Detailed Land Use Planning as a Means to Guide Urban Structure in a Shrinking Municipality

Case Study of Kouvola

Authors

• Janne Oittinen Aalto university https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4816-6849

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33357/ys.137165

Keywords:

Land Use and Building Act, shrinking, repealing plans, land use tools

Abstract

Four out of five Finnish municipalities are losing population, posing serious challenges for land use planning. Many of these municipalities rely on outdated detailed plans which were originally prepared to enable growth. Kouvola, a municipality undergoing such decline, must address the issue urgently. However, the current planning toolkit and associated legislation are devised to manage growth which limits their effectiveness in managing population loss. Shifting the perspective from pursuing growth to managing population or mitigating the impacts of shrinkage necessitates adjustments in land use planning frameworks. The case study of Kouvola highlights that while some of the solutions are functional within the current planning system, further development of the tools is needed to address the challenges of population decline effectively.