Editing Tapiola (section)

==History==
[[File:Tapiola-1965.jpg|thumb|right|A view of Tapiola in 1965.]]
[[File:Moderne architectuur in Helsinki, Bestanddeelnr 920-4662.jpg|thumb|right|The "[[hip flask houses]]" in Tapiola were built from 1959 to 1961. This image is from 1967.]]
[[File:WeeGee Ruusuvuori Espoo.JPG|thumb|right|The [[WeeGee house]], which hosts the [[Espoo Museum of Modern Art]], designed by [[Aarno Ruusuvuori]]]]
[[File:Tapiola paviljonki 280619.jpg|thumb|right|The original Tapiola logo.]]
As car traffic in Finland started increasing in the 1920s, planning for a southern road connection westwards from [[Helsinki]] started. The city of Helsinki bought the island of [[Lauttasaari]] in the 1930s and a decision to construct a road from Lauttasaari to the village of [[Jorvas]] (presently located in the municipality of [[Kirkkonummi]]) was made. The road Jorvaksentie (now known as the [[Länsiväylä]] highway) running on the southern border of Tapiola was opened for traffic in 1937. When the [[Soviet Union]] returned the [[Porkkala]] area to Finland in 1956, this road became an important connection to the western part of [[Uusimaa]]. Turning the road into a motorway started in 1961 and the road reached Espoonlahti in 1969. At this point the road was officially named Länsiväylä.<ref name="maatilat">''Maatilojen Espoo'', pp. 23-24. The traditional foundation of Espoo, 2020. {{ISBN|978-952-7311-10-3}}</ref>

The part of the [[Kehä I]] beltway from Länsiväylä to [[Leppävaara]], forming the eastern border of Tapiola, was built in the 1960s as a public road.<ref name="maatilat"/>

After the [[Continuation War]] had ended in 1944 the entire country of Finland suffered from shortage of housing. In the [[Moscow Armistice]], Finland had been forced to reinstate all the areas it had ceded from the [[Soviet Union]], which meant that the [[evacuation of Finnish Karelia|evacuees from Finnish Karelia]] had to be settled in Finland. Already during the Continuation War, the Finnish Family Federation had decided that action had to be taken to relieve the shortage of housing.<ref name="manninen">Manninen, Antti: [https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000004157282.html Tapiolan idealistinen mallikaupunki täyttää syksyllä 50 vuotta], ''[[Helsingin Sanomat]]'' 2 August 2003. Accessed on 9 January 2021.</ref>

Tapiola was one of the first post-war "new town" projects in Continental Europe. It was created by a private non-profit enterprise called Asuntosäätiö (the Housing Foundation), which was established in 1951 by six social trade organisations including the Confederation of Finnish Trade Unions, the Central Organisation of Tenants, the Mannerheim Child Welfare Federation, the Finnish Federation of Civilian and Military Invalids and the Civil Servants' Federation.<ref name="Tuomi"/><ref name="tuomi_paatero">Tuomi, T., & Paatero, K. (2003). ''Tapiola: Life and architecture''. Espoo: Housing Foundation in cooperation with the City of Espoo.</ref><ref name="merlin">Merlin, P. (1980). The new town movement in Europe. ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 451'', 76-85.</ref>

The project was conceived, built and managed by [[Heikki von Hertzen]], the executive of the Asuntosäätiö and garden city advocate.<ref name="merlin"/><ref name="museo">[https://www.mfa.fi/kokoelmat/tietopaketit/tapiola/ Tapiola], Finnish Museum of Architecture. Accessed on 9 January 2021.</ref> Von Hertzen was a lawyer, who had worked as a branch manager for a bank in [[Tampere]] before becoming the director of the Finnish Family Federation.<ref name="manninen"/>

