Browsing by discipline "Regional Studies"

During the past few decades, online shopping has grown steadily and increased its share of all retail sales. As internet connections have become more common and the selection of available online services has diversified, an increasing number of consumers have started to purchase different products online. Buying online has many time-related benefits compared to traditional retail as it enables the consumer to make purchases whenever and wherever. Yet, online grocery retailing has been relatively small-scale in both Finland and abroad compared with other product categories. In the past few years, however, the competition has become more intense as the few dominant Finnish grocery retailers and several smaller businesses have developed their online business models. In this study, I focused on one of Finland's leading grocery retailers, Kesko, and the customers and spatial characteristics of its online grocery services. The aim of this study was to find out 1) whether the accessibility of services affects the choice between an online store and a physical retail outlet in the case of grocery retail, 2) whether the widely accepted socio-economic characteristics of typical online shoppers find evidence in the case of choosing online grocery retail over a physical store or the frequency of online purchases and 3) how Kesko's online grocery retail has spread in the Helsinki region during the couple of years it has been in operation and where its potential new market areas in the region are. The MetropAccess time-cost-matrix for the Helsinki Region was used for the accessibility calculations. Travel times were calculated from all inhabited cells in the area and only from Kesko's online store's customer cells to the closest Kesko grocery store and separately to the closest store when all grocery stores were taken into account in the Helsinki Region. In some previous studies, urban living environment and dense service network have been observed to increase the probability of being an online shopper whereas poor accessibility to services increases the intensity of online shopping. In other studies and national statistics data, a variety of socio-economic attributes have stood out as prominent characteristics of e-shoppers. These include: young age (age groups 25-34 and 35-39), higher education, student status and high income. In addition, I have included the percentage of underage children of a cell's inhabitants in the analyses as Kesko's own data points very clearly in the direction that families with children are an important customer group to online groceries. The socio-economic variables of the region's inhabitants were mostly drawn from HSY's SeutuCD 2015 and Tilastokeskus' Paavo zip code data. I made correlation analyses on the YKR-grid level where the other variables were 1) the percentage of online customer households proportioned to cell's population in the whole region and 2) the intensity of online shopping in customer cells proportioned to population, and the other variables were the socio-economic variables of the population and the travel-time accessibility of grocery stores. The statistically significant Spearman's correlation coefficients were not very high, but weak connections between variables could be found. Customership of the online grocery store correlates negatively with travel time accessibility and the intensity of online shopping correlates positively with accessibility, which is in line with previous findings in the literature. Of the socio-economic variables chosen for this study, the ones that correlate the most with online shopping are income (with shopping intensity) and the percentage of 25-34- year olds (with customership). Finally, I analysed some potential future areas for growth for Kesko's online grocery business in the Helsinki Region based on the previously mentioned socioeconomic variables and accessibility of grocery stores in the study area. One weakness of the study was the availability of detailed enough socio-economic data when compared to Kesko's own YKR grid-level customer data. Some of the socioeconomic variables where derived from larger spatial units such as zip codes, which weakens the reliability of the correlation analyses. However, the grid-level examination is quite coarse for the capital region as well, and especially in this case, when the customer dataset itself was quite small. The accessibility of grocery stores is relatively good in the whole study area, so the study might not bring out the impacts of accessibility of physical services to online shopping as explicitly as might really be the case if the study was carried out in an area or with product categories where physical accessibility varies more. Moreover, the study may not have sufficiently considered the special characteristics of online grocery retailing when compared with other product types. Due to the marginal status of online grocery retailing, it has not yet been studied extensively in research literature. The results, however, do partly support previous findings of the connections between specific socioeconomic variables and the accessibility of services, and the customership of online stores and the intensity of online shopping activities.

