Group N - Collaborative Climate Adaption Project

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• Group N - Concept Mapping of Seminar Topics

Area	Helsinki Metropolitan Area
Place	Helsinki
Country	Finland
Topic	See level rise, GHGs Emissions
Author(s)	Andreia Oshiro, Carolina Esteves, Diana Cota

Rationale: Why have you selected this case study area?

• Today, around 44% of world’s population lives within 150km of shoreline (UN Atlas of the Oceans). There are 3,351 cities in the low elevation coastal zones (UN-Habitat) and they will face strong impacts due to rise see level.
• As Finland is the pioneer in the implementation of adaptation policy (since 2005), we believe that the study of Helsinki and metropolitan area can bring us a valuable examples of measures and strategies for adaptation to Climate Change in coastal areas.
• Finland has already some adaptation actions happening on local level and that gives us a clear picture of how to implement such measures and get communities involved.

Authors' perspectives

• Landscape architects should provide an interdisciplinary approach to protection, conservation and management of urban and rural landscapes, considering environmental, social and economic factors.
• This approach contributes to elaboration of strategies to support sustainable communities and improve our adaptation capacity to Climate Change.
• We believe that local actions in different sectors coordinated by an integrated plan are an important instrument to ensure effective results.

Landscape and/or urban context

• Helsinki – the capital of Finland - is situated at the mouth of the river Vantaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The city is spread across a number of bays and peninsulas and over about 315 islands.
• The metropolitan area involves also the cities, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, covering around 745 sq. km, with a total population of approximately one million. Only in Helsinki live 602,200 people, making it by far the most populous city in Finland. Therefore it has a density of 2,800 inhabitants per sq.km, which is relatively low in comparison with other European capitals (e.g. London: 5,206/sq.km; Stockholm: 4,600/sq.km; Brussels: 7,025/sq.km).
• Approximately one of four Finns, live in the metropolitan area of Helsinki representing an important center of population, jobs, public and private investment, infrastructure construction, administration and research.
• Helsinki has a surface area of 686.2 km2, of which 186.7 km2 is land area. Green areas account for around 40% of the land area. Around one fifth of the land surface area is used for residential buildings, other buildings account for 13%, and around one fifth is for traffic.
• The public transport system is much spread and consists of trams, commuter rail, the subway, bus lines and two ferry lines. There were only 240,175 cars registered in Helsinki, which means about 403 cars per 1000 inhabitants.
• The symbol animal of the city is the squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and their symbol plant is the maple (Acer platanoides).

Cultural/social/political context

Cultural context

Helsinki has extensive cultural offerings and quality of life of residents. Culture plays an important role in the City’s strategy, policies and decision making. Activities in Theater, Cinema, Music, Dancing, Museums, Art education, etc., are supported by Cultural Office in cooperation with other organizers. In 2012 Helsinki was designated World Design Capital by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid). In Architecture, the city is a real treat for enthusiasts of classicism and art nouveau.

Social context

According to many international studies, Helsinki is one of the cleanest cities in Europe. It is high rated in health and sanitation with some of the best drinking water in the world. General Education and Early Childhood care are promoted for Helsinki’s residents, as well as Higher Education and Research institutions. Helsinki is a fast growing metropolitan area and its foreign-born population is growing rapidly. Housing construction and development of new areas for housing are main priorities. The city aims at 5,000 new housing units per year, and offers many alternatives of housing to suit different lifestyles and life situations. Employment in the service sector is higher than in the whole country. Information technology, logistics, business services, high-tech industries as well as education and research are major employers in the region.

Political context

Helsinki, like all other Finnish municipalities, has a City Council. Its primary task is to decide about the most important issues concerning education, city planning, health care and mobility. Every four years municipal elections take place to elect the 85 member council. There are 3 large parties in the council of Helsinki. The National Coalition Party with 23 members, the Social Democrats with 15 members and the Green League with 19 members. The National Coalition Party has been the strongest party in the recent years. The relevant City Department is responsible for preparing a proposal on the motion and, when complete, the proposal is submitted to the relevant committee or board for decision making. The execution of a decision is handled by the proper department or City Group company according to each matter.

