Vantaa (Swedish: Vanda, until 1972 Helsingin rural municipality,
Swedish: Helsinge) is a city in Uusimaa. It is the fourth largest
city in Finland in terms of population. On December 31, 2022, the
population of Vantaa was 242,917 inhabitants. Vantaa got its name
from the name used by the ancient Hämälä people for the river that
flows through the city.
The history of Vantaa's predecessor,
Helsingin pitäjä (Swedish: Helsinge), dates back to at least the
14th century. For a long time, it was also thought that the earliest
surviving document mention of the Keeper of Helsinki dates from
1351, which was considered the Keeper's year of birth until 2018.
However, the first written mention of Vantaa, in the light of
current knowledge, is a document issued by King Maunu Eerikinpoja in
Västerås on September 14, 1331, regarding the performance of the
bishop's tithes, which required a pound of butter to be given to the
bishop from every resident over the age of 7. The holder of Helsinki
became the Helsinki Rural Municipality due to Finland's first
municipal law passed in 1865. In 1972, the rural municipality of
Helsinki was transformed into the municipality of Vantaa, and this
in 1974 into the current city of Vantaa. Vantaa has developed since
the days of a rural municipality to what it is today thanks to
emigration and good transport connections. Like Espoo, Vantaa is
characterized by suburban suburbs and the absence of a clear center.
Central Vantaa is home to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Finland's most
important airport.
Vantaa is an inland city belonging to the
capital region, but located near the coast of the Gulf of Finland.
Vantaa's neighboring municipalities are Helsinki to the south, Espoo
to the west, Nurmijärvi to the northwest, Tuusula and Kerava to the
north, and Sipoo to the east. Structurally, Vantaa belongs to the
central area of Helsinki and the metropolitan area of the Helsinki
region.
Vantaa Culture Award
The Vantaa Culture Award is awarded annually
in recognition of significant merits for the benefit of art and the
city's art life to a person permanently living in the city of Vantaa or
to a community operating in the city. The prize was awarded for the
first time in 1976.
The decision to award Vantaa's cultural award
is made by the city government. The amount of the prize is €10,000
(2015). Prize winners have included, among others, jazz musician Juhani
Aaltonen, musicians Maarit and Sami Hurmerinta, sculptor Heikki
Häiväoja, film director Matti Kassila, architect Alpo Halme, writer
Virpi Hämeen-Anttila together with her husband, professor Jaakko
Hämeen-Anttila, actor Lasse Pöysti, Tanssiteatteri Raatikko,
entertainment artist Virve Rosti, writer Alpo Ruuth, opera singer Esa
Ruuttunen and the children's ballet of Vantaa.
Vantaa City Museum
The Vantaa City Museum is located in the old station building of
Tikkurila. The city museum moved into the oldest stone station building
in Finland, completed in 1862, after its restoration in the fall of
1990. The first two floors of the red-brick museum are exhibition
spaces, and the third floor houses the offices of the city museum's
staff.
Symbols
The namesake animal of Vantaa is the salmon
that also appears on the coat of arms of Vantaa, the traditional food is
salmon soup, and the namesake plant is the wild violet.
Science
Center Heureka
Opened in April 1989, Heureka is a Finnish science
center in Tikkurila, Vantaa. The purpose of the science center is to
increase the comprehensibility of scientific information and to develop
science teaching methods. The name Heureka refers to Archimedes'
supposed saying "I have invented it!"
Proceedings
Ankkarock
was an annual rock festival organized in Korso, Vantaa, mostly at the
beginning of August. The event started in 1989 as a free concert and was
organized annually after that. The last Ankkarock was celebrated in
2010.
Louhela Jam is the oldest continuously organized rock
festival in Vantaa. The one-day free event takes place in
Jokiuomanpuisto between Louhela and Martinlaakso in June, always on the
Sunday after school ends.
Since 2014, the newer summer festival
tradition in Vantaa has been represented by the Tikkurila Festival
organized at the Hiekkaharju sports field on the weekend of the end of
July.
The Vantaa baroque music event was organized for sixteen
summers before it was discontinued in 2008. In 2010, the Vantaa music
festival was founded, which continues the Vantaa baroque tradition, at
least in the sense that it also emphasizes old music. However, the
period covered by the new festival is wider, and according to artistic
director Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, the focus will be on periodizers
rather than any specific era.
The revival party was organized in
Vantaa in 2016.