Traditional city planning has concentrated on auto-mobile flows since the 1930’s making urban areas sprawled and pedestrians as “second citizens”. This has led to widespread popular protests especially from the crowds of persons with impairments residing in cities. However, in recent decades, many cities around the world have shifted their infrastructure development to create better conditions for pedestrians and city life. One of the examples, where the urban environment is enhanced to enable the persons with impairments to fully be integrated in city life, is the Helsinki for all –project in the City of Helsinki. The aim in this research is to create a model for assessing the level of physical accessibility in urban environments. At the same time, the usability of the existing spatial data is evaluated. The aim is also to critically discuss social equality in urban context, and especially from the point of view of the rights of persons with mobility or functionality impairments. Therefore, the model is performed for three different pedestrian user groups to find out, if the level of physical accessibility differs between these groups. The aim is also to research the impact which various physical accessibility criteria have had in making the aspect of physical accessibility a more natural part of the planning process. The created Physical Accessibility Index, by which the current level of physical accessibility is assessed, is derived from the so-called 3D- and 6D models of Urban Structure. These models, and the physical accessibility criteria created by the Helsinki for all –project, are used as a theoretical framework in formulating the model for assessing the level of physical accessibility in the City of Helsinki. The 3D- and 6D models have been modified to take the aspect of physical accessibility into consideration, and the 8D model of physically accessible urban structure has been developed. This model includes the dimensions Density, Diversity, Design, Destination accessibility, Distance to transit, Demand, Declination and Discovery. Various methods have been used when analyzing the 8 dimensions in this 8D model. The analysis is performed for three areas in the City of Helsinki: Lauttasaari, Itäkeskus and Keski-Pasila. The research areas have been chosen to represent areas in which the aspect of physical accessibility has been considered in different phases in the development of these areas. Lauttasaari and Itäkeskus have been built during a time when there was not yet a comprehensive amount of physical accessibility criteria. In Keski-Pasila, on the contrary, the aspect of physical accessibility has been considered already in the local detailed land use plan. Out of these research areas, Lauttasaari and Itäkeskus provide existing spatial data, which has been acquired from open data sources and directly from the City of Helsinki. In the case of Keski-Pasila, which is currently under construction, the required data has been digitized from planning documents. The results show that the centers of the research areas in Lauttasaari and Itäkeskus have been developed and are built well from a physical accessibility point of view. The results show also that Keski-Pasila will in the future have a very good level of physical accessibility in all the new planned areas, if the areas are constructed according to the plans. There are big differences between the different pedestrian user groups in Lauttasaari and in Itäkeskus, but no visible differences between the groups were found in Keski-Pasila. It became clear when performing the analysis that the acquired data was not precise enough for making this kind of analysis. Big updates to the spatial data that the City of Helsinki administrates are therefore needed. Also, criteria for physical accessibility could not be found from literature or previous studies for every dimension, which influenced both the chosen methods and in results. Therefore, an expert group should define thresholds to special and basic level accessibility for each of the dimensions. However, the method itself seems to be suitable in analyzing the level of physical accessibility.

