EUKN - Urban Matrix - The Research Programme for the City of Helsinki 2007

The Research Programme for the City of Helsinki 2007–2009

Introduction

The Research Programme for the City of Helsinki is published at three-year intervals with the objective of initiating and coordinating research on the city and its surrounding metropolitan region.

Description

This is the ninth edition of the programme. It has and will continue to promote an understanding of the living conditions and welfare of the city’s residents. Through this work, the programme will enhance the competitiveness of the city’s business community. It thereby supports the strategic work of the City of Helsinki and responds to the city’s need for information for joint strategies.

The Research Programme includes research projects that were:

of significant interest to the city’s various offices and departments
conducted or co-ordinated by the Helsinki City Urban Facts Office
undertaken by Urban Research Professors researching topics that were pertinent to the work of city departments
projects carried out by nine research-intensive city departments

The results of the research programme are available on the internet and in printed formats. The latter two categories were added in this cycle of the research programme. The inclusion of categories 3 and 4 has made the Research Programme more informative and provided a better service to programme users.

In all, the Research Programme includes 88 research projects that address the four main challenges faced by the City of Helsinki:

Governance of the metropolitan region, and a functioning metropolis
Success for the city’s economy and the business community
Improving quality of life in Helsinki
Understanding the city’s history

These themes will help the City of Helsinki remain aware of its operational environment and will support the city’s joint strategies. Each theme includes a wide spectrum of issues from ‘grass-roots’ to macro issues at the city and regional level.

Conclusions

The programme has provided benchmarking data that has facilitated a comparison of Helsinki’s performance with other cities on several key indicators, including:

Regional co-operation
Regional economy and industries, including the cultural economy
The innovation environment in the Helsinki metropolitan area
The level of knowledge utilisation in governing city development
The city’s finances
Availability and quality of the city’s public services
Development of the urban structure and environmental change
The housing market and residential development
Housing satisfaction and housing cost
Population: age structures, immigration levels, cultural diversity etc.

Only research projects were included in the print publication. However, research ideas, included in previous publications, were published only to the web version. Project descriptions specified whether a study was conducted or co-ordinated by Helsinki City Urban Facts, including projects from the Urban Research Professor network, as well as the city’s research and development programmes added an additional element of critical approach to the programme. Their inclusion has also improved accessibility of information on research conducted or commissioned by the city, and facilitated further research by city offices and departments.

Contact info

City of Helsinki Urban Facts
Markus Laine (Acting Research Professor), tel. +358 9 310 36522

Publication date

Project finished

01/10/2007

Article info
ISSN: 1455-7274

Links

City of Helsinki Urban Facts The Research Programme for the City of Helsinki 2007–2009

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy

Keywords