Martinus Concert Hall
The Martinus concert
hall, completed in 1987, located in Martinlaakso offers spaces for
various events, from meetings and seminars to cultural events.
Thanks to the good acoustics, many recordings have been made in the
concert hall. Plenty of TV recordings have also been made in the hall.
There are seats in the auditorium for 444 people, six of which are
disabled seats. In the warmth of the concert hall, it is possible to
organize small-scale concerts and other events. Martinus is the home
hall of the Vantaa entertainment orchestra led by Nick Davies.
Myyrmäkitalo
The Myyrmäkitalo multi-purpose center in West Vantaa
houses, among other things, the Myyrmäki library, which provides main
library-level services (the other similar library in Vantaa is the
Tikkurila library), the Vantaa art museum Artsi, and an auditorium with
a 188-seat pop-up auditorium. The cinema Kino Myyri operates in the
auditorium. The main users of the center's teaching facilities are
Vantaa School of Visual Arts, Vantaa Adults' College and many hobby
clubs. The multipurpose center, completed in the fall of 1993, is
located near Myyrmäki station and Myyrmann shopping center.
Vantaa is mainly a lowland area crossed by rivers. Its surface area
was 240.35 km² on January 1, 2022, according to the measurements of the
National Land Survey, of which 238.38 km² is land and 1.97 km² is inland
water areas. Vantaanjoki runs through West Vantaa, and Keravanjoki, a
tributary of Vantaanjoki, flows through East Vantaa. Along with Vuosaari
in 1966, the rural municipality of Helsinki lost almost its entire sea
coast to its namesake city. In its southeast corner, however, Vantaa
still extended to the seashore in Porvarinlahti until the end of 2008,
until in 2009 the "Västerkulla wedge" and its beach areas were joined to
Helsinki together with part of Sipoota. At that time, Vantaa formally
became the second largest "inland city" in the Nordic countries after
Tampere.
Vantaa has relatively few lakes and they are small. The
largest of them is the Silvola artificial lake, which is connected to
the capital region's water supply system together with the
Päijännetunnel. In addition, Kuusijärvi is a well-known recreation
destination in East Vantaa, and in West Vantaa there is a small
Lammaslampi in the Pähkinärinte area. In addition, Kolkka, the most
northeastern part of Espoo's Pitkäjärvi, extends to western Vantaa in
the area between Ring III and Hämeenkylä. On the western border of
Vantaa in Petiko, there is still part of the small Odilamme north of
Vihdintie. Among the lakes of Sipoonkorvi National Park, Bisajärvi and
the main part of Gumböle träski are located in Vantaa. Ponds formed in
sand pits include Vetokannas in Vantaanlaakso, which has been renovated
as a swimming place, and Vaarala's Vaaralanlammet.
The
easternmost residential areas of Vantaa, Rajakylä and Länsimäki are
located right on the surface of the Helsinki border and are connected to
the neighboring residential areas of Vesala and Mellunmäki on the
Helsinki side. The Mellunmäki metro station's turning track is partially
located on the Vantaa side.
Vantaa's bedrock is old and it is
marked by large depression valleys, such as the north-south depression
that originates from the foothills of Mustavuuori in the southeast
corner of the city area. Near the eastern and western borders, the
landforms rise sharply in some places to a height of about 80 meters
above sea level. The highest hills in Vantaa, however, are partly
artificially grown without fill: Petikonhuippu in Petikko (a generous 96
m; may rise to about 120 m when finished) and Kulokukkula in Korso (more
than 93 m, the peak is planned to be raised to about 105 m with fill
soil).
The ground cover of the bedrock is shaped by ice masses of
the ice age that retreated 10,000 years ago. The roofs of the hills are
usually moraine or bare rock, the slopes are sandy and gravelly. A
northwest-southeast-oriented ridge runs through the central part of
Vantaa, which is one of the city's best groundwater areas. After the ice
age, most of the area of the current city was covered by the sea, except
for the highest hills. As the land rose, sea bays were left that
extended far inland, as well as the Vantaanjoki, which changed its
channel from Mätäoja to Keravanjoki about 2,000 years ago. The bays
washed the slopes of the hills, leaving the shore formations that can be
seen today. In addition, they collected flat loams on their bottoms,
which now form valleys, especially along rivers.
Vantaa belongs to the northern coniferous forest or boreal zone and
it represents the southern parts of the zone in terms of vegetation.
