Kauniainen

Kauniainen [ kɑu̯niɑi̯nɛn ], Swedish Grankulla, is a town of about 8,400 inhabitants in southern Finland. The smallest area of ​​the city of Finland ( six square miles ) is a suburb of the nearby capital Helsinki.

Geography

Kauniainen is located in the southern Finnish Uusimaa landscape in the suburb area of ​​the capital Helsinki. The cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen together form a as the "Capital Region " called agglomeration. De facto they are grown together to form a single city with approximately one million inhabitants, politically the four cities are still independent.

Kauniainen is completely surrounded by the neighboring city of Espoo. Kauniainen located 15 km west of the center of Helsinki. Officially Kauniainen is divided into three numbered parts of the city, they have no practical significance in everyday life. The only part Kauniainens which is generally regarded as an independent district, Kasavuori is in the west of the city.

History

Kauniainen was founded in 1906 under the Swedish name Grankulla as a suburb of Helsinki. The quiet village surrounded by coniferous forests was well served by the railway line opened in 1903 on the capital and soon developed into a popular residential area of wealthy Helsinki. 1920 Grankulla was raised to the market town. Of the 1,300 inhabitants at that time the majority was still Swedish-speaking. The Finnish name Kauniainen received the congregation until 1949. During the 1970s, the population Kauniainens had risen to over 6000 inhabitants. In 1972 Kauniainen then simultaneously with Espoo and Vantaa city status, a year later there was the first time a Finnish majority.

Coat of arms

Description of coat of arms: In a blue shield with three silver -backed golden roses are holding bar as in chief over a golden squirrel with red claws and a black thong.

Population

Kauniainen had on 31 January 2007 8,444 inhabitants. The population density is thus 1433 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The Finland Swedes are heavily over-represented in Kauniainen. By 1973, the city was largely Swedish-speaking, by immigration from other parts of the country, the proportion of Swedish-speaking population has declined. Today, 57 % of the population speak Finnish, 41% of Swedish as their mother tongue, which is still significantly more than in the other cities in the capital region. Officially, the city is bilingual with Finnish as majority and Swedish as a minority language.

Policy

City ​​council

The strongest political force in Kauniainen is the Swedish People's Party. At the municipal election in 2008 was almost half of the voters of the traditional political representation of Finland Sweden her voice. In the City Council, the highest decision-making authority in local affairs, presents the 17 of 35 seats. Also well represented is the Conservative-Liberal Coalition Party with 14 seats. Left parties are marginal in Kauniainen: The Greens represent two deputies, the Social Democrats reached a vote of less than three percent only one seat on the city council. Also represented by a deputy in the city council, the Christian Democrats.

Twinning

Kauniainen has been twinned with the Swedish municipality of Danderyd. Danderyd has a very similar story as Kauniainen, but it was founded as a suburb of Stockholm in the early 20th century.

Cityscape

Kauniainen has remained a natural garden city to this day, to prevail in villas and single family homes. Due to its attractive location and surroundings Kauniainen is a popular residential and residential suburb for the people of the Capital Region. Should help also means that the city has the 16% lowest local tax rate in Finland.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Marcus Grönholm ( born 1968 ), rally driver