this is the title screen to a little flash presentation done by the helsinki city planning department (click on “flash presentation” for the erm flash presentation).

this multimedia presentation introduces four recent urban projects by the helsinki city planning department: arabia waterfront, pikku huopalahti, ruoholahti and viikki.

all the areas presented here are close to parks or the sea, and all incorporate some educational establishments or research institutions of university level. along with good public transport connections, each area has its own profile and character, a feature adopted as a major objective for the modern urban environment. the variation stems from local conditions and the different planning ideals of the project leaders.

i could never imagine something like this happening in ireland. the concept of “forethought” just isnt a factor in many of the planning ideas there. that was until i read an article in todays irish times. (you need to pay to see the article. doh). but here is an extract:

adamstown development zone approved
(site of 550-acres 10 miles from dublin city centre to have phased delivery of 10,000 new homes)

there are to be 13 phases of house-building, each phase dependent on a level of infrastructure such as roads, railway, services or schools being in place before housing can proceed.

significantly, the board decided that the development should not proceed beyond the first 1,000 houses until the upgrading to dual-carriageway of the outer ring road between the development and the n4 road is complete. the council said yesterday it expected this road to be ready by 2005.

a new railway station must also be provided as part of phase one. another condition is that the rail link to dublin must have the capacity to carry 3,000 passengers per peak hour before the developers may build beyond 4,000 homes.

there are to be four schools provided as part of the scheme, the first of which is to be in place before the number of houses can rise above 1,800. there should be a second school at 3,400 houses, a third at 5,000 houses and a fourth at 6,600 houses.

not less than 14 per cent of adamstown must comprise parks, playgrounds, playing pitches, tennis courts and landscaping.

things like this just dont happen too often in ireland. normally, the houses are built, then the school/shops/services are built (sometimes not built at all). hope this goes as well as it looks on paper.