Village planning and villages in the Lahti regionLiisa Helanto , Päijät-Häme Village Association

Where is a village?• Finnish municipality has one administrative center and many villages. Village is not an official part of the administrative system.

Size of a village in average :• 400 inhabitants• area 100 km²

• Houses and farms• Plenty of forests

• Lake with a common swimming shore • Village marine for small boats

• Many different associations • Village association makes the village developing plan = common future for the village

• Village plan has no official place in statuory planning

Village association – village as local developer and actor

• Registered association = legitimate actor, volunteer based

• Open to everybody, political independent, horizontal

• Building cooperation, coordinating activities, publicity: village news, websites,

e-mail lists, notice board

• Own projects or cooperation projects

• Common place (village hall) for meeting

Village association – our common future?

• What are the common needs, problems and interests? • Village plan

- long time planning period - shared passion to develope - wide participation and support

Organising the village plan with a new way:

1. Open and participating village meeting

2. Writing the issues into spreadsheed form, volunteers with the help of the village coordinator

RAVIOSKORPI VILLAGE PLAN (in SYSMÄ) Village meeting 26 October 2007, copy typing 6 November 2007. 1.12.2007

OBJECTIVES CURRENT STATUS ACTIONS SCHEDULE AND IMPLEMENTATION

Restoring and maintaining school as a village house

- Condition evaluation was done on 6 November 2007 - Water pipelines date back to construction year of 1951- Sewer network dates back to construction year- Heating radiators must be surveyed- Rainwater is able to access foundation structures- Sauna department needs to be renovated

- Water pipeline renovation in 2008, rainwater drains in 2008 and renovating plumbing system by means of project funding to comply with current regulations- Renovating sauna (painting floor, walls) by means of community effort- Maintenance and utilisation rules (rental price list)

- 2008-2012- ASAP

More versatile activity in the school: For men and the young in particular

- Versatile hobbies: clubs of the Civil College: sowing, exercising, felt cloth making, music lessons for children- 4H club alternately in stables and school - Parish club for children and young - Jogging track and playing field- Short skiing track - Lantern skiing- Hobbies for men not available

- Exercising: More equipment in miniature gym and increasing utilisation degree of field and jogging track- Village events: Christmas parties, summer evenings, summer festivals, rummage sales, concerts (accordion, student, visitors)- Village evenings: singing, themed evenings, lectures, chatting evenings- Events provided by external parties (village can take care of, for example, catering)Women will promote men in their activities, challenging to exercising- Long skiing track on the ridge- Starting weaving

Backwoods culture - Valuable cultural environment in the province, offered as cultural environment of national significance: most extensive united residential area built after the war in southern Finland- Village history- Village book published in 2006, village and settlement history being gathered- Extensive level fields surrounded by ridgesSelecting Adopted Village 2008!

- All information gathered and used - Mr Tauno Virtanen to tell about the village- Planning village’s own cultural event- Co-operating with municipality of Sysmä and Sysmä Summer Music Festival: proposing backwoods culture as event theme- Also studying prehistory and settlement (crofters and farm leaseholders)- Study group- Networking and marketing in entire Finland

- 2008-

Practices:as many people as possible included in the activity

- Village association established in summer 2007

- Acquiring new members- Communications: village e-mailing list, village bulletin (neighbours will tell about events to those who do not have e-mail), bulletin board and other communications- Village website- Improving co-operation: neighbouring villages across village borders, municipality of Sysmä, companies, other organisations, etc. - Utilising know-how in our village- Inviting summer residents to participate in the activity

- Immediately

Acquiring funds - Started from nothing - Membership fees and contributions- License to collect money acquired- Income from rents of the school, etc. (apartments, office, classrooms, storage premises, party premises)- Subsidies- Donations - Project funding for investments and development (Leader)- Rummage sales, flea markets, events, catering

More residents - Approximately 50 households- Two apartments in the school: one rented out. Office premises rented out.

- Surveying available real properties and vacant houses, Sysmän kehitys will market, also marketed on the website in the future- Good tenant for school apartment- Strengths of village promoted in marketing

Services - Studying opportunities for arranging day-care in lower form facilities and need for day-care among villagers- Village house available for hobby activities and service providers from the outside- Trekking stables- Services of entrepreneurs (approximately 20 of them)- Water cooperative- Fast data communication connections (broadband)- Boat harbour in Lake Nuoramoinen- One bus to Sysmä Church and Nuoramoinen every weekday- Transportation to school

- Studying villagers’ needs and service providers from outside of the village- Neighbourly help and friend service- Village caretaker assisting in many issues (cleaning, repairs, running errands, yard work, etc.)- Studying joint solutions to meet wastewater regulations- Condition of boat harbour?- Studying and communicating information about transportation to school

Improving road system

- Good location- Road between Ravioskorpi and Heinola (country road) winding, narrow and hilly

- Improving road connection to Heinola: surveying worst sites (e.g. Kukkumäki Hill), offering initiatives to road district and municipalities together with neighbouring villages- Repairing tarmac between Kalkkinen and Nuoramoinen

LÄNSI-HOLLOLA VILLAGE PLAN 2007 7 NOVEMBER 2007

OBJECTIVES CURRENT STATUS PROPOSED ACTIONS SCHEDULE AND IMPLEMENTATION

SOLIDARITYCO-OPERATION

Promoting the Youth Association House as a village house

- Meeting place and party premises for entire village, associations and private persons - Civic College’s knitting and exercising activities - Get-togethers for the young- Rent income from parties

- Open village evenings at the house: coffee, karaoke, poker, ping pong, etc. - Rules for using the house (e.g., reservations, division of costs) - Marketing the house for parties all year round (Lahti Travel, etc.) - More hobby activities, plays, etc. - Guest amateur theatres- Church clubs and events

- Starting on 31 October 2007, theme + discussion- Youth Association will draw up and deliver schedule to other associations- Youth Association will check information on website- Theatre group started in September 2007- Evening of singing most loved Christmas carols in co-operation with Martha Organisation

Hobbies for children and the young

- Youth evenings at the house in wintertime- Sports school in summertime

- Co-operation with a group home taking care of children committed to care- Ice rink cooling group- Scouts- Sports- Youth theatre

- Negotiations with the group taking care of children committed to care- Bulleting must include query for those willing to do voluntary work; model from Virenoja village- Objective is to start scouts activity - Ping pong and badminton in the summer; volley ball and Finnish baseball in the summer- Orienteering - Starting in autumn 2008, co-operation with, for example, Uskila School

Fast and functional communications

- Joint village bulleting will be delivered to every home by means of voluntary workers approximately four times a year- www.phnet.fi/kylat/lansi-hollola- Village service list from 2003

- Website updated, web bulletin board- Starting collecting of village e-mailing list- Updating service list information

- Village association will take care of this task: collecting of village e-mailing list will start in village evening events

Western Hollola as a municipal development area

- One deputy municipal councillor- One deputy member in technical commission

- At least two local councillors- Own independent Western Hollola group- Election preparation event combined with another topical subject

- Election in autumn 2008- Gathering of candidates will begin in autumn 2007 - First meeting in autumn 2007- Voting for own candidates will be continuously promoted

Village developing programme(municipal, many villages together)

Thank you for your attention

Any questions?