Vantaa is located in the border area of the southern boreal subzone,
which characterizes the interior of southern Finland, and the hemiboreal
subzone, which characterizes southwestern Finland. The hemiboreal is a
transition zone between coniferous and deciduous forests, and there, for
example, oak and elm grow naturally as forest trees among conifers. The
river valleys and clays that cut through Vantaa used to be full of lush
groves, but today they are largely farmland. However, in some places,
lush mixed forests start at their edges, which in some places turn into
shady groves. Along the Mätäjoja, representative tar elm groves have
been preserved, where rare species of insects and plants can be found.
The most common type of forest vegetation in Vantaa is the
blueberry-type fresh fabric that grows from spruce and birch, whereas
dry fabrics are only found in barren and rocky areas. The second most
common type of forest is a grove-like fabric, similar to fresh fabric,
but more lush. In addition to blueberry, its undergrowth is
characterized by cabbage, wolfberry and mouse sedge, and in some places
white anemone. Lush groves grow here and there in a mosaic between these
two dominant forest types, and southern grove species such as blue
anemone are commonly found in them. In Vantaa, the range of groves is
huge, varying from moist, shady groves of spruce eagle wings, blue
anemone and hazel to dry groves and noble tree groves. In spring, in the
first weeks of May, in almost all groves and grove-like forests, white
anemones bloom very conspicuously, which is a characteristic feature of
the forest vegetation of southwestern and southern Finland. There is a
centuries-old oak grove in Tammisto, and the Tammisto forest area is
considered to be the only wild oak forest in the capital region. The
forest was protected under the Nature Conservation Act in 1946.
Although Vantaa is highly urbanized, a large part of its surface area is
still a rural field environment or forest. The protected area under the
Nature Conservation Act in Vantaa is 12.41 square kilometers (about 5%
of the city's area).[20] Vantaa's first nature reserve was established
in 1946 in Tammisto. Two specially protected species live in Vantaa's
nature reserves, the beetle species halavasepikka and the white-tailed
mosquito species.
Vantaa's climate is cool and temperate with cold winters and warm
summers. According to the Köppen climate classification, the city is
located in the area of the Dfb climate type, close to the border between
it and the colder Dfc climate type. The climate type is characterized by
an average temperature of less than −3 °C in the coldest month and an
average temperature of 10–22 °C in summer for at least four months.
February is the coldest month, when the average temperature is about
−5.8 degrees based on grid data based on measurement data from
1981–2010. After this, temperatures rise rapidly. The average
temperature in April for the same period is +4.0 degrees and in May 10.5
degrees. July is the warmest month, when the long-term average
temperature is +17.7 degrees. The second warmest month is August, with
an average temperature of +15.7 degrees, the third is June, when the
average temperature in the comparison period has been +14.7 degrees. On
average, there are 17 hot days in Vantaa, and on average more than half
of these are in July. In occasional years, heat can occur even in
September. The summer thunderstorm season in Vantaa is very short and
variable: it typically starts around Midsummer, and ends in mid-August,
with the peak in the last week of July.
The fall in temperatures
in autumn is on average slower than the rise in spring. The average
daily temperature in November is +0.3 degrees and in December -3.3
degrees. In autumn and early winter, several low-pressure storms
traveling east from the Atlantic move over Vantaa. The location in
Fennoscandia, warmed by the Gulf Stream, and near the coast of the Gulf
of Finland, makes Vantaa a clearly milder-than-average region compared
to its latitude. For example, the southern tip of Greenland is located
further south of the city, as are the tundra areas of the Labrador
peninsula. The period when Vantaa normally has permanent snow on the
ground is usually from the end of December to the beginning of April,
when the snow melts quickly. There are usually 10–15 hot days in Vantaa
in the summer and they occur from May to August. The lowest temperature
in the history of Vantaa's weather observation stations, −37.7 °C, was
measured in Tammisto on January 31, 1967, and the highest temperature
was 33.7 °C at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on July 28, 2010.
Spring
is significantly less rainy than autumn. In February, March, April and
May, it only rains 30–40 millimeters per month. In summer, the weather
becomes rainier, and in July, August, September, October and November it
rains on average around 60-80 millimeters per month. The annual
variation is large: in the last months of the year, there are sometimes
monthly rainfall amounts of less than 20 millimeters or more than 200
millimeters. A jump in the drier direction is experienced accordingly at
the beginning of the year. Vantaa's annual rainfall, converted to water,
is 682.9 millimeters on average.