This article explores mode of gentrification in Bangladesh with specific focus on new-build gentrification in Chittagong city, from the perspective of gentrification in Asian cities. This research is the opening work in this study area as well in Bangladesh, where an overall image of gentrification has been depicted. Gentrification has been one of the long-debated issues of urban studies, though, most of these debates have been taken place regarding Anglo-American cities. While emerging literature indicates a ‘planetary gentrification’, most of them focused on Anglo-American cities, a very few researches have been conducted on many urban centers all over Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even in Eastern Europe. In case of southern gentrification, especially in Asian cities, new-build gentrification is very significant. Thus, the case study of this article is based on Bangladesh, and more specifically, a newly build luxurious area known as Khulshi Residential area of Chittagong metropolitan city. However, this work has also brought the issues being discussed in classical gentrification literature. This research used explorative studies and qualitative methods mainly. Additionally, quantitative analysis has also been used in minor extent. Qualitative part of the research was based on visual analysis, questionnaire survey and in-depth interview where, quantitative part includes the analysis of census and survey data, and graphical presentation of those data. From the analysis, it is strongly evident that the case study area is facing the gentrification process rapidly, where most of the notions of it indicate that new-build gentrification is prominent. Both state and private sector act jointly in gentrification process. State lay the foundation through road construction, provision of better service and other infrastructure and through the gentrification friendly policy. After that, private actors utilize those facilities and push the process further. The case study shows certain common characteristics of the main stream gentrification theory, which include intrusion of a new social class with higher economic power, an influx of investment in the real estate and luxury service sector in the selected area, the production of exclusive places for wealthy population in those areas, and so forth. Compared with other Asian cities, regional similarities - for instance, state-led gentrification and eviction, rapid privatization, use of public property for private use, highly influenced public policy by social elite, etc. are also visible. Additionally, Socio-spatial inequality is highly manifested in the gentrified area. Thus, certain localized characteristics are also evident. Both displacement and replacement are evident in the case study; however, displacement and eviction are more prominent than replacement. Economic capability is crucial to be the gentrifier than socio-demographic characteristics (for instance, age, family structure, social class, education etc.). Loss of public places and conversion of it into private use to benefit certain wealthy community is visible in the area. Along with that, segregation, in terms of social and economic, is the common feature with an emergence of gated community is in the area. However, since this research is the initial study in Bangladesh perspective, further in-depth study is required.

Multiple changes have occurred in the landscape of the cities and brought new challenges to the use of land in the urban areas. Urban areas have become more compact, population has grown and whereas the amount of public spaces have decreased. Many public spaces have turned into quasi-public or even private spaces. Urban planners and decision-makers must take into account the needs of even more different actors than before. When the number of public spaces has decreased, some of the groups using it, have become more easily excluded from it. A battle of the right to be and use the public spaces are fought between different groups. Adolescents are one of these groups that often tend to be excluded, even though public spaces are significant for their free-time. They also lack places where to be or meet each other. In addition, knowledge about the meanings and qualities of the places where adolescents spend time is scarce. This master's thesis is a case study of Vuosaari suburb in the Eastern Helsinki. The aim is to explore the public and quasi-public spaces where the local adolescents spend their time. Furthermore, qualities and meanings as well as adolescents needs in those spaces are studied. The data used in this study was collected through interviews and place mapping. In place mapping adolescents could mark the places where they hang out on the map and describe them in written form. The study is based on the idea of subjective construction of space and place perception, which are also affected by cultural and environmental factors. Adolescent's perception of public and quasi-public spaces is explored through theory of affordances. Affordance implies to the possible threats and possibilities that one might find from the surrounding environment. The public and quasi-public spaces that are used by adolescents in Vuosaari are moreover classified into loose spaces, spaces of doing and tight spaces. Loose spaces are free from the adult control whereas in the tight spaces and spaces of doing adolescents are under adult surveillance. Tight spaces are aimed to certain kind of doing and it is not possible to differ from the activities designated beforehand. In the spaces of doing it is possible to perform different activities more freely. However, challenging the norms of those spaces leads to sanctions. The study found that adolescents use different kind of public and quasi-public spaces. How they use and value them is dependent on their needs and preferences. The findings suggest that socializing and activities play a major role for adolescents in the public and quasi-public spaces. Also accessibility and closeness of home are important factors for adolescents when choosing the hangout places. Ambiguity characterizes the spaces adolescents prefer. They are sometimes used to expose oneself in front of others, but on the other hand adolescents seek places where they can avoid adult control. Therefore, especially loose spaces, that offer possibility to avoid adult control, proved to be important for adolescents. Additionally, social and functional affordances were valued as well as spaces where those affordances could be found. Adolescents should not however be bundled into one category, since they have different needs in public and quasi-public spaces. Their needs are dependent on factors such as gender and personal preferences. Hence, urban planners and decision-makers ought to offer as diverse public and quasi-public spaces as possible. Furthermore, adolescent's use of public and quasi-public spaces should be accepted.

