This is how the city is being designed – join in!

What do you want the city you live in to look like? What happens before the construction of a building or a street begins? Planning the city is a common thing – Vantaa is growing and developing based on everyone’s ideas.

It is worthwhile taking an interest in urban planning

The development of Vantaa is guided by urban planning. This is a process of long-term planning and deciding what to build in which parts of Vantaa, where there is room for parks and forests and where the traffic routes should be located. Every resident of the city can influence the plans in many ways at their various stages. 

The city is being planned in cooperation with landowners, residents, companies and many other parties. The plans reconcile many different needs and the interests and opinions of different parties.  

Every opinion is important, and as a result, the city develops into a compromise of different opinions and ideas. All views are taken into account as much as possible, but nothing or no one alone determines the solutions.

Vantaa is growing sustainably along public transport connections

It is Vantaa’s goal to become a carbon-neutral city by 2030. Environmentally friendly growth is guided by a master plan that aims to ensure that the city grows by compacting existing centres and residential areas, so new residential and workplace buildings and services are built in existing areas. This will save nature areas that are as extensive as possible around the centres.

Vantaa consists of several different city centres. From the point of view of the residents, safety and comfort, good daily services and transport connections are important in all of them. The aim is that the developing public transport connections, such as the planned Vantaa Light Rail, and good conditions for walking and cycling will enable a car-free lifestyle for an increasing number of Vantaa residents.

Land use planning is the basis for the planning process

Vantaa has urban centres, areas of single-family houses, workplace areas and valuable nature. The city is crossed by some of the key traffic hubs of Finland: major roads, railways and Helsinki Airport.

Planning involves thinking about how to use different areas. Planning is divided into different levels from a more general regional land use plan to a master plan covering the whole city and local detailed plans. The details of streets and parks are laid out in street and park plans, and the details of buildings are specified in building permits.

Planning projects always include a participation and assessment plan, which determines the starting points for the plan and the opportunities for various parties to influence it. The plan projects must be presented publicly at various stages, so information on all pending plan projects can be found on the city’s website.

Regional land use plan

The regional land use plan is a general plan for the use of different areas in the region. The regional land use plan serves as a guide for municipal planning. The preparation of the plan is the responsibility of Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, and it is approved by the Regional Assembly of the Regional Council.

Master plan

The master plan is a plan for where residents, jobs, services and traffic will be located in the city. Typical issues to be resolved in the master plan include new main traffic routes and the expansion directions of the city.

The master plan is confirmed by the City Council, and it has traditionally been drawn up in Vantaa approximately every ten years. The master plan can also be drawn up in stages or by area. When a master plan only covers part of a municipality, it is called a component master plan.

Plan frame

A plan frame is a plan related to land use planning. It is more general than a local detailed plan but more detailed than the master plan. The plan frame is an indicative land use plan, which means that, unlike the master plan and the local detailed plan, it has no legal effects.

The plan frame is usually drawn up to guide more detailed planning of a wider area. An example of such a situation is the plan frame for Vantaa Light Rail.

Local detailed plan

A local detailed plan is the most detailed plan in land use planning. The local detailed plan focuses on a certain part of the municipality, and it can concern, for example, a residential or business area, one block or even a single plot. The local detailed plan determines what and how much can be built. The regulations may concern, for example, building heights and colours, street widths and other matters affecting the cityscape.

If there is no local detailed plan for a certain area, construction will follow the master plan. Like the master plan, the local detailed plan is confirmed by the City Council.

Plans specifying land use planning

Street and park plans

Street and park plans specify in detail the exact location of the streets and parks to be built, the surface materials, the plantings and the locations of, for example, benches, playground equipment and street lights.

The plan is made either for the building of new areas or the development of existing ones. The street and park plan is approved by the Urban Space Committee.

Building permit

A building permit specifies the exact dimensions, location and other characteristics of an individual building, street or other construction project. The landowner must apply for a building permit for practically all construction in the local detailed plan area. If the area has no local detailed plan, an action permit or notification is sufficient for some projects.

The building permits for the largest projects are approved by the Urban Environment Committee’s permits sub-committee. Building permits for detached houses are granted by the building permit authority.

The construction of the city can be affected in many places

Planning begins

During the planning phase, which begins with the landowner’s planning application, opinions and ideas can be informally shared with the city by anyone. As the process progresses, a participation and assessment plan is created for the plan, which determines, among other things, the timetable for the project, how the project is communicated, who is involved in the plan and how the parties concerned may take part in the planning process.

Participation refers to the persons, companies and entities to which the plan under preparation applies. The participants are thus defined in the plan’s participation and assessment plan, and they have the right to comment on the plan as the planning progresses.

The participation and assessment plan must be put on public display, and anyone can express an opinion on it during the review period. If necessary, the plan must be revised based on opinions.

A draft or proposal for a plan is completed

As the planning work progresses, a plan draft will be displayed on which the parties concerned may express their opinions. A plan draft is not necessarily made for all the plans. Instead, a plan proposal may be displayed directly.

The review period of a plan draft or proposal means that opinions on and objections to that particular plan must be submitted during that time. The minimum review period is 30 days. The city will respond in writing to all opinions and objections submitted.

Although in colloquial terms all views are usually opinions, the official term for a position expressed on a participation and assessment plan or plan draft is opinion and the term for a position expressed on a plan proposal is objection.

The City Board will decide on making the plan available for viewing on the basis of a proposal from the Urban Environment Committee. Small plans are made available for viewing by the Urban Environment Committee.

After the plan proposal, it is time for the City Council to approve the plan. Decision-making starts again from the Urban Environment Committee, which decides to propose that the plan be approved by the City Board and then by the City Council.

If you are dissatisfied with the plan decision, you have the right to appeal to the Administrative Court.

Information about the plans can be found in many ways

The development of the city is communicated in many ways, and planning is a public activity. All key information on planning can be found on the City of Vantaa’s planning website. All the plans available for viewing are also available on paper at Vantaa Info, where you can view them under the guidance of customer service. 

An important information package on planning is the planning review published on the city’s website and in the residents’ magazine Asukaslehti every spring. It describes the planning projects underway and coming up during the current year. Slightly longer-term plans are described in the planning programme, which lists the planning projects for the next three years.  

Information is also sent personally to the parties involved in the plan under preparation, and resident events and opinion surveys are organised on planning projects. 

In addition, you can find information on upcoming projects on the city’s social media channels, in the residents’ magazine Asukaslehti and in regional newsletters.

Take an interest in urban planning and give us your thoughts!

Before building a house or street, thorough planning is carried out and the best possible result is thus achieved. The participation of city residents with opinions is important in order for the city to be built into the best possible place to live for everyone. Many of the city’s employees plan the city in their work, and your ideas and opinions are important tools for them.

Keywords

Urban developmentGet involvedInclusion