Edges of the city centre and re-use of the traffic areas

Tampere is the 3^rd largest city in Finland with approx. 210 000 inhabitants. It is also a city of industrial history and a centre of industrial innovations. The Commission on Urban Planning had a seminar and meeting in Tampere on 14-17 April. The seminar theme "Edges of the City Centre and Reuse of Traffic Areas" concentrated on an acute question in many cities, namely increasing the density of city centres and avoiding urban sprawl. Also climate change and sustainability in urban planning were taken into account in the seminar programme, as Mr Oras Tynkkynen, the Finnish Government Climate Policy Specialist, gave a presentation on urban planning in low-carbon societies.

Tampere is a city of industrial history; a centre of industrial innovations, textile and wood processing companies. Situated between two lakes - the natural rapids between the lakes provided an efficient source of energy for the factories.

The seminar workshops concentrated on two traffic areas: the first workshop on a lake shore area next to a busy highway that needs to be connected to the urban structure, and the another workshop on the reuse of the former railway cargo station area. The City of Tampere is planning big investments in the form of a tunnel and a new sports and concert arena to improve the areas, and the workshops made their own proposals for increasing the city density in those areas.

Tampere seminar participants

The former traffic areas and creating new use to them is a common problem in many Baltic cities. An important part of the seminar has always been the exchange of experiences between professional urban planners. This time there were 40 seminar participants from Russia, Scandinavian countries, Baltic countries, Poland and Germany. The next CUP seminar will be in Šiauliai Lithuania in the autumn 2010.