This paper addresses the issue of participation through neighbourhood-based organisation. Although neighbourhood-based organisations have long traditions in Finland the development of participation culture has created new opportunities to engage in civic activity. The purpose of the study is to describe characteristics of Kallio-liike, which is a new organisation in Kallio area in Helsinki. The study focuses on how activity is organised and what the main purposes and means of organization are. In addition, the ways in which collective action arises from local context are examined. The data consists of seven thematic interviews with activists of Kallio-liike. Interviewees were selected carefully in order to get as broad a view of the activity of Kallio-liike as possible. The study is based on qualitative research methods. Content analysis is used for processing and organizing the data. The field of participation is extensive. Participation in urban planning and decision making is realized through both formal and informal methods. Neighbourhood-based organisations are understood as a way of independent participation which can be studied as place-based activism. As a collective action, in a neighbourhood-based organisation the sense of community as well as common means and ends are linked to the expressions of urban space. There are divergent opinions about the role of community organisation in society. However, its contribution to the formation of civic society is generally acknowledged. The purpose of the participation in urban planning and decision making is not straightforward. Indeed, critical debate on the planning theory has led to changed conceptions of the purpose of participation. The emergence of Kallio-liike is linked to an eviction order which was directed at a food and clothes distribution point located in Kallio neighbourhood. The order provoked wide discussion in the media and divergent opinions about the development of the neighbourhood and urban space were expressed. These differing viewpoints were used to encourage citizens to join Kallio-liike's activity. Sense of community among Kallio-liike's activists was based on the idea of an open and inclusive urban space. The need for new neighbourhood-based organisation was justified by the requirement for an alternative agent for the local scale. Kallio-liike is an informally organised civic activity network organised around a public Facebook profile. Even though the unity of the Kallio-liike is elusive, claims for the urban space and a carnivalistic style are common features shared by all Kallio-liike's activity. Activity is based on voluntary work and its success is largely dependent on networks, sensible use of communication technology and feasible models of events. The purpose of Kallio-liike is to reinforce the sense of community in the area and to create better opportunities for independent civic activity at a local scale. Various events have a central role in the activity of Kallio-liike. Firstly, events bring citizens together in a natural way and encourage sociability, and secondly, they function as a means of political communication. Research results show that Kallio-liike reflects characteristics that are typical for the mobilisation of collective action in the 21th century. In addition, the study reinforces the conception of internet as a useful tool in the creation and execution processes of civic activity. What is more, it is suggested that neighbourhood-based activity has more potential than previously thought. Finally, this study highlights citizens' motivation for participation and this raises the question about the meaning of independent participation as a part of urban planning.

Pro gradu -tutkielman lähtökohta on Helsingin, Espoon, Vantaan ja Pääkaupunkiseudun Kierrätyskeskus Oy:n 4V – Välitä, Vaikuta, Viihdy, Voi hyvin -hanke, jonka puitteissa järjestettiin lapsille ja nuorille sarjakuvatyöpajoja vuosina 2008 ja 2009. Tutkimuksen aineiston muodostavat sarjakuvatyöpajoissa tuotetut piirrokset aiheesta onnellinen kaupunki. