More Finns now want to live in urban areas

More and more Finns want to live in an urban environment, according to the latest Residents’ Barometer survey carried out by Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

Urbanisation is also seen as bringing changes in people’s lifestyle, such as increased popularity of cafés and an increase in cycling, said a recent press release issued by SYKE.

Location, good transport connections, nature, peace, and quiet are the most important factors affecting contentment in urban residential areas.

The survey investigated the aspirations of over 10,000 people in urban areas regarding housing and the quality of residential areas.

“Finns’ residential aspirations have urbanised since the beginning of the 2000s, i.e. the popularity of living in a flat in the city centre has increased and aspirations to live in a detached house have reduced. 30 per cent of [the] respondents said in their current stage in life they wanted to live in the centre, which is about double the number of people who do live like that at present. On the other hand, it was rarer for people to want to live in suburb areas dominated by blocks of flats,” said Anna Strandell, a senior researcher at SYKE.

The people who in their current stage of life most want to live in city centres and blocks of flats are mainly young people, young adults, the elderly, and those living alone. Ageing further increases the demand for living in city centres and blocks of flats.

However, the greatest change in aspirations on where to live and in lifestyles has occurred in the 30-40-year-olds and in families with children whose aspirations for living in city centres and blocks of flats have increased the most.

The advantages of city centres are of the functional variety; they combine living, work, services, leisure opportunities, and the availability of culture as well as good transport connections. Those living in city centres are also satisfied with the activity in the area – its image as well as the appearance and scale of buildings. People are less satisfied with the quality of the built environment and the level of services in areas dominated by blocks of flats. On the other hand, the strengths of these neighbourhoods are the natural environment, good sports and outdoor activity services as well as traffic safety.

However, neighbourhoods dominated by individual family houses are still the most desired type of residential area. Most of all, Finns aspire to have more townhouses, where they can combine aspirations for their own garden, accessibility to local services on foot, and good public transport connections. A family house that is part of a housing company, such as terraced houses, semi-detached or townhouses in a good location, is better suited to many people’s stage in life than a detached house further from the centre which requires maintenance and car ownership.

The increase in urban city centre residential environments and availability of townhouses is being aided by infill construction in existing residential areas. Twenty-two per cent of the respondents were opposed to infill construction in residential areas, 35 per cent reacted positively, and the rest responded with caution. People’s attitudes to infill construction are almost as positive in areas dominated by blocks of flats as in low-density areas of individual houses.

Most respondents are content in their city centres, suburban neighbourhoods, and low-density family home areas. The most important contentment factors for residential areas are the location and good transport connections, a natural environment, and peace and quiet. Location and transport connections have overtaken peace and quiet as the contentment factors that received the most mentions. Disturbances caused by traffic, such as noise and accidents, are the major factors causing lack of contentment in residential areas. Other factors giving rise to discontent are the lack of services, lack of parking places as well as poor public transport connections or bicycle and pedestrian routes.