KEINO - Land use planning tools and vitality of Finnish municipalities

Land use planning and zoning create the conditions for the implementation of actions, investments, and projects that increase the vitality of municipalities. Although zoning is seen in municipal strategies as a key tool for vitality, a lack of concreteness in strategy work has been identified. In addition, little is known about the suitability of land use planning tools for different growth situations. Land use planning will continue to be the responsibility of Finnish municipalities, and supporting municipal vitality is one of their most important tasks.

The research project will provide new information on the land use planning tools used by municipalities in different growth situations to increase vitality and to enable different types of vitality investments. The project identifies, classifies, and describes local land use planning projects and tools aimed at increasing vitality in ten Finnish municipalities in different growth situations. The research material comprises group interviews of land use planners in the target municipalities, which are supplemented with written online and other material. The project will be implemented during 2021–2022 in the Oulu School of Architecture, University of Oulu. The results will be communicated in a webinar for the ten target municipalities, in the Polemiikki journal and in a report published by the Foundation for Municipal Development. In addition, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific article will be prepared based on the results.