The office holders and leading politicians responsible for business affairs in the largest cities are generally satisfied with how zoning supports the cities' vitality and business life. Challenges are especially related to the duration of the zoning process, obstacles to additional construction and zoning complaints. The views of municipal decision-makers were mapped with interviews and a survey commissioned by Rakennusteollisuus RT and Kiinteistönomistajat i kunnututtaj Rakli.
The functionality of zoning from the point of view of urban business activity divides the opinions of business and urban planning managers. However, most of the interviewees felt that vitality issues are well taken into account in planning and land use decision-making. In the survey, 86 percent of the respondents considered that the zoning currently supports the city's vitality and economic activity at least somewhat well.
The private sector to help with resource shortages
Streamlining and speeding up zoning emerged as the biggest need for reform. The utilization of external planning expertise and so-called partnership planning was seen as one solution to this.
"It is short-sighted to rely only on one's own workforce, because even one layoff always causes a two-year lack of resources in operations," states one of the respondents.
Cities suffering from a lack of planning resources would clearly need the work of private operators. More than four out of five survey respondents were of the opinion that the city should make more use of the resources of private operators in planning.
"The private side is already doing investigations and impact assessments. More partners should also be used to go through the zoning process," one respondent says.
Some of the respondents also welcomed the fact that the cities would give a service promise to make planning processes smoother.
Complaints stall projects and investments
Half of those who responded to the survey raised the obstacles and delays in supplementary construction as challenges in the construction and planning of cities from the point of view of vitality. The importance of this will increase even more in the future, when the vast majority of construction will be directed inside the existing community structure and not in new areas.
The third significant friction factor is the delays caused by complaints. 77 percent of respondents considered the harm caused by complaints to be somewhat or very significant. They saw the greatest harm to the vitality of the municipality and the local business life. In addition, the municipality loses tax euros and investments. In the minds of political influencers, the disadvantages for the municipality's residents and the slowdown in the municipality's housing production were also highlighted.
In the complaints, it was felt to be particularly problematic that some of them are unfounded and that they typically seem to target projects that are more significant than the average.
"The right of appeal in municipal decision-making, including zoning, should be limited only to the parties involved. However, if the right of appeal is to be kept to its current extent, the resources of administrative rights should be increased so that appeals can be processed in a maximum of three months. The current model despises democratic decision-making and leads to enormous inefficiency," states the person who answered the survey.
Aula Research carried out a survey commissioned by Rakennusteollisuus RT ry and Kiinteistönomistajat i konnuntajat Rakli ry, which surveyed the views of office holders and leading politicians in charge of economic affairs in the largest municipalities on zoning and its future. The survey was carried out as a survey and with qualitative interviews in the ten largest municipalities in Finland. 22 people responded to the survey carried out between April and May, and business and urban planning managers from Finland's largest cities participated in the interviews.
More information
- Anu Kärkkäinen, director (business affairs), Rakennusteollisuus RT, tel. 050 337 6699
- Kimmo Kurunmäki, director (community and infrastructure), Real estate owners and developers Rakli, tel. 050 373 6144
- Juha Vekkilä, CEO, Aula Research, tel. 050 352 5335