Cities | Tampere is once again the most vibrant city in Finland – Porvoo made an effort to take fifth place

Tampere ranked first for the second year in a row in the vitality comparison of Finnish urban centers. Helsinki and Turku reached the next places.

The vitality of Tampere’s city center is based on the city’s large investments in the city center in recent years and a lively production of events. The data appear from the annual vitality survey of the Living City Centers association.

In Tampere, the arena, the Ratina shopping center and the Tammela stadium, which was completed last year, are all located within a radius of about a kilometer from the center and thus support its vitality.

In addition, vitality is also brought by the trolley, which enables people to move smoothly to the center.

The Living City Centers Association publishes data on the vitality of the centers every year. This year, 34 cities were ranked in the vitality measurement.

The vitality measurement of city centers is based on the monitoring of business premises. In the measurement, the city center is more vibrant, the fewer empty business premises there are and the more shops and restaurants that are open on Saturdays.

In addition, the measurement result is affected by the number of people living within a kilometer radius from the center and the vitality rate relative to the number of inhabitants.

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“The vitality of the center of Helsinki has suffered the most from the increase in remote work.” – Martti Wilhelms

Centers vitality has weakened on average in Finland over the past three years. Compared to last year, the vitality rate has decreased by an average of four percent.

Center expert responsible for calculating the vital force measurement Martti Wilhelms says that the decrease in tourist flows and remote work, which has become more common during the corona virus, have a strong impact on the number of transactions in city centers.

“The vitality of the center of Helsinki has suffered the most from the increase in remote work among big cities. It’s not just a question of people not coming to lunch cups, but also of people not doing business in the center on their way to work.”

The vitality of the center of Helsinki is also influenced by the city’s polycentric nature. In Helsinki, comprehensive services can be found in several different centers, which is why people do not need to go to the core center to do business.

“In general, cities should remember that there are shops everywhere. Investments in leisure and culture make centers more attractive than individual shopping centers. Through the attractiveness of the center, we also manage to increase the number of customers in shops and restaurants,” says Wilhelms.

Porvoo was the highest among the smaller cities, ranking fifth in the measurement. In the center of Porvoo, the share of empty business premises is at the lowest level among Finnish cities.

“The vitality of the center of Porvoo is influenced by the hypermarket located on the edge of the market, which brings a wide selection of services and good parking arrangements to the center. Porvoo’s old town also adds vitality, which attracts people to the center all year round,” says Wilhelms.

In addition to Porvoo, Hyvinkää, Tornio-Haaparanta, Loimaa and Mariehamn have managed to increase the vitality of their centers in three years.

In previous years, Tornio-Haaparanta has performed poorly in the measurement, but now the number of empty business premises in the city center has decreased, which has increased its vitality.

The center of Rovaniemi was the most vibrant of Northern Finland’s urban centers, ranking ninth in the comparison. In the comparison, the center of Rovaniemi, which relies on international winter tourism, surpassed Oulu, among others.

During the three-year period, vitality has fallen most strongly in the centers of Pori and Seinäjoki.

Correction 24.5. 2:55 p.m.: The comparison included 34 cities, not 35.