Illustration: Bullet points, image, background notes

Local Climate

• The whole Helsinki area has a semiboreal humid continental climate with both continental and oceanic characters. Although the far northern location might indicate some very low temperatures, because of Baltic Sea and the Gulf Stream, these are pretty high, with the average in January and February around -5 °C. Extreme temperatures – minus 20 °C – occur rather rare, a week or two in year, mostly in the coldest month of the year February, with an average temperature of -6,6 °C. The hottest month is July, with an average temperature of 17,2 °C, when also temperatures over 30 °C might be possible. Because of the offshore wind the real feel is consistently lower than the real temperature, especially in winter. The average temperature around the whole year is 4,8 °C and the yearly amount of precipitation is about 689 mm (the most rainy month is January, about 73 mm and the driest March – 36 mm). The first snow falls in the middle of November, but a persistent layer of snow is only from December until march available.
• Because of the geographical position, days last less than six hours around the winter solstice with really low sun rays, and the very cloudy weather at this time of year accentuates the darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long days in summer, close to nineteen hours around the summer solstice.
• 2000

Temperatures reaches almost record heights; compared with other years of the 20th century, 2000 is among the top six, depending on the locality (1934 holds the record). Precipitation were slightly above average all over the country (In June and July the number of days with precipitation was between 3 and 10 above average). The month of June ended with violent thunderstorms, and except for the last week in July, there was almost daily thunder in different parts of the country. In connection with the thunderstorms, there were a number of local tornadoes. With the tornadoes in the Gulf of Finland a number of powerful waterspouts occurred in early August.

• 2001

The most important weather-related events of this year were two storms of extremely rare force in November. Moreover snowfalls hit the southern part of the country and a lasting snow cover was recorded in the metropolitan area of Helsinki as early as on November 20, a month earlier that on average. The rainfall was exceptionally abundant, but it was connected to the 2 storms mentioned above. The temperatures were again above normal, but they didn’t reached the level of the previous year.

• 2002

From January until August the temperatures were higher than the average, and of the summer months August reached record warmth. The low precipitation in the Helsinki region was another feature of this year and combined with the high evaporation rates for July and August, this resulted in places in severe drought on nearing the end of the year. August provided a new national record for the average monthly temperature for Helsinki-Vantaa: 19,3 °C.

• 2003

The annual mean of the temperature was very typical for Finland, but the precipitation less than normal, causing again drought. In Helsinki area the precipitation deficit was more than 100 millimetres from the average of the reference period of 1971-2000.

• 2004

It was slightly warmer than average, the annual mean temperature for the whole year was about half a degree higher than the average in the southern parts of the country. The annual precipitation was generally 1.2-1.3 times the long-term average.

• 2005

This year will be remembered as an exceptionally warm year in the whole Finland. Starting with this year more and more people and scientists begun to realize the climate change is visible in their country too. August was the rainiest month of the year, but in winter there were registered also more days with precipitation that the average. For instance in January, there were 14 rainy days in Helsinki, the mean being five.

• 2006

This year was pretty unusual: the summer was exceptionally hot and dry, and the weather in December was record mild. The last months of the year brought heavy rains and led to floods. In December, throughout Finland, the mean temperature for the month was as much as 7-8 degrees higher than the average for the reference period 1971-2000. "According to extreme value calculations, such mean temperatures occur in the current climate a couple of times in a millennium. The temperatures of December 2006 will become quite common by the year 2100 unless climate warming can be halted," Anneli Nordlund stresses.

• 2007

Year 2007 was again unusually warm, with few winter days and a mild autumn. The Helsinki area registered the record-high mean for March: +3.1 °C and temperature record for March: +17.5°C. Although the rainfall in June-August was very unevenly distributed, the precipitation measured during the year in the whole of Finland was typical, or slightly higher than the average for the reference period 1971-2000.

• 2008

The year 2008 was the sixth warmest year on record. Helsinki measured the highest annual mean temperature in history, 7,6°C. The previous record, 7.2 °C, was from 2000 and 1934. The annual precipitation was 700-900 mm in southern and eastern regions, which is pretty much, considering that the yearly mean amount of precipitation is about 689 mm.

• 2009

This year was a warm and dry one. This year was approximately 0.5….1.5 degrees warmer that the average. The annual precipitation was less than the average, but in the other hand only very few storms were registered in comparison with other years.

Analysis of vulnerability

Measures consider normally the following aspects:

• Exposure to climate change: relates to the scale and rate of change in climatic variables such as temperature, rainfall, wind, snow or humidity that are known to cause impacts on natural systems and society.
• Sensitivity to its effects: is the degree to which a system (e.g. water resources, agriculture production, forest growth, and human health) is affected by climate variability or change.
• Adaptive capacity: is a measure of society’s resources and capabilities to compensate the effects of climate change or exploit possible benefits. The processes of adaptation can involve complex social, economic and cultural adjustments.

