Kerava

Kerava [ kɛrɑvɑ ] ( swedish Kervo ) is a city in southern Finland, with around 34,000 inhabitants. It lies just north of the capital, Helsinki, is one of their bullpen. The population of the city is increasing due to the influx from rural areas of Finland in the Helsinki region for years steadily since 1980, the population has increased by over a third. Almost 96 % of the population speak Finnish as their native language Keravas, only 1% are Finland Sweden. Thus the city is also officially monolingual Finnish speakers.

• 5.1 Economic Structure
• 5.2 traffic

Geography

Kerava is located approximately 27 km north of the Finnish capital Helsinki, Uusimaa in the landscape. Neighboring municipalities are Tuusula in the West, Sipoo to the east and the Great City of Vantaa in the south. Kerava is part of the Helsinki region and is closely linked to the capital.

With only 30.79 km ² in area Kerava is the fifth- smallest municipality in Finland, with a population density of 1,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, but also to Helsinki and Kauniainen the most densely populated. The municipality is crossed from north to south from the river Keravanjoki lead over the several bridges in the urban area. The river is also the only inland sea in the city; so Kerava is one of the few Finnish municipalities without lake.

History

The first people reached the area of Kerava after the end of the last ice age about 9,000 years ago. At that time was the water level of Ancylussees, the precursor of the Baltic Sea, around 40 meters higher than today, so Kerava was located on the coast. The Stone Age people lived by hunting and fishing.

The first sedentary settlements arose in Kerava in the Middle Ages, before the Hämeer had used the area as a hunting ground. In the area of Kerava were two villages, Alikerava and Ylikerava ( " upper " and " lower - Kerava " ) that belonged initially to the parish of Sipoo. After the founding of the parish Tuusula in 1643 Kerava was a part of. It is estimated that more middle of the 16th century was the population of Kerava only about 160, and then the area remained sparsely populated.

When in 1862 the railway was completed to Helsinki, Kerava had about 450 inhabitants. The railway connection led in subsequent years to the settlement of companies especially in the construction and wood-processing industry and a growth of the city. Opened in 1860 in what is now the district Savio the first brick factory in Finland, 1869, the first cement plant in the country. In 1913, the leather factory Nahkatehdas Oy Nahkimo that primarily manufactured boots for the Russian tsarist army. When, after the independence of Finland broke the paragraph, the factory went bankrupt in 1919; in their properties, the so-called " Klondyke House" ( Klondyke - talo ), the Group focused Nokia 1925, a rubber factory.

1924 Kerava was dissolved as a separate market town of the municipality of Tuusula. At that time the city had about 3,000 inhabitants and also included the area of parade, which was connected in 1955 Vantaa. In the 1960s and 70s, the population Keravas doubled by the rural exodus almost. Since 1970, Kerava owns the municipal law.

Cityscape and monuments

Kerava is a very young and pretty faceless satellite city. The compact city center is dominated by concrete and prefabricated buildings, the residential areas of modern terraced houses. About 60% of city residents living in blocks of flats, a further 14 % in terraced houses, 25 % in private homes. A contrast in the cityscape is the manor Heikkilä, a wooden building from the 18th century, which today is used as a local museum and venue.

The road Kauppakaari in the city center is expanded to 850 meters as a pedestrian zone, making it the longest purely pedestrian street of Finland. The pedestrian zone was created after the completion of a bypass road around the center of the previous main thoroughfare Tuusulantie. Since 1993, the pedestrian road leading under the railway line and into the eastern district Sampola. The entrance hall of the ambitious designed underpass is adorned with a large painting of the artist Alpo Jaakkola.

The Lutheran parish church of Kerava was completed in 1965 according to plans by Ahti Korhonen; until 1955 Kerava was dissolved as an independent parish of the municipality of Tuusula. The church was built in a modern concrete and brick construction and with its clear cubic form, the waiver of ornamentation and the strict geometry of the glass surfaces typical of the functionalism of the 1960s. Directly opposite the church is the 1969, also designed by Korhonen meetinghouse. The districts Kaleva Savio and have their own community centers.

Listed building standing next to the church and the manor Heikkilä some industrial buildings in the district Savio, who built 1876-78 railway station of the city, including water tower, and the complex of the prison in the north of the city. It was established in 1891 as a juvenile prison and extended to other buildings in the following decades. The currently about 170 inmates are mostly convicted in Erstvollzug from across the province southern Finland, the emphasis is still on the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.

In the entire metropolitan area, there are numerous modern sculptures whose visit markets the City as a "cultural tour". Particularly noteworthy is a life-size bronze statue of the barrier rotor and double Olympic champion Volmari Iso - Hollo, who started for the athletics club Keravan Urheilijat his time.

