft plan
If a project is particularly significant, a draft is created before the plan proposal. Feedback can be provided on the draft material.
Plan proposal
Plan proposals are made available for public viewing, either before or after being processed by the committee. Feedback can be provided on proposals.
After a proposal has been made available for viewing, the draftsperson replies to any responses received and revises the proposal, if necessary. If the revisions are fundamental in nature, the reviewed proposal is made available for public viewing again.
Plan approval
The decision on approving a plan is made by the Urban Environment Committee. If a plan's impact will be significant, the matter will proceed to the City Board and Council, who will make the final decisions.
If no appeal is lodged against the decision, the plan enters into force.
Participate and make a difference
What can be commented on?
In regional and spatial planning, the focus is on planning the general changes to and objectives of land use.
In detailed planning, residents may comment on, for example, the placement and height of buildings, transport solutions, the lawfulness of a plan, the planning process, the scope of surveys and the effects to be assessed.
Follow the planning
At hel.fi/suunnitelmat, you can find information about plans available for viewing and the related residents' events in Finnish.
You can also subscribe to the Plan Alert Service on the above page. The service will send you an email notification whenever new zoning or traffic, street and park plans are made available for browsing and comments. The Plan Alert Service is only available in Finnish.
You can provide feedback during a planning process by sending a letter or email, participating in events or contacting the planner directly.
If necessary, you can contact the Urban Environment Division customer service for advice during office hours (tel. 09 310 22111).
Map service
The Helsinki map service (kartta.hel.fi/suunnitelmat) has documents connected to planning and information about other projects in Finnish. The service also includes those smaller planning projects and projects that are being finalised that have not been mentioned in this publication.