NordGreen: Participatory mapping in Espoo, Finland

Project description

In the subproject led by Aalto University, NordGreen project studies actual participatory urban planning projects in cities of Espoo and Ii (Finland) to support the use of high quality knowledge from people in urban planning. Both in Espoo and Ii we are working to support the knowledge production for the ongoing master plan processes.

With public participation surveys, we target to gather large datasets concerning e.g. the way people use of their everyday life spaces and personally meaningful places. The associations with perceived health and quality of life will also be studied. Finally, people will  map future wishes regarding the development of certain areas and the possible location of urban infilling projects.

An important element of the research is not only to gather knowledge from inhabitants but also to study how this knowledge is used in the planning process. The lessons learned hopefully help us understanding how participatory planning processes can be developed.

Research themes

Participatory planning

Active living and urban lifestyles

Child and age-friendly environments

Project details

  • Start date:
    January 1, 2020
  • End date:
    December 31, 2023
  • Location:
    Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark
  • Funded by:
    NordForsk
  • Objectives:
    NORDGREEN project will help regional and local authorities to better understand the relationships between the urban environment and people’s health and well-being. It will supply them with practical tools and guidelines which help them in the implementation of smart and sustainable cities.

Project contact

The leader of the PPGIS subproject is prof Marketta Kyttä

Aalto University

Team members

  • Saana Rossi, Aalto University
  • Anna Kajosaari, Aalto University

Participating partners

Kjell Nilsson

NordRegio

Ryan Weber

NordRegio

Johanna Palomäki

City of Espoo

Sandra Oliveira e Costa

NordRegio

Thomas Randrup

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Patrik Grahn

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Geir Aamodt

Norwegian University of Life Sciences Norway

Helena Nordh

Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Related publications

Kyttä, M. Randrup, T. Sunding, A. Rossi, S. Harsia, E. Palomäki, J. & Kajosaari, A. (2023) Prioritizing participatory planning solutions: Developing place-based priority categories based on public participation GIS data. Landscape and Urban Planning 239, 104868. doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104868

Kajosaari, A. Hasanzadeh, K. Fagerholm, N. Nummi, P Kuusisto-Hjort, P. & Kyttä, M. (2024) Predicting context-sensitive urban green space quality to support urban green infrastructure planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 242, 104952. doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104952

Kyttä, M. Randrup, T. Sunding, A. Rossi, S. Harsia, E. Palomäki, J. & Kajosaari, A. (2023) Prioritizing participatory planning solutions: Developing place-based priority categories based on public participation GIS data. Landscape and Urban Planning 239, 104868. doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104868

Participatory Mapping Institute
Copyright 2020