Focused themes:

• Temperature increase: during the 21st century the average temperature in Finland is ex-pected to rise 3.2-6.4 degrees. The decrease of ice and snow cover will impact certain eco-systems. The air quality will decrease as a result of higher temperatures. Ultraviolet radiation will be more intensive, which could affect health and comfort of people. However, climate predictions do not give clear signal of lengthening of the dry periods in summer.
• Sea level rising: Exact regional projections are not conceivable, that give rise to the large uncertainties. Current estimates vary from 10 cm to 2 m by the end of the century. There will be impacts in coastal areas, including possible displacement of communities, social infra-structure, biodiversity and alterations to landform configurations.
• Flooding: The annual precipitation is expected grow constantly. A total of 21 areas in Finland have been designated as being at risk of considerable flooding. In Helsinki and metropolitan areas live approximately 1 million people that could be susceptible to exceptional seasonal flooding and need for evacuation.
• Food security: Transport, storage, distribution and access to fresh healthy food can be affected.
• Elderly: The population aged 67 and older is growing rapidly, meaning that there are more older people who are living longer. This can be considered an emerging vulnerability to cli-mate change in Nordic countries that will require new adaptation strategies. Elderly can be especially vulnerable to certain weather events such as high temperatures, freezing on pavements, or storm-related damage that cuts off access to essential services and social networks. Some of these events are expected to become more frequent under a changing climate. Other factors include living alone, chronic or severe illness, dependency on medica-tions and social exclusion.

Illustration: Map/diagram/sketches/photos/background notes

Proposals for Climate Change Adaption

• How could your case study area become more resilient to climate change?
• Which measures would need to be taken to adapt to the new situation?
• How could you assure sustainability of these measures?
• Please describe 2-3 measures

Agriculture: “Better technologies for soil, water, and livestock management and more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems, including varieties more tolerant of pests, diseases and drought”

An important measure to deal with the challenges of climate change is general adaption to extreme and unusual weather conditions. The past years have shown that severe weather situations can occur in almost every season.

Sea levels will raise and flooding become more probable. Helsinki is very sensitive to these situations and needs to be protected against the consequences of flooding. Bank dams, gates and canals, as shown very successfully by the Netherlands, could be established. The success of the changes would show very fast with every flood and its acceptance amongst the people of Helsinki would grow more and more. In addition, dams and gates could be used to produce green electric energy.

Water permeable asphalt in combination with bigger canalization and more drainage holes would help to accelerate water efflux. Those measures would do both, help to cope in case of floods and increase road safety with strong rainfalls as they have occurred several times in the last years in Helsinki.

Buildings need better insulations which provide more stable climate situations. This is especially important for the protection of elderly people and children. Tax benefits for such constructions could help to sustain this measure.

Proposals for Climate Change Mitigation

• Which measures would need to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other drivers of climate change within your case study area?
• How could you assure sustainability of these measures?
• Please describe 2-3 measures

A large portion, 43 %, of emissions in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is due to heating buildings. Electricity consumption causes 28 % and transport accounts for nearly one quarter (20%) of emis-sions.

Buildings need insulations which provide more stable room climate situations. This is especially important for the protection of elderly people and children. Tax benefits for construction of low energy housing could help to sustain this measure. Besides emissions of electrically heated buildings and of buildings with separate individual heating systems per heating energy unit consumed are clearly higher than those of buildings that use district heating.

Due to the close situation of Helsinki to the sea, wave power seems to be an interesting way to produce electricity without greenhouse gas emissions. Further alternatives such as wind energy could be considered too. For each of those sustainability relies to a big part on the acceptance by population.

Improve the awareness of regional residents of ways of making electricity consumption more efficient and their appreciation of the importance of this for climate change. Monitoring of consumption must be improved so that users of electric power pay according to their actual consumption.

Besides significant greenhouse gas emissions, increased traffic has other substantial drawbacks such as traffic congestion, impaired air quality, increased noise levels and deteriorating road safety.

Your scenario

• How will this area look like in 2060?
• Please forecast one potential future development taking climate change into account

Illustration: Map/diagram/sketches photos and background notes

What can be generalized from this case study?

• Are there any important theoretical insights?
• Which research questions does it generate?
• Short statement plus background notes

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References

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