Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2013 | Page 18

The population of Tampere continues to grow rapidly: during the next 20 years, there will be 90,000 new residents in
the Tampere Region.
Turku School of Economics, the final report
from the project offers some interesting insights into the matter.

Setting the Tone
First of all, the report argues that city centre serves as a meeting place – as well as a
context – for social and private life, leisure,
business and culture. Commercial activity
takes priority, but downtown shopping can
be seen as a necessity or, alternatively, leisurely pursuit. If shopping is placed in a leisure context, it is not much different from
strolling along the streets or seeing the sights
– the things people enjoy doing in an urban
setting anyway.
Therefore, spending time at city centre
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is not all about consumption or running errands. The Kautas report points out that the
consumer can be perceived as modern day
flâneur who is consuming experiences: he/
she is enjoying the freedom of choice offered
by the urban environment, happily taking in
the stimulation.
According to the report, operating in
urban space in very much about creating
meaning for the individual. Personal and social reasons motivate the person to go downtown and spend some time there (as youth
behaviour demonstrates, for example). On
the other hand, urban space takes guises
which can have adverse effect on willingness to go downtown (for example, elderly people who don’t want to go to city centre after dark).

Open For All
The way to combat this is to make city centres open, accessible and safe. Encouraging
diversity means that there are more choices
and more potential patrons. City centres can
serve people of all ages and social groups, if
they are versatile and flexible enough.
Professor Lasse Mitronen from the
University of Tampere offered some interesting perspectives at a “Dynamic city centre” conference held in Tampere in August
2012. He pointed out to some vibrant urban
centres – such as Chiswick in London, Ginza in Tokyo or, closer to home, Østerbro in
Copenhagen – as some places also Finns
could draw inspiration from.
According to Mitronen, working traf-