USP 2019 / CHAPTER 3 URBAN AND SOCIAL PLANNING 205 A TALE OF TWO HAAGAS Tuomas Harju ng/2019 Urban Studies and Planning /2019 Urban Studies and “If there were a single turning point in Haaga’s history, it would be the 1950s. It is when the decisions for the majority of the current housing stock were made and also when the com- mercial structure changed for good, transforming the northern area’s ur- banity forever. In addition, the blue- print for suburban development was created then. ” HISTORY 206 USP 2019 INTRODUCTION Tis article will introduce briefly the history of North- and South-Haaga and suggest four factors that either separate or Haaga is a district in north western Helsinki consisting of four connect the two areas. Finally, there is a look ahead to what the sub-districts, North-Haaga, South-Haaga, Lassila and Kiviha- future holds for Haaga. ka. North- and South-Haaga are the largest of these, with both having around 10 000 inhabitants. Haaga has a rich history, even Te most complete review of the early history of Haaga though many of its residents might not realize that anymore. (present-day South-Haaga) is Haagan kauppalan historia by North-Haaga is a model 1950s suburb, South-Haaga is even John E. Roos from 1950. Later, building inventories and reports older with its small, winding roads. Both include apartment conducted by the city planning office in the 1990s and 2000s buildings mainly built in the 1950s and 1960s. Teir reputation provide the best information of the area. Te North-Haaga is, however, quite different. Te northern parts are considered residents’ association has published two excellent books that somewhat less attractive, which seems unfair when looking at it. delve into the community’s history and present: Pohjois-Haaga: Pohjantähti Helsingissä [North-Haaga: Te North Star in Hel- What is it that makes the two Haagas different? Should not sinki] from 1989 and Pohjois-Haaga: Luonnon keskellä kasvava the neighbouring suburbs, that share similar buildings, nature, moderni kaupunginosa [North-Haaga: A modern neighbour- and even their name, be considered more equal? What do the hood growing in the middle of nature] from 2015. Tese, in Haaga residents think about the subject themselves? Could a addition to the general reviews of suburbs and shopping centres, deeper look into urban history provide an answer to these ques- have proven very useful in researching this article. tions? Te sub-districts of Lassila and Kivihaka are left out of this article due to time constraints. Tey are smaller than North- 207 and South-Haaga (especially Kivihaka) and mirror the devel- scape. Te buildings of the 1920s and 1930s were functionalist opment of the two Haagas. Kivihaka is a uniform suburb (like detached houses constructed of wood, most of which slowly North-Haaga) built in the 1960s and Lassila saw most of its disappeared during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Lindh, 1996, Chapter 3 old, wooden housing stock demolished during development in p. 18). the 1980s. Industry did not play a major role in the history of the inde- pendent borough. Local commercial services for the residents thrived in Haaga from the beginning, even though the large THE INDEPENDENT DAYS OF shops of the nearby capital attracted wealthier clients already SOUTHHAAGA then (Roos, 1950, p. 189). Te origins of Haaga are intertwined with the coastal railway between Helsinki and Turku. Te railway was completed in 1901, boosting the development of the area. Commercial gar- NORTHHAAGA: A FOREST SUBURB dener Mårten Gabriel Stenius had bought the land 15 years Te story of Haaga is a complicated one and rich in history. Te earlier, with the intention of creating an English-style garden southern part is older, but most of those older buildings have city there and selling plots for people he deemed appropriate. been demolished. Te northern part is also historically relevant In addition to following the garden city ideology, commercial as a model suburb of its era. While both areas share a name, gardens characterized Haaga’s landscape for decades to come. they have a separate identity as well. Famous architect Lars Sonck created the first plan for the Until the 1940s, the landscape of North-Haaga was mostly villa community of Haaga in 1901. Today’s street network is rock, swamp and pine forests. Te hinterland of the borough easily recognized from the plan, but many builders neglected used to be a popular skiing ground among Haaga residents it when building villas (Roos, 1950, pp. 28, 34). On the other (Oittinen and Tepponen, 1989, p. 9). During the war when hand, the famous Munkkiniemi-Haaga plan by Eliel Saarinen there was a shortage of firewood, the city cleverly paid citizens from 1915 tried to bring city block structure and orderly lines to cut the forests in so-called “family loggings”, clearing the of villas to Haaga. While that plan was never realized, it did land for future construction in the process (Oittinen and Tep- influence the plans made by the borough in the 1920s (Lindh, ponen, 1989, p. 14). 