The remains of a rectangular dwelling have been found in Brunaberget
in Vantaa, dated to the 6700-6500 BC. The residence was then located on
the seashore near the mouth of Keravanjoki. The dwelling, which had been
in use for ten years, was apparently in use during the winter. In
Jönsaksen, a large Mesolithic Stone Age burial site has been found,
which was located at the mouth of the bay. The people who lived in the
Stone Age in Vantaa got their food mainly from the sea. Seals were an
important prey animal, but among the abundant finds of settlements in
the Neolithic Stone Age settlement of Jokiniemi, there are, among other
things, remains of porpoises. Remains of fixed dwellings have also been
found in Stenkulla, Hakkila, from the same period.
The history of
the Iron Age in Vantaa is not very well known, but at the end of it, the
Uudenmaa region was a sparsely populated hinterland of Häme. The most
studied Iron Age settlement in Vantaa is located in the same place as
the earlier Stone Age settlements of Jönsaksen and Palmu. Morby ceramics
have been found in these places, and iron slag has also been found in
Jönsaksi. Hearths dating back to the Iron Age have also been studied in
Jönsaksi. The remains of a settlement from the 9th century and the
remains of a forge from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries have
been found in Gubbacka, Länsisalmi.
The villages that once
existed in the Vantaa area are told by the consolidation of agriculture
visible in the soil pollen analysis, as well as by retrospective
reasoning based on nomenclature research and historical document
sources. According to Saulo Kepsu, the Finnish settlement originated
from Hämee to the Helsinki and Vantaa region in the 10th–14th centuries,
possibly earlier. The Hämälä people had fishing spots and other pleasure
grounds in the region.
After the so-called second crusade made by
the Swedes against the Hämä people in the middle of the 13th century,
the Swedish colonization also extended to Vantaa in connection with the
colonization of the rest of Uusimaa. The Swedes named the river that
flowed there Helsinginjoki (Helsingå or Helsingaa in Swedish). The
earliest document that mentions Helsinki in the form of this water body
is the letter of King Maunu Eerikinpoja on May 15, 1351, in which the
king donated the fishing rights in the rapids of the Helsinki River to
the Estonian sister monastery of Padisen. The same date is currently
celebrated as Vantaa Day. The holder of Helsinki (Helsinge in Swedish)
was thus named after the Helsingin River. The same river, or actually
one of its parts, Vanhankaupunginkoski, whose name was once Helsinge
fors (Helsinginkoski), has also given its name to Helsinki (Swedish:
Helsingfors), which was carved out of the owner's area and founded in
1550.
The Hämälä people who lived along the upper course of the
Helsinginjoki, especially in the region of present-day Riihimäki, called
the same river Vantaanjoki after the Vantaanjärvi and the village called
Vantaa located in the area. Vantaanjoki (Swedish: Vanda å) became the
name of the river in the 16th century. Also, in the area of Helsinki
rural municipality, west of Vantaankoski, there was a village called
Vantaa (Swedish: Vanda) before the foundation of Vantaa township, which
in terms of area corresponded mostly to the current Vantaanlaakso
district.
The churchwarden of Helsinki was born in the
1370s–1390s. The keeper's vicar is mentioned in documents for the first
time in 1395. The Helsinki keeper's St. Laurentius Church is mentioned
in 1401, when the Rälssi of Rekola donated one tax mark's worth of land
to the church in Rekola to organize soul masses for the benefit of the
donors and their families. After they ended in 1428, the rights of the
Estonian monastery were transferred to the bishopric of Turku. The old
wooden church building of the keeper, who became prosperous through
trade, was replaced by a stone church. The current Church of St. Lauri
was completed by 1460. The immigration of Swedes continued so that by
the 16th century they already formed the majority of the entire
population of Helsinki.
In 1865, when rural municipalities were
established in accordance with the decree on municipal administration,
the official Finnish name of the municipality of Helsinki became
Helsinki rural municipality. The Swedish name of the municipality was
still Helsinge (without the word landskommun). When more than a hundred
years later the municipality was going to be transformed into a
township, the name options were, for example, Helsinki township,
Helsinginjoki township and Vantaanjoki township. The final name was
briefly chosen as Vantaa township after Vantaanjoki. Vantaa became a
municipality in 1972 and a city in early 1974.
