Editing Tapiola (section)

==Urban planning==
Tapiola brought worldwide fame for Finnish urban planning. From its first stages it gained both a national and international reputation for its high class architecture and landscaping, as well as an ideological experiment.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> Tapiola's planners aimed at demonstrating a new direction for Finnish town planning and housing. The aim of the Housing Foundation was to create a garden city which would be a microcosm of Finnish society: all social classes would live there and there would be different types of buildings, ranging from detached houses to terraced and multi-storey blocks.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> The slogan of the project was: "we do not want to build houses or dwellings but socially healthful surroundings for contemporary man and his family".<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> Tapiola provided a utopian vision of society and an alternative to what was seen at the time as an oppressive urban environment. In this sense, Tapiola was both an experiment and a model.

Tapiola was built using some of the principles of [[Ebenezer Howard]]'s garden city. The founder of Tapiola, Heikki von Hertzen, believed that it was not possible to create a satisfactory residential centre if the population density exceeded a certain figure.<ref name="hertzen"/> Hertzen's vision for Tapiola, which was originally planned for an area of 600 acres, was to have only 26 residents per acre, and a total of 15,000 people.<ref name="hertzen"/> The ground was divided into four neighbourhood units, separated by green belts, and in the middle was built a main shopping and cultural centre to meet the needs of 30,000 inhabitants (including those of surrounding districts) (Hertzen 1959). An important feature of garden cities is the development of a self-contained community. This meant that as many jobs as possible had to be provided – as many as could be at a distance of less than 10&nbsp;km from Helsinki.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/>

The architects commissioned to plan Tapiola had also been influenced by [[Le Corbusier]]<ref name=Tuomi/> and other proponents of Modernism, and thus their urban ideals also included tower blocks forming impressive silhouettes, as well as a dense method of building.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> The various residential units which made up Tapiola comprise multi-storey blocks and individual homes, either detached or in rows, introducing a note of variety in the neighbourhood and allowing for the mixing of residents.<ref name="hertzen"/> Combining the architecture of modernism and the ideology of the garden city movement is credited for the huge interest in Tapiola's planning history.

The main planning features on which Tapiola was built, as synthesised from Von Hertzen's writings, are summarised below:
*The starting point of planning is the individuality of man and closeness to nature, and the aesthetic value of nature and use of natural contours of the landscape are retained wherever possible.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/>
*Nature dominates, architecture is secondary. All buildings must harmonise with the natural setting.<ref name="hertzen"/>
*To be a working town, not a dormitory or nursery, providing as many jobs as possible to its inhabitants.<ref name="hertzen"/>
*The town should provide for a range of income levels – "a community of everyman, where the ordinary worker, successful businessman and university professor can live side-by-side".<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/>
*Consistent placing of multi-story buildings with alternatively low housing, resulting in a feeling of spaciousness and variety.<ref name="hertzen"/>

===Neighbourhoods===
[[File:TapiolaMantytorniH.jpg|thumb|right|Mäntytorni apartment building, designed by [[Aarne Ervi]]]]
[[File:Tapiolan keskusta aamu 280619.png|thumb|right|The park east of the center of Tapiola.]]
The development of Tapiola occurred in several stages: the eastern neighbourhood 1952 – 1956, the western neighbourhood, 1957-1960, the town centre 1958-1961-1970, the northern neighbourhood 1958-1967, the southern neighbourhood 1961-1965.<ref name="armen"/> Planning in Tapiola commenced with architect, Otto-Iivari Meurman's site plan and building schedule which were reviewed from 1951 onwards.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> His original plan detailed four neighbourhoods split by two crossing roads and set apart by green belts.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/>

Architects Aarne Ervi, Viljo Revell, Aulis Blomstedt and Markus Tavio were charged with designing the eastern neighbourhood based on Meurman's plan.<ref name="tuomi"/> They were required to design buildings suited to the surrounding environment and the topography of the area.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/>

A housing team was created to appraise the architects' housing designs; this process occurred more frequently during the development of the eastern neighbourhood.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> Team members were from a wide range of fields and included a building engineer, a heating engineer, two independent architects, an electrical engineer, a landscape gardener, a domestic science expert, a child welfare expert, a sociologist, and a housewife.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> This unique team, coupled with the board of the Housing Foundation, assessed housing designs, taking into consideration the needs and desires of future residents from a diverse range of backgrounds.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> The parties had different beliefs and values, which sometimes led to disagreements, for example the Housing Foundation was concerned with economising whilst the home-economics experts were chiefly concerned with the needs of families.<ref name="tuomi"/> Thus planning in Tapiola was collaborative and proactive as it involved targeting specific family types and classes, deciding on an ideal lifestyle for these residents, which accordingly influenced their behaviours.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> Many dwellings were designed to house a specific family-type and lifestyle.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> For example, it was perceived to be ideal to have families with children reside in dwellings, at or close to ground level in order for the children to have better access to the outdoors and to parks, whilst a tower block with one-room flats was designed to accommodate childless couples.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/>

Meurman resigned from the board of governors of the Housing Foundation in 1954 following a shift from developing a town with low population density (six persons per acre) and low-rise buildings dwellings, as advocated by Meurman, to more multi-storey buildings and a higher population density (30 persons per acre) as recommended by other architects and the Housing Foundation.<ref name="tuomi"/><ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> This shift was prompted by the need to accommodate a larger population, triggered by the housing shortage in Finland.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> Ervi took up Meurman’s position as master planner.<ref name="lahti"/>

The development of the eastern neighbourhood led to the implementation of important planning principles such as providing facilities that encourage interaction and foster a sense of community as well as the separation of vehicles and pedestrians.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> It was also deemed necessary to have a mixture of building types located within the one area to encourage social diversification.<ref name="armen"/> The eastern and western residential areas of Tapiola featured curved streets of varying sizes and positions, whilst the northern neighbourhood designed by architect Pentti Ahola, marked a return to the orthogonal grid plan.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> Ahola's design however, reflected the original aims of Tapiola; that of encouraging social diversification by locating a variety of building types within the one area.<ref name="tuomi"/> Financial concerns affected the development of the western area of Tapiola, leading to the construction of housing units that were economically feasible.<ref name="tuomi"/>

In 1953 Aarne Ervi was awarded the commission to plan the town centre.<ref name="lahti"/> The aim of the town centre's design was to provide all the facilities necessary for a modern urban centre and to maximise social interaction.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> The centre included a market square, public square, church, public premises, businesses and an administration building.<ref name="tuomi"/> As with the other areas of Tapiola, the centre was designed with consideration for the site's features and terrain as well as to provide an active and versatile environment for pedestrians.<ref name="tuomi"/> Roads surrounded the central area producing a modern design completely separate from vehicles and featuring a special route for pedestrians and cyclists only (Tapionraitti).<ref name="lahti"/> Ervi ensured the centre preserved the garden-city character of Tapiola by locating the buildings around an artificial lake, however this plan was considered strange and criticised for its lack of density.<ref name="tuomi"/> The centre was later expanded with a pedestrian based shopping centre linked to the Tapionraitti, notable for its undercover, outdoor pathways.<ref name="tuomi"/> Later developments showed less consideration for the natural surroundings, though most developments respected the dominance of the existing buildings.<ref name="tuomi"/> Tapiola's centre did not expand to such an extent as to rival Helsinki.<ref name="tuomi"/>