Re-centring peripheries along ring roads under a smart growth agenda: case studies of Espoo Innovation Garden and Vantaa Aviapolis in Finland

Underlying relational dimensions of flow transitions along ring roads and their impacts on the typo-morphology of open spaces: two cases from Nordic countries

“…Characterised by urban sprawl, Greater Helsinki has evolved from a monocentric to a decentralised to a polycentric structure, and the flow transitions can easily be observed (Amr, 2020a;City Planning Department of Helsinki, 2009). The capital region of Greater Helsinki (study area) covers 770.26 km 2 , the population (as of July 2020) is 1,193,539, and the population density is 411.1/km 2 (City of Helsinki, 2020).…”

“…The capital region of Greater Helsinki (study area) covers 770.26 km 2 , the population (as of July 2020) is 1,193,539, and the population density is 411.1/km 2 (City of Helsinki, 2020). Recently, the Helsinki region has commenced a new urban development vision to facilitate its polycentric structure based on the spatial concept of space of flow by Castells (2000) (Amr, 2020a;Granqvist et al, 2019;Vasanen, 2012). This conceptualisation is supported by the radialring-road urban traffic structure, which acts as the focus to support the flow transitions and the proposed nodal development (Amr, 2020a(Amr, , 2020bCity Planning Department of Helsinki, 2009).…”

“…Recently, the Helsinki region has commenced a new urban development vision to facilitate its polycentric structure based on the spatial concept of space of flow by Castells (2000) (Amr, 2020a;Granqvist et al, 2019;Vasanen, 2012). This conceptualisation is supported by the radialring-road urban traffic structure, which acts as the focus to support the flow transitions and the proposed nodal development (Amr, 2020a(Amr, , 2020bCity Planning Department of Helsinki, 2009). Whereas the urban flow is induced by the radial growth corridors, the inner ring roads, Ring I (spans 23.3 km) and Ring III (spans 47.8 km), continue to accommodate massive flows of traffic.…”

“…The differences between the areas that are reserved for parking and those that are designed for leisure and recreational activities for residential use are significant alongside Ring III, which is due to the logistic concentration, especially in Vantaa Aviapolis (Amr, 2020a). Moreover, the positioning of the parking areas closer to Ring III has affected the visual perception of the users, quality of the surrounding neighbourhood, quality of the other open spaces, spatial interaction, and social exchange.…”

Spatial inertia and separation in a hierarchy-driven structure: four case studies of flow continuity along ring roads

“…Moreover, it shows no direct location-based accessibility along most of the road sections, and entry to any attached district is facilitated by either a parallel road or a district distributor road. However, along Ring I, in particular the eastern and western parts, construction work and plans for restructuring the ring road in order to replace the hierarchical road pattern with a more Neo-traditional one are ongoing, with the aim of enhancing location-based accessibility measures (see Amr, 2020a;Tuppurainen, 2016). This will expand the central pattern of accessibility by reducing car usage and offering more sustainable mobility solutions.…”