We warmly welcome you to experience Helsinki in 2035! The Capital Region’s higher education students’ World Student Capital network will present the over 4,300 signatures for the Science Tram 2025 resident’s initiative before the Urban Environment Committee’s meeting, at 3.15 pm on Tuesday 7 November. The event is held in the Urban Environment Committee’s hall at Kansakoulunkatu 3. Representatives of the media are welcome to come and follow the event.
The resident’s initiative demands that the realisation of the so-called Science Tram is expedited so that its construction work begins in 2025. The Urban Environment Committee will process the implementation programme of Helsinki’s city plan at the end of November. The plan defines the focus areas in planning and transport investments for the years to come.
In connection with presenting the resident’s initiative, students will present a vision of Helsinki in 2035. This event features a map, the rails under construction and three imaginary residents of Helsinki in 2035 whose smoothly flowing everyday life is intertwined with the Science Tram. At the end of the presentation ceremony, the Chair of the Urban Environment Committee, Deputy Mayor Anni Sinnemäki and members of the Committee will answer the demand for expediting the Science Tram, set forth in the resident’s initiative.
The Science Tram is a light rail line connecting ten higher education campuses along its route, which runs from Otaniemi in the west to Myllypuro in the east, serving areas such as the Meilahti hospital area, the Pasila station and the campuses of Kumpula-Arabia, Viikki and Myllypuro along the way. In the near future, nearly 50,000 higher education students will be studying, almost 100,000 residents of Helsinki living and 100,000 jobs located along the route. These people are already in need of better connections. Between Arabia and Otaniemi, for instance, the Science Tram saves at least 10 minutes compared to a bus connection. At the same time, light rail is a carbon-neutral mode of transport.
The Science Tram is an excellent embodiment of the ideas of a network city with rail traffic and an expanding city centre, both included in the Helsinki city plan. However, it also adds another dimension: the possibilities created by encounters between disciplines and people. The recent Vision for Higher Education 2030 project of the Ministry of Education and Culture paves the way for increasing cooperation between higher education institutions as well as for flexible study paths that transcend institutional boundaries. This also requires ease in physical mobility between different campuses. The creation of innovations also requires face-to-face encounters, which the Science Tram makes possible. The Science Tram will create smooth connections between campuses and act as a stage and test laboratory for science and research-based development to residents.
The Science Tram 2025 campaign is supported by the student unions of the Capital Region, all higher education institutions located along the route, the Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region (Hoas) and higher education sports service provider UniSport.
Website of the resident’s initiative campaign: http://tiederatikka2025.fi/
Principles of land use for the area affected by the Science Tram, a report made during the preparation of the Helsinki city plan (in Finnish)
Specialist Sofia Lindqvist from the Student Union of the University of Helsinki, [email protected], tel. 050 543 9605
Ruut Luukkonen
Viestintäasiantuntija / Kommunikationsspecialist / Communications Specialist
+358 50 543 9609
[email protected]
Helsingin yliopiston ylioppilaskunta (HYY)
Studentkåren vid Helsingfors universitet (HUS)
Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY)
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