Under von Hertzen's leadership, the Housing Foundation bought 660 acres (267 ha) of forest land, six miles (9.65km) from the centre of Helsinki, and set out to create an ideal garden city.<ref name="heideman">Heideman, M. Lawrence Jr: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0304400975900030 Tapiola: Model, myth, or happenstance? A personal investigation], ''Urban Ecology'' Volume 1, Issue #1/1975, pp. 5-47.</ref> The role of the Housing Foundation included financing the project and overseeing the planning and building process so as to ensure consistency within different areas of the town.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/><ref name="armen">Armen, G. (1976). The programming of social provision in new communities: Part II some case studies and conclusions. ''The Town Planning Review, 47'', 269-288.</ref> The Housing Foundation's unique combination of various socio-political organisations facilitated the negotiation of funds with governmental bodies.<ref name="lahti">Lahti, J. (2008). The Helsinki suburbs of Tapiola and Vantaanpuisto: Post-war planning by the architect Aarne Ervi. ''Planning Perspectives, 23'', 147-169.</ref> Von Hertzen set out to create a modern urban environment that would address the housing shortage in Helsinki while also being economically viable and beautiful.<ref name="merlin" /><ref name="tuomi">Tuomi, T. (1992). ''Tapiola: A history and architectural guide''. Espoo: Espoo City Museum.</ref> Tapiola did not form part of any wider plan for Finland’s development other than von Hertzen's Seven Towns Plan, a response to [[urban sprawl]] in Helsinki.<ref name="armen" />

In 1946 von Hertzen explained his thoughts about urban planning in his pamphlet ''Koti vaiko kasarmi lapsillemme'' ("A home or a barracks for our children?"), where he strongly criticised the cramped and gloomy closed city blocks of [[Helsinki]] and defended the importance of nature in a built environment.<ref name="manninen"/><ref name="museo"/> This idea of a [[garden city movement]] was inspired by the garden design principles of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Ebenezer Howard]].<ref name="manninen"/><ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> New residential areas in [[Sweden]] also served as inspiration for Tapiola.<ref name="manninen"/>

The original city plans for Tapiola were made by [[Otto-Iivari Meurman]].<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen">Hertzen, H.V., & Spreiregen, P.D. (1971). ''[https://archive.org/details/buildingnewtown00heik/mode/2up Building a new town: Finland's new garden city: Tapiola]''. Cambridge: MIT Press. {{ISBN|0 262 22014 8}}.</ref> Later, the Housing Foundation made significant changes to the plans, and handed planning of Tapiola over to a group of prominent Finnish architects, including [[Aarne Ervi]], [[Alvar Aalto]], and [[Kaija Siren]].<ref name="hertzen">Hertzen 1959</ref>{{incomplete short citation|date=September 2022}} Each member of the group designed their own part of the area and its buildings, including social housing blocks (80% of all dwellings) and individual houses.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/>

The planners of Tapiola were convinced that no one professional group could solve the manifold problems of modern community planning; planning has to be highly skilled and strictly directed teamwork at all levels.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/> Tapiola is a result of close teamwork in the fields of architecture, sociology, civil engineering, landscape gardening, domestic science, and youth welfare.<ref name="tuomi_paatero"/>

The name of the garden city itself was chosen through a public competition in 1953. The winning name, which in Finnish means the home of the Tapio, the forest god from the Kalevala, was suggested by eleven different people.<ref name="hertzen_spreiregen"/> The prominent difference between the Finnish and Swedish names is explained by different etymologies. The Swedish name Hagalund comes from [[Hagalund manor]], whose lands originally included the site of present-day Tapiola, even though the main building of the manor is actually located in nearby [[Otaniemi]], separated from Tapiola by the [[Kehä I]] beltway. The original northernmost part of Tapiola was separated to its own district called [[Pohjois-Tapiola]] ("Northern Tapiola").

Tapiola is also the cultural centre of Espoo, as it houses the [[Espoo cultural centre]] (home of the [[Tapiola Sinfonietta]]), the city museum (in the [[WeeGee house]]), and the Espoo City Theatre. The Tapiola [[library]] is located in the cultural centre.