On December 31, 2022, 242,917 people lived in Vantaa. About half of
the residents of Vantaa are natives of the capital region. In 2000, 26.4
percent of the population of Vantaa were natives of Vantaa, at the
beginning of 2015, the proportion was 27.5%. At that time, the share of
people born in Helsinki had dropped to 19.6 percent, and people born in
Espoo make up a few percent of the population. The proportion of people
born abroad has tripled in the 2000s from 4.2 percent (in 2000) to 12.8
percent (2015). In Vantaa, the proportion of foreign speakers among the
city's residents is higher than in any other place in Finland. At the
end of 2021, 23 percent of the people of Vantaa already spoke a language
other than Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their mother tongue.
At
the end of 2017, 69 percent of the residents of Vantaa over the age of
15 had completed a post-primary school degree. 31 percent of the
population had thus completed at most a basic degree. There were 38
percent of those who completed secondary education. Among those with a
university degree (31%), 9% of the population had completed the lowest
university degree, 12% of the lower university degree, and 9% of the
upper university degree.
On average, an income earner in Vantaa
earns more than in the rest of Finland, but less than in other
municipalities in the capital region. On the other hand, apartments are
on average more affordable in Vantaa than in Helsinki and Espoo.
The income differences within Vantaa are quite large due to the
differences between the suburbs and small house areas. On average, women
earn 71% of what men earn, which is slightly higher than the national
average (69%).
Many families with children live in the city, and
they make up about 55 percent of all households. 50.2% of Vantaa's
population are women.
Vantaa has been mostly Finnish-speaking since the beginning of the
20th century. The number of Swedish-speakers has remained at roughly the
same level for decades, but due to migration to the locality, the share
of Swedish-speakers in the population has been constantly decreasing. In
1960, about ten percent of the people of Vantaa were Swedish-speaking,
and in 1980, five percent. In 2018, the share of Swedish speakers in
Vantaa was 2.4 percent. In comparison, there are 5.6% Swedish speakers
in Helsinki and 7.1% in Espoo. However, Vantaa is still officially
bilingual, because according to the Language Act, the municipality must
be made bilingual, if the size of the language minority (Finnish or
Swedish) is at least 8% or 3,000 inhabitants. Relative to the
population, Vantaa has the fewest Swedish speakers of all the bilingual
municipalities in Finland. In 2019, the share of Swedish-speakers was
the largest among Vantaa's districts in Helsinki's keeper's church
village (19.0%), Sotungi (16.6%) and Luhtaanmäki (11.5%).
At the
beginning of 2015, in addition to Finnish, Swedish and Sami, 112
different languages were spoken as mother tongue in Vantaa. After
Finnish and Swedish, the most common mother tongues in the 21st century
have been Russian, Estonian and Somali. The language statistics for the
turn of the year 2014–2015 show that the shares of both Estonian and
Russian had overtaken Swedish, which was now the fourth most spoken
mother tongue. In 2020, 51,160 people lived in Vantaa whose mother
tongue was not one of the three domestic languages. The combined
population share of foreign speakers (21.6%) is the largest in Finland,
although Helsinki (share 16.6%) and Espoo (19.0%) also have a large
foreign-speaking population.
Economy of the city of Vantaa
In recent years, Vantaa has balanced
its economy in accordance with the economic and debt program approved in
2012. The increase in the loan portfolio was reduced by the end of the
2013–2017 council term. In 2016, the city was able to slightly reduce
the loan portfolio, which had risen to more than one billion euros.
In Vantaa, as in the entire municipal sector, the increase in the
amount of debt has practically occurred in the 21st century. As for
Vantaa, the growth of debt accelerated when the large investments of
Kehärada and Kehä III coincided with the prolonged downturn that
followed the financial crisis of 2008.
Vantaa has a high tax
revenue base nationally, but compared to the capital region, the tax
revenue is lower than Espoo and Helsinki. The state share system and its
tax income equalization based on national comparisons have been seen as
problematic due to the special challenges of the cities in the capital
region and the continuous strong growth.
Vantaa's municipal tax
rate is 19.00, which is clearly below the national average and the
lowest in large cities. The municipal tax percentage was last increased
in Vantaa for the year 2010. The state has raised the lower limits of
real estate tax percentages through legislation.
Vantaa's
position has developed positively in recent years in comparisons of
economic indicators of large cities. When looking at municipal groups
and different types of financing methods of investments, the comparisons
of the loan amounts of the cities are evened out. In the early 2000s,
more than half of the city's debts consisted of city-owned rental
apartments (VAV Asunnot Oy). On the other hand, the city drifted into
crisis mainly because it has made extensive investments in its own
balance sheet with debt money. Asset sales have not been practiced in
the early 2000s.
