Rethinking Homes in an Urban Planning Debate

Authors

• Aura Kivilaakso, MA, Doctoral Student School of Cultural Production and Landscape Studies

Keywords:

home, Helsinki, Wooden Käpylä, urban planning debate, intangible value

Abstract

Over the decades, people have witnessed a number of debates about town planning in Finland. These controversies have often covered questions such as whether a certain building or a neighborhood should be demolished
or preserved, or even protected by executive planning auchorities. The bone of comtention has commonly been buildings, objects that can be understood as bargaining counters of urban planning, as architectural monuments, oldfashioned or deteriorating constructions, or as homes with several tangible and intangible assesments. Whenever the question of tearing down residential building or a built-up area has arisen, the discussion related to the topic has been heated.