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on muodostaa kokonaiskuva lasten onnellisesta kaupungista sarjakuva-aineiston pohjalta ja pohtia visuaaliseen aineiston roolia tutkimuksessa. Tutkimuksen keskiössä ovat lapsi, lapsen tuottama aineisto ja lasta koskeva tutkimus sekä visuaaliseen aineiston havainnointiin liittyvät tekijät. Tutkimus koostuu kahdesta laajemmasta kokonaisuudesta: onnellisen kaupungin representaatiosta ja tutkimusprosessin haasteista. Onnellisen kaupungin representaatiota lähestytään maantieteellisten ulottuvuuksien ja paikkojen kautta. Visuaalisen tutkimuksen haasteita eritellään tutkimusprosessin eri osat kattaen. Pro gradu -tutkielman tutkimusote on aineistolähtöinen ja menetelmäpainotteinen. Tutkimuksen ytimen muodostavat laaja sarjakuva-aineisto ja sen analysointiin käytetty sisällönanalyysi. Sisällönanalyysissä yhdistyvät kvalitativiiset ja kvantitatiiviset menetelmät; piirroksissa esiintyvien elementtien havannointi ja kuvailu matriisin ja elementtien suhteellisten osuuksien laskeminen. Tutkimuksessa korostuvat lasten rooli aineiston tuottajana sekä tulkinnalliset ja menetelmälliset haasteet, jotka ovat vaikuttaneet saatuihin tuloksiin. Tutkimuksen perusteella lapsille annettu ohjeistus sarjakuvatyöpajoissa vaikuttaa heidän piirtämäänsä kuvaan onnellisesta kaupungista tuottamalla dualistisen ja arjen paikkoja korostavan kuvan kaupungista. Sarjakuva aineistotyyppinä puolestaan painottaa toimintaa ja henkilöhahmoja rakennetun ja luonnonympäristön sijaan. Nämä taustatekijät huomioon ottaen lasten onnellinen kaupunki on sosiaalinen kaupunki, jossa fyysisen ympäristön rooli on tarjota toimivat puitteet lasten arjen toiminnoille. Fyysinen kaupunki näyttäytyy lapselle mahdollisuutena leikkiin ja harrastuksiin, mutta rakennetun ympäristön rakenteet ja arkkitehtuuri eivät korostu. Onnellinen kaupunki saavutetaan usein kaupunkilaisten yhteisten ponnistelun tuloksena kestävän kehityksen teemojen värittämänä. Lasten onnellinen kaupunki on yhdistelmä erilaisten reaali- ja mielikuvitusmaailmasta poimittujen ympäristöjen piirteitä, mistä kertovat piirroksissa toistuvat satuhahmot ja -paikat.

This thesis studies residents’ participation in urban park planning processes and planners’ interests in participation and involvement. The data used in the empirical part of the thesis is compiled by quantitative analysis of nine thematic planning authority interviews. The importance of green infrastructure has grown since urban areas are becoming increasingly built environments. The value of the green areas and the need for functional parks are growing in developing urban areas. People are increasingly interested in participating in the development of their own living environment. The current planning practice underlines residents’ opportunities to participate in the planning, but these opportunities to participate vary depending on the park planning case, and not even planners have an agreement in which case residents could and should be more involved. Participation process in park planning is influenced by legislation, previous course of actions and significance of the plan both in townscape and economically. The empirical part of this thesis offers views of other factors that have also affected the participation process in three urban park planning cases in Helsinki region. These factors are objectives set in previous phase of the planning and zoning process, affordances of the plan, resources and timetable, approaches and collaboration between the participants, and the attractiveness of the participatory method. Four different ways to see the purposes and benefits of the participation process by authorities and planners are presented. In the first view planners see participation as a method directed by legislation, where the most important actions are the conveyance of information to the residents and decision justification. In the second view the objectives in participation are in bringing residents’ experimental knowledge into the plan and improving the quality of the plan. In the third view, participation interests are in communicative learning, opening planning policy, and increasing residents’ own action-taking. In the fourth view direct participation is seen as a key part of the democratic system of society. According to interviewees challenges in participation are related to organizing participation, reconciliation of interests, fragmentation of the governance, and uncertainty of the meaning of participation itself. Participatory methods in urban park planning often aim solely to inform residents about the plan. Furthermore, participatory park planning can also achieve stronger sense of community among residents and increase the trust between residents and municipality governance. Participatory park planning requires mutual understanding of the purposes in the participation, an inspirational method, and adequate resources.

