Measuring sustainable urban development in residential areas of the 20 biggest Finnish cities

Abstract

As a result of the ongoing urbanization megatrend, cities have an increasingly critical role in the search for sustainability. To create sustainable strategies for cities and to follow up if they induce desired effects proper metrics on the inter and intra-urban development is needed. In this paper, we analyze the sustainability development in the 20 largest cities in Finland through a residential area classification framework. The results based on high-quality register data show concerning trends in some sustainability measures, and divergent trends between cities and residential areas within. Overall, while densities have increased modestly, we see no clear signs of decreasing car ownership rates. Further, also manifestations of social sustainability seem to be insufficient in many locations–especially in residential mid-rise areas from the '60s and '70s, and '80s and '90s.