Metropolitan Policy
New Metropolitan Policy Launced in Finland in 2007
“To address the special issues affecting the Greater Helsinki Area, a metropolitan policy will be launched to identify solutions to the prob-lems associated with land use, housing and traffic, promote business and internationalisation and prevent social exclusion. Multiculturalism and bilingualism will be promoted. The letter-of-intent procedure be-tween the central government and the Greater Helsinki Area and coop-eration based on partnerships with the individual administrative sectors will be reinforced and extended.”
The Government Programme of Prime Minister Vanhanen’s II Cabinet 19.4.2007 (pdf)
At the moment there are five letter-of-intent agreements between the Central Government and the municipalities in the Helsinki Region. The agreements deal with landuse, transport, housing, immigration and competitiveness issues.
The letter-of-intent agreements are:
- Contract of Intent between the Municipalities of Helsinki Region and the State to Increase Housing and Plot Supply
- Making the central land use solutions and transport investments of the municipalities of Helsinki Region more compatible
- Preparation and implementation of the Metropolitan Area competitiveness strategy
- Preparation and implementation of the programme entity on immigration policy
- Programme to combat long-term homelessness as well as steps to strengthen social integrity included in the suburban development programme
The letter-of-intent agreements (in Finnish)
Government Report to the Parliament on the Metropolitan Policy has been finished and approved by the Government in 5 November 2010 (Report in Finnish). This kind of report to the Parliament on this particular subject was the first in history.