1996, p. 11). Helsinki planned North-Haaga in three phases, in 1949, Te first inhabitants to move into the area were well-to- 1952 and 1955. Te terrain was ideal for a new suburb, with no do Swedish-speakers, who remain a minority in Haaga to this previous settlement, an interesting landscape and solid rock to day. Tey were attracted to the clean nature and the pleasantly build on. Te first two plans resulted in low, 3-4-storey apart- moderate borough tax (Roos, 1950, p. 193). Soon afterwards, ment buildings, sparsely built and fitting the terrain. Planning Finnish-speakers began to move in as well. Tey were attract- the third phase was to be a taste of things to come. Te city or- ed by the cheaper living costs away from the city centre. After ganized a competition, which architect Heikki Siren won with the Civil War in 1918, Haaga became more and more work- his proposal Käärmesolmu (Tarjanne, 2007, p. 9). Due to lack ing-class and the quality of the villas varied greatly (Roos, 1950, of funds, none of the entries materialized, but they influenced pp. 137-140). Te typical resident of that era rented a room in a Finnish suburban development greatly. For example, from that villa and commuted daily from Haaga to Helsinki. point on it became increasingly more common to give whole Haaga was recognized as a “dense settlement area” in 1906 areas of land to a firm to build them entirely. Te construction and became an independent borough in 1923. Helsinki annexed firm SATO then realized the whole third phase, including five the borough along with several other areas in 1946, but already modern (and very profitable) high-rise apartment blocks, which before that, people seemed to consider the marriage inevitable. came to characterize the whole area. Te population of the borough was around 3 000 at the time of Both workers and academics moved to North-Haaga. Tese the annexation and the number of the villas was 600 (Sarmaja, people were young and active in improving their suburbs’ con- 2009, p. 135). ditions, managing to lobby for a new school there (Oittinen and Tepponen, 1989, p. 16). Tey also actively defended their local 208 Haaga is built on hilly terrain, with rocks dotting the land- green areas from new construction projects. Due to their efforts, ilar services. However, these post-war suburbs were planned all the suburb remains in human scale today. at once (or only during a few phases) and after that, they were considered ready. Tere were no plans at the time for further In the years after the war, Helsinki exercised a suburban USP 2019 development. While the suburbs stayed the same, the society policy, in which it was important for each suburb to have a around them changed, as cars became more common, better distinct identity. To reach this, the council suggested chang- roads enabled more efficient transport and large hypermar- ing Pohjois-Haaga’s name to Hakavuori (as was done with kets were built along the motorways. Suburbs were the answer Munkkivuori and Roihuvuori, other suburbs of that era.) A ref- to major changes in society, but the next change left suburbs erendum held in 1959, resulted in retaining the existing name, somewhat lagging behind as quieter than before (Kolbe, 2015, though (Kolbe, 2015, p. 33). pp. 36-37). While North-Haaga is a remarkably uniformed 1950s area, Te first full decade after the war is somewhat underrated it also has plenty of later developments. In place of a former in historical research, compared to the politically tumultuous shooting range, a box-type development was completed in periods of the 1940s and 1960s. However, in urban planning 1970s. Te process that was started in the 1950s was now per- history, it is hard to see any single era being more important fected: the construction company HAKA only took two years than the 1950s. Tis is when the blueprint in suburban planning to build all twenty houses in the area (Tarjanne, 2007, p. 14). was created in Finland. Until then, new neighbourhoods were built as close to the city as possible, according to pre-war plans. But the new models preferred small, separate neighbourhoods, GARDEN CITIES spread over a wide area, where only necessary services existed. Te two Haagas are separate as well as similar for the same Te recipe for urban spread, in other words. reason - that is the garden city idea that they were planned Te influential urban planners of the time, such as Otto upon.