Yhdyskuntalautakunta - Urban planning Board 23.01.18
With three weeks in the year today we had the second Urban planning board meeting. Today we reviewed very interesting topics that are shaping the city scape in Tampere. Below you will find some highlights of the meeting (link to the meeting agenda here):
1. High rise building and attic usage (Korkea rakentaminen, ullakkorakentaminen; arkkitehti Kimmo Ylä-Anttila / Arkkitehdit MY, asemakaavapäällikkö Elina Karppinen).
The board listened to a very interesting presentation from the architecture studio regarding the studies that have been performed and the strategy that the city is following in order to build high rise buildings. This strategy selects certain areas in the city that can and will host higher buildings.
Architects MY - Rooftops' study in Tampere
The idea is great and is something that as a group with the Greens we pursue: to densify the city in a sustainable way. This saves budget from infranstructure and allows citizens to mingle and create meaningful interactions.
Nonetheless, because the strategy has "soft" limits, in other words, some plots are remaining just in the line of high rise and low buildings, the decisions to raise these becomes tough. In these circumstances the time it takes to actually plan, decide and build something might take if not decades, years. Hence during the meeting, I raised the issue of having a clear city scape strategy that considers exceptions in certain plots and examines the possibility of modifying the plan if needed.
Architects MY - Height study
By succesfully doing this, the urban planning board would be able to take consistent decisions regarding the height of certain buildings, with the hope to keep recurrent issues coming back and forth, like for example, the case of Tuomiokirkonkatu and Otavalankatu that was also dealt today. The issue was taken into account not without a long discussion of the right height of these buildings around the "soft" border.
More of this in the following item in today's agenda: § 13 Muistutus, lausunto ja asemakaavaehdotuksen hyväksyminen, XII (Kyttälä), Tuomiokirkonkatu 38, Otavalankatu 8, asemakaava nro 8564
2. Railway Station plan (Asemakeskuksen asemakaavojen nrot 8640 ja 8670 tilannekatsaus; projektiarkkitehdit Marjut Ahponen ja Veikko Vänskä)
The plan to develop the center continues with the first drafts already done. After this is a matter of finishing the more detailed proposals for the area and then send it for approval by the urban planning board and council.
COBE, Lunden architecture
3. Old "tavaraasema" in the street Ratapihankatu (Morkun aukion ja Ratapihankadun asemakaavan nro 8653 tilannekatsaus; projektiarkkitehdit Marjut Ahponen ja Veikko Vänskä, suunnittelupäällikkö Ari Vandell ja asemakaavapäällikkö Elina Karppinen)
The board was presented with the options that still need to be evaluated in terms of the old houses that the area has. Each option considers different budget and traffic solutions, however, what we advocated for was for the preservation of these buildings and the developement of a new draft that finds a compromise between the budget, the traffic and the public space of the area.
Read more in the previous blog:
http://www.nataliarincon.fi/single-post/2017/10/11/Yhdyskuntalautakunta---Urban-planning-Board---09102017
4. An initiative to remove parking regulations based on weather rather than calendar. (Valtuustoaloite pysäköintikiellon määräämiseksi todellisten sääolosuhteiden mukaan eikä kalenterin perusteella - Esa Kanerva)
This initiative is quite interesting from both sides. One discusses the fact to stick to calendar dates for the winter parking regulations to take place, while the other one raises the fact that (unfortunately) winters, and hence snow, are getting much shorter each year. I believe both parties have a good point, however, the effective usage of the city can't be achieved without a hollistic solution based on technology and innovation. Hence I raised this issue asking for the planning board to create a strategy along with the "Committee for Competence and Economic Development" in order to pay special attention to the digitalisation of these matters.
These are some highlights, however if you would want to review something more in detail don't hesitate to contact me or any other member of the committee!
