Landscape towns: Analysis and showcase of the integration between the city and the nature in the Finnish new town of Tapiola

Abstract

At present, especially in the south of Europe, we are used to live in cities where green spaces are not sufficiently valued. These are highly built cities, where these spaces are reduced to the residual zones of the city and the few parks that exist are gaps which are designed in the middle of the built mass. With this work, it is intended to place value on the integration between city and nature, studying an example in which the mixture of the construction and the landscape is evident, as it is in the case of Tapiola, located in a country whose forest area exceeds 73% of the total area: Finland. Tapiola is an area that belongs to the city of Espoo, located in the western zone of the metropolitan area of Helsinki. This is a preexisting forest accompanied by fields in the countryside, which in the second half of the 20th century was chosen to build a town centre, preserving what previously exists and offering the inhabitants optimal living conditions. The relationship between architecture and landscape is studied in an area surrounded by such high landscape quality as Tapiola is, showcasing an alternative to build a city exclusively made out of everything that is completely controlled and designed by man; showing that the green space, little altered, can also possess urban functions, similarly as the built space does. Thus, it is shown that the green space can also structure and, through it, it is possible to read and understand a town. This demonstrates that the city does not have to impose itself on the territory; architecture and landscape can perfectly coexist with extraordinary results.