Policy

Management

In Kerava the Conservative-Liberal National Coalition Party and the Social Democrats are about equally strong. In the City Council, the highest decision-making body for local affairs, the Coalition Party with 16, the Social Democrats is represented with 15 out of 51 seats. Third- strongest faction is the Green waistband with seven representatives. The Centre Party, although finland far belonging to the three major parties, playing with four seats on the city council as generally in the cities of southern Finland a subordinate role. Furthermore, represented in the City Council are the leftist coalition with four seats, the right-wing populist True Finns and the Christian Democrats with two seats and the Swedish People's Party with one seat town of Kerava Director since 1995, the Social Democrat Rolf Paqvalin.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Kerava was designed by Ahti Hammar Herald, who is also responsible for numerous other Finnish coat of arms. It was taken in 1956 in use and replaced the first designed by the designer Ilmari Tapiovaara municipal coat of arms, which was from 1949 to 1955 officially.

Description of today's coat of arms: In a blue shield a gold bar is set up with a wide- cut battlements (dovetail ). This motif suggests the traditional importance of the wood processing industry in Kerava.

Since 2002, the city used for advertising purposes in addition to the official coat of arms is also a modern logo, kept as a green zigzag line, supplemented by the name of the city.

Twinning

Kerava is twinned with:

• Hjørring, Denmark
• Kristiansand, Norway
• Reykjanesbær, Iceland
• Trollhättan, Sweden
• Ogre, Latvia
• Vladimir, Russia
• Solt, Hungary
• Aschersleben, Germany

Economy and infrastructure

Economic structure

Being close to the business location Helsinki Kerava is to a large extent a commuter town. Of the approximately 16,000 inhabitants professional make only about a third works in Kerava. Another third is employed by the City of Helsinki. In Kerava itself, there are around 10,000 jobs, which identify a typical urban structure. About 40 % of jobs are in the service sector, mainly in trade, tourism and finance. Nearly 30 % are in public service, hired nearly 20 % in industry. The largest private employer with 870 employees ( 2005), the Sinebrychoff brewery, which has one of its two plants in Kerava. The unemployment rate in Kerava in 2006 was 4.9 % below the national average.

Traffic

Traffic Technically Kerava is well connected to the nearby Helsinki. The highway from Helsinki to Lahti, part of the state road 4 ( E75 ) leads east past the center of Kerava. The route to Helsinki is around 30 km, the Helsinki -Vantaa Airport is 20 km. With the Helsinki commuter train from the capital city of Kerava can be reached in around 25 minutes. The section of line between Helsinki and Kerava is expanded to four tracks. At peak hours, operating on the route three express trains and six slower trains every hour. In addition to the main train station is located in the city of Kerava, a second station, Savio. Even after Porvoo is a railway line on this but in 1981, passenger services were set, since 1990 she has been shut down completely.

Traditionally, special emphasis is placed on creating good conditions for pedestrians and cyclists in Kerava. In the community there are bike paths in the total length of 70 kilometers. Since 2001, the city occupies as one of three Finnish municipalities part (together with Jyväskylä and Lempäälä ) on the model community project by the Finnish Ministry of Transport for the development of concepts for the pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The project aims in particular to improving the transportation solutions by closing gaps ways, provision of cycle parking at intersections, increasing safety for pedestrians and cyclists as well as offering combination tickets in public transport.

Culture

Since Kerava is in the catchment area of ​​the capital, is taken from the inhabitants of the city in the first place, the cultural offerings of the Helsinki region to complete. But even in Kerava itself is mostly funded by the City, a number of recurring cultural events offered.

Since 1987, a garlic festival takes place every August in the pedestrian zone to Kerava. Describes himself Kerava therefore also known as the "Garlic city in Finland ." Launched in June organized annually since 1991 Kerava Jazz Festival Jazz continues its focus on free jazz. In September, the city is populated for two days from the folk festival Sirkusmarkkinat. As part of the program Helmimusiikki ( "pearls music " ) several times organized classical music concerts a year.

The Art Museum of the city is in a former rubber factory of Nokia Corporation, the so-called " Klondykehaus " housed. In the permanent and temporary exhibitions especially modern Finnish art is shown.

Education

Kerava has a large supply of daycare. In addition to a series of urban kindergartens, there are also various private. Thus, there are kindergartens with a focus on arts, sports and languages ​​( German, English, Russian, Swedish ).

Sons and daughters of the town

• Antti Soramies (* 1972), Radio Presenter
• Hanna -Maria Seppälä ( born 1984 ), swimmer, world champion in the 100 - meter freestyle in Barcelona 2003