The study examines two public-private-partnership projects, one located in Helsinki and the other in Berlin. Both projects have the private company of the project working as the executive party and as a moderator, a transmitting link between the citizens and the city offices. Both projects include the citizens at the 'round table', to take part in conversations and negotiatins as at least seemingly equal members with other citizens and leaders of the project. The cases are projected against two theoretical frameworks. The first one concerns the neoliberal ethos and the way of organizing power systems that grew with the ideology. The so called new public management has caused devolution, privatization of public services, borders between sectors becoming blurred, working in projects and a customer-oriented relation to the citizen. The second framework considers the changing role of the planner towards allowing more participation. The meaning of social spaces and experiental knowledge in planning has grown in regional and urban planning, which considerably molds both the planning profession and the planning process. In this thesis I examine how new public management and the growing demand for participation can be seen in two planning related projects. The thesis focuses on how the city offices benefit from the moderators, how face to face contacts and the presence of moderators affect particiation and finally, what kind of motives the city offices have in promoting citizen participation. As my primary sources I use semi-structured expert interviews with the project workers and one citizen representant, as well as questionnaires on participant experiences. I analyze the experiences and perceptions of the people involved in the projects by comparing them both within and between the two projects. The material is complemented by observation. My study shows, that moderators are useful to city offices by adding time and knowledge resources to the projects. Moderators add expertise and work force to short-term tasks and can work thematically or spatially in a more specified manner than officials. Moderators also create relatively neutral spaces for conversations among citizens as well as between citizens and officials. The study suggests that there is tension between offices and citizens. Citizens would like to witness to have an impact in the matters they take part in, whereas the official cannot promise that to happen. A moderator assists in creating communication, softens tension and adds knwoledge and time resources to tasks in which participation plays a central part.

Urbanization and population ageing are megatrends of our time. We need a lot of new information concerning ageing and urbanization because cities are growing and the amount of the elderly in them is on the rise. Children were the focus of urban planning in the post-war era. The city was seen as an unsafe growing environment, and that led to the creation of suburbs. Nowadays, it is justified to ask, should the focus of urban planning be in drafting environments for the elderly since the age distribution is focused on them, too. This thesis is positioned in the intersection of ageing and urbanization and considers how urban design should respond to these challenges. Place attachment covers meaningful experiences relating to certain environment. Meaningful everyday environment encourages one to exercise as well as positively affects one’s mental well-being. In age-friendly city planning, place attachment is seen as a factor positively affecting active ageing and well-being. My thesis asks how ageing population becomes attached to places in the Helsinki metropolitan area, what role the environmental quality has in becoming attached to a place and are different demographics within the ageing population becoming attached to places in different ways. With these questions I evaluate whether or not the Helsinki metropolitan area is an environment that supports active ageing from the point of view of place attachment. This thesis is positioned within the discipline of humanistic geography, which dictates that environment is experienced through the meanings one has attached to it. Experiences of place attachment are examined within the age group of 55 to 75 years old in the Helsinki metropolitan area municipalities of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa. My analysis is based on qualitative data of Aktiivi research by Aalto University, which has been compiled with a map-based questionnaire using the PPGIS method (Public Participation Geographic Information System). My thesis uses a mixed methods approach. By analyzing the contents of the qualitative material I am evaluating which factors play a role in place attachment. I classify the features of place attachment in to five different categories: personal, social, aesthetic, functional, and atmospheric places. I evaluate these results with Pearson’s χ2-test to find out are there differences in how different demographics become attached to places. The most important results of my work can be summarized into four main points. Firstly, the work gives new structure to the phenomenon of place attachment on a new way theoretically. The model categorizes the components of the environmental quality into visible form. Based on the results, the main factors are functionality, personal elements, and aesthetics. Secondly, the numerous mentions relating to attributes of places (functionality, aesthetics) prove that the process of place attachment can be affected by the tools of planning. Urban planning can affect the aesthetics of environments as well as the possibilities they offer and in this way environments that support active ageing can be created. Thirdly, based on statistical analysis, the meaning on social environments was emphasized in the lowest income bracket whereas the meaning of aesthetic environments was emphasized among those with higher education degree. This suggests that there is a socio-economic dimension, which should be taken into account in urban planning. Fourthly, the results of this thesis strengthen the notion that PPGIS is a working tool for the planner when balancing between land use changes and conserving places. The strength of the study design is that it does not only ask which areas should be treasured, but also why they should be treasured. The Helsinki metropolitan area has good requirements for age-friendliness for now. The area can be planned in an age-friendly manner especially when considering the functional and aesthetic aspects of places. Additionally, it is vital to recognize the diversity of the ageing population and not to think of them as a homogenous group. PPGIS is one way to develop cities sensitively by listening to their inhabitants. The ageing inhabitants are experts in developing their everyday environment. In the future the discussion of age-friendly urban planning is going to focus on suburban areas since those areas are facing endeavors of densification and those are the areas the elderly wish to live.

