Turku

Turku is a dynamic central city of about 190 000 inhabitants located in the very Southwest corner of Finland – serving also the functional region around with altogether 330 000 inhabitants. Turku is a center of higher education, diverse industries and rich cultural heritage as the old capital of the country. Riverside and coastal zone location make Turku a lively port connecting the urban and the rural, the Finnish, Nordic and European dimensions of qualitative city life.

Walking surroundings and quality of public space in the center of the city is stated strongly in the city master plan process on one hand and in the spearhead programme of the centre on the other hand. There are also both municipal actions and other projects focusing on different aspects of quality of public space such as accessibility, wayfinding and green areas. Also the regional level of SUMP (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan) is being updated and worked on presently coordinated by the Regional Council of Southwest Finland. A thorough and holistic development plan for cycling was approved of by the city council in January 2019.

However there is no development plan specifically for walking yet in the city of Turku. Within the framework of Space4People we will work on a development plan for walking concentrating thematically in the quality factors and in the city center as the focus area. The Vision for the City Centre 2050 (2017) defines a fine future for the development – quality of walking surroundings included, quoting: “By investing in revitalizing its historical collection of public spaces and streets, Turku has great potential to create a lively and vibrant human-centric core. The streets and public spaces will be freed from the dominance of vehicles and be for people and activities”. The long term vision needs to be precised and concretised into small possible steps to take now. Space4People in Turku will co-operate with the City Center Spearhead Programme and related active projects as to find the most synergetic effort in developing and piloting the area towards user friendly walker scale environment.

Secondly we will also look at the mobility stations in the central town area as they are a vital part of the transportation infrastructure and services enhancing sustainable mobility – also walking.