The Helsinki City Strategy stresses the importance of reducing population differentiation at the neighbourhood level. This framing is consistent with most discussions on urban segregation, concerned largely with the static distribution of different population groups in residential space. However, if one of the goals in preventing segregation is to promote integration, and ensure equity of access and outcome between population groups, then only considering where people live is far too limited an approach.

Helsinki Quarterly interviewed researcher Miika Norppa, whose doctoral thesis covers the development of Helsinki’s central areas from 1550 up to the present day. In the past few decades, the main focus of planners has returned to the inner city after a period of suburban development.

Since the 1990s, children’s independent mobility in the city has been a lively topic of research. By international comparison, children in Finland still move fairly independently. However, recent decades have seen evidence of decreasing autonomy in children’s mobility. The article looks at Helsinki from the 1940s up until the present day and discusses how a changing city influences the spontaneous mobility of children.

For the first time in fifty years, a considerable part of the growth in the child population of Helsinki occurs in the existing housing stock and infill areas. Today, there are more children in the city than at any time since the mid-1970s. This article looks at the development of the number and proportion of 0–15-year-olds in Helsinki’s population between 1962 and 2017.

The opening of the Helsinki’s western metro line finally took place in November 2017, over a year after the latest planned opening date. Despite this, the new metro line has already influenced the housing market around its stations for several years.

A significant social change is taking place in civil society in Helsinki and neighbouring cities. Activities based on networks and peer-to-peer production are emerging due to the internet and social media, inspiring new forms of agency. This leads to changes in civil society and thereby also changes in cities and how they are planned and developed.

Ports and industries are at the core of the urban history of Helsinki. Industrialization and the construction of the major port at the end of the nineteenth century ensured Helsinki a solid economy for developing a modern and innovative city.

Town planning was used in Helsinki and similar capitals of emerging independent states to redefine the city and the nation in relation to the rapidly changing world

Coworking spaces shared by creative professionals and knowledge workers have become increasingly popular in Helsinki in recent years. For people who work alone, these spaces provide not only social contacts and like-minded colleagues but also the opportunity to discover professional support and networks that benefit the work.

Currently almost 100,000 people aged over 65 live in Helsinki, equivalent to 16 per cent of the city’s population. This figure is expected to reach 20 per cent by 2032. The population of Helsinki is ageing rapidly but not as fast as the entire Finnish population.

Since 2003, Helsinki has regularly surveyed residents’ perceptions of security. Perceived insecurity is more of a problem for women than for men, and exposure to violence or threats quite understandably increase people’s sense of insecurity.

There is a constant demand for comprehensive information and knowledge in running and developing a city. It is important to have accurate, timely and relevant data, statistics and research available on a number of urban phenomena, as well as on new issues affecting cities.