The formation of urban structure is a complicated process and its outcome, that cannot be easily forecast, is not necessarily optimal. This creates a need to understand the process and gives a reason to control it by urban planning. As the circumstances are in constant change, the plans have to anticipate the time to come – partly far into the future. Research is needed to support planning to understand the factors that affect the urban structure better. Accessibility, that seems to be one of the key factors in the processes of land use change, seems to provide a suitable tool for planning and research: when suitably defined, it can connect the properties of transport and land use systems as well as the economic, social and environmental goals. The availability of services is closely connected to the quality of living environment, so studying the accessibility of them can produce new notable information for the needs of urban planning. The aim of this study was to explain how changes in urban structure cause changes in the accessibility of services by walking, mass transit and car in the long term, and study how these changes could affect the use of the services both from the perspectives of the users' possibilities and the potential the services produce. The public library network in Helsinki region was studied as an example. Studying the accessibility of public libraries is useful as such, as they provide many types of positive impacts, but public libraries are also a convenient example in studying the accessibility of services as they are a service actively used in everyday life and information about the use is available. Distances in the accessibility measures were measured as travel time. Accessibility was measured both in travel times to the nearest library and in potentials of making a library trip calculated by library trip forecasting models based on the real behaviour of their users. Comparison was made between the years 2014 and 2050, during which the population and the transport system are expected to change as in the created scenarios, which are based on the new Helsinki City Plan. In addition, the possible effects to the accessibility of the public libraries by possible cost cuts in the service network were inspected by simulating the effects of the cuts. Based on the results the public libraries in the study area seem to be relatively well accessible by all the inspected transport modes. The changes in the transport systems seem to have minor effects on the accessibility when measured in travel time to the nearest library, but when the effects are measured in the potentials of making a library trip, they seem to be a bit more significant – by mass transit, accessibility would improve and by car, it would deteriorate. The forecast change in the population would increase the number of people accessing the nearest library in half an hour, but the proportion of this group to the total population in the area would be smaller than before. The attraction of libraries affect to the potentials they produce, but the impacts are concentrated on the surrounding areas of the libraries and on the traffic routes, where the accessibility is relatively good to begin with. Even though excluding some of the smallest libraries from the service network would have relatively small effects on the accessibility in the aggregate, the effects on individual level and for sustainable accessibility could be significant. Based on the study results more significant than the changes in the transport system or in the attraction of the services seem to be how near population and services are located each other: the prerequisites for multimodal accessibility cannot necessarily be guaranteed if the distances are long. Based on the study results, to prevent the deterioration of the preconditions of the goals of Finnish regional planning and the qualifications for sustainable accessibility due to the forecast population change – in other words to keep the current standard of service – some changes in the service network would be needed. However, as there was only one type of service inspected in this study and as there is uncertainty if the scenarios will happen in the future, the conclusions that can be drawn from the results are restricted. Still, studying the accessibility of a single service is useful as such as the needs for different type of services are different, and if it will give some hints of the future accessibility of services in general at the same time, even though just in a few scenarios, it can be easier to be prepared for the future.