Development Perspective in the Oulu Region
Within the framework of the Development Perspective 2030+ work, active dialogue between the region’s municipalities about future urban structures, transport systems and businesses has been held.
What is it?
The Oulu Region’s Development Perspective 2030+ has been registered into the approved MAL land use, housing and transport agreement between the municipalities in the Oulu Region and the state. The Development Perspective was finished by the end of 2021. The Development Perspective is a goal-oriented plan on the vision level that creates the future image of the Oulu Region.
Central themes are land use, housing, logistics, transport, services, business, tourism, and recreation with a regional perspective. Through these themes, the work considers the shared regional vision, development goals, as well as strategic and concrete actions until 2040 regarding the development of area and urban structures and transport systems.
The Development Perspective has been compiled in cooperation between the Oulu Region’s municipalities, Council of the Oulu Region, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, representatives of businesses and the MAL agreement partners.
Three workshops have been organized during the work and progress has been announced in dialogue webinars and with announcements. The Development Perspective is funded by the directing municipalities in the Oulu Region, Council of the Oulu Region, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, and WSP Finland Oy which serves as the specialist consultant in the process.
How is it going?
The Oulu Region’s Development Perspective 2030+ work is finished. The Development Perspective’s final report presents the shared vision, goals, development map and actions by theme. The report begins with a description of the compiling process, review of the current situation and possible future scenarios to provide background. Indicators and action recommendations are presented at the end of the report. The work’s final report is linked at the bottom of this webpage. The report is only in Finnish.
Dozens of municipal operators in the region, such as mayors, elected officials and land use, transport and tourism specialists, have participated in compiling the Development Perspective’s goals, evaluating scenarios, and writing the Development Perspective. During the project, three workshops and three larger webinars have been organized.
- Goal workshop: at the goal workshop, shared regional goals in the fields of land use, housing, logistics, transport, services, businesses, tourism and recreation for area and urban structures were discussed towards the year 2040.
- Scenario workshop: at the workshop, different possible scenarios were presented. The goal was to create shared understanding on different trends and other dynamics through artificial scenarios and their possible effects in the region, as well as to form viewpoints of desired and undesired development directions and effects to serve as basis for the Development Perspective.
- Development Perspective and action workshop: at the workshop, new actions to implement the goals in the entire region were ideated based previous workshops. Actions were also prioritized by theme.
Additionally, three webinars were organized after the workshops. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time, the webinars were organized online, and their goal was to announce the results of the project. Each webinar included an interactive portion where participants could comment on the results. The webinars were meant for the region’s decision-makers, official administration, specialists and stakeholders.
The project was directed by a multi-disciplinary steering group which included representatives of the region’s municipalities, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, and Council of the Oulu Region.