Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2014 | Page 42

THE ANGLE
By Kari Kauniskangas
The writer is CEO of YIT

Back to the original urban idea
Urbanisation is a global
phenomenon which keeps
advancing also in Europe.
The urbanisation rate is
expected to climb from the
present 73 % to 82 % by the
year 2050. While elsewhere
in the world, it is especially
the cities with millions of
residents that keep growing,
in Europe the majority of
people will live in cities
with less than 500,000
inhabitants.

D

emands for a quality urban environment keep increasing everywhere.
One element in an enjoyable urban environment is the every-day dynamic, meaning easily accessible public and private services and highly functional public transportation. All of these elements support also the
aims of sustainable development. In fact, the
environmental problems of the world will be
solved in the cities.
The transition in the workplace, which
is taking people from the factory floor to the
studios, will mean that various functions will
vacate the current industrial areas and move
back to the city. Many tasks which require
special expertise will break away from a designated workplace and work will be done in
different places with the capability to inspire
– for example, cafés, parks, leisure apartments and, of course, offices which support
the various phases of the specialist’s work
process better.
Also the future residential demands are
different, as family types and lifestyles become increasingly diversified. It’s not about
the type of housing, square metres or ownership model so much anymore; the key issues here are functionality and compatibility of environment and lifestyle. Some people just want a “pit-stop” near downtown for
sleep and maintenance, others want to invest
40 Nordicum

in the home’s aesthetic appeal and are hoping that the surrounding environment is in
tune with this.
Add to this, the decline of car traffic
due to improving public transport, new light
traffic options, the sharing economy and robot cars, and we are on our way back to the
original idea of the city: everything is closeby and accessible.
The Internet economy is changing the
structure of retail in a radical manner and
shopping centres will become, more and
more, spaces of social interaction where
showrooms allow people to get acquainted with the products and where also public
services have an increasing presence. Public
services are a good fit for shopping centres
due to accessibility issues and rising costconsciousness in the public sector. Retail,
cultural services, public services and residential all come together in new kinds of
mixed-use projects; the Tripla Centre project, carried out by YIT in Pasila (the second city centre of Helsinki), is one example of this approach.
In Europe, the flights between cities
have been reasonably functional, but now
they are being challenged by convenient,
fast train connections which link cities, and,
gradually, also countries. From the perspective of the specialised workforce, this means

that there are more job opportunities within
reach, especially as both mobile and remote
working become more common. In the future, the European mid-size cities will seek
competitive edge via the quality of residential arrangements and services.
A recent study analysed the reasons
behind specialists and managers moving
someplace else in 13 European urban regions (ACRE project). The study showed
that in many cities (e.g. Helsinki, Milan,
Birmingham and Barcelona) the most important reason for moving had to do with
personal networks – meaning, among other things, friends, family and education history. As connections improve, also cities of
relatively small size can become homes for
these internationally minded professionals,
as long as there are existing networks for
them to tap into.
In the final analysis, it is the consumer that is the end customer in all business.
Responding to the diverging needs of the
consumers – involving, say, retail, services, living or the urban habitat – calls for a
markedly better collaboration and joint development between companies, urban designers, public service providers and users.
Traditional planning or production orientation will not be able to create places with
the desired appeal.