Jobs and industry
As a result of good
transport connections, Vantaa has concentrated a lot of food, HVAC,
machinery and equipment industries, as well as business activities.
There are industrial areas along Ring III, especially in connection with
the airport and in the neighboring districts of Viinikkala, Veromie,
Pakkala and Koivuhaa, as well as in Hakkila, where a plug-in railway
from the main line runs. A so-called airport city, Aviapolis, has been
born in the vicinity of the airport, where there are, among other
things, large logistics and high-tech companies. In 2000, 74.6 percent
of jobs were in service industries, 23.8 in processing and only 0.5 in
agriculture. In 2001, the city's employment self-sufficiency rate had
risen to 97.1 percent. In the 2000s, the number of jobs in Vantaa has
increased by about 15%.
According to Statistics Finland's StatFin
statistical service, Vantaa had a total of 94,361 jobs in 2003. 94.7%
(89,347) and 5.3% (5,014) of the total number of employees were
considered self-employed.
The private sector made up two-thirds
(67%) of the jobs in Vantaa, although the public sector's share was also
significant. The employees' jobs were divided into different sectors as
follows (number in 2003):
Private sector 67.0% (59,834)
Municipality 16.1% (14,368)
State majority limited company 12.3%
(11,033)
Government 4.6% (4,089)
Unknown 0.0% (23).
An
interesting future opportunity for Vantaa and the entire capital region
is offered by the ring road, which enables a considerable growth
opportunity for both apartments and jobs and offers a direct train
connection from the main line to the airport. The ring road required an
investment of at least over one hundred million euros from Vantaa.
Helsinki, on the other hand, has been pushing for decades to unite the
municipalities of the capital region for the development of the region.
Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen have rejected the proposal each time,
although Vantaa is a little slower than the others. Vantaa's municipal
and city leaders have repeatedly rejected the proposal, fearing that
Vantaa will turn into Helsinki's "backyard". Helsinki has expanded in
the direction of Vantaa throughout the 20th century, including the large
land transfer in 1946 and the loss of Vuosaari in 1966. In 2009,
together with Sipoo Itäsalmi and the wedge of Västerkulla, which was
connected to Helsinki, Vantaa lost its connection to the sea and became
an inland city.
Aaro Forsman, tea house
Atea Finland Oy, IT products, solutions
and services
Boreo, a conglomerate
Cramo, rental of construction
machinery and equipment and rental and sale of movable premises
Fazer, confectionery manufacturing in Vantaa (based in Helsinki)
Finavia, revenue from airport and air traffic control services
Finnair, air travel and cargo (main airport and office in
Helsinki-Vantaa, seat in Helsinki)
Aviation Administration, national
aviation authority
The Central Criminal Police, the prevention and
investigation of the most serious, especially organized and
professionally operating, crime
Lattapiste, tiles, faucets and other
accessories for bathrooms and other wet areas, as well as installation
services
Lite-On Mobile, manufacture of electronic components
Marioff, firefighting technology
Metsähallitus, management and use of
state land and water areas
Forest Research Institute, forest research
Nordqvist, tea house
Okmetic, manufacture of silicon wafers
Onninen Oy, electrical, HVAC, air conditioning and refrigeration
products and materials
Paroc, insulation manufacturer
Pekkaniska,
a company in the crane industry
Pöyry, consulting and design company
R-kioski Oy, kiosk shop
Suomen Rahapaja Oy, production and sale of
coins
Kosan Gas Finland Oy, gas store (headquarters in Finland)
Suunto, sports instruments
Tamro, wholesale
Teboil, fuel trade
Tikkurila Oyj, manufacture and distribution of paints
The Courts
Office, the central agency serving the court system
Uponor Oyj,
supplier of building technology heating and pipe systems
Vaisala,
manufacturing of environmental measurement devices and measurement
networks
Vantaan Energia, an energy company 60% owned by the city of
Vantaa
VAV Asunnot Oy, a public utility housing company 100% owned by
the city of Vantaa
Air service
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is the largest airport in
Finland. In 2017, its number of passengers was 18.9 million. The airport
has been very successful in international comparisons. The airport
roughly divides Vantaa into eastern and western parts: the
administrative center and the largest population concentration are
mainly located in Eastern Vantaa.
Railway traffic
Two railways
run through Vantaa: the main line through Itä-Vantaa and the
Vantaankoski line and its extension the Ring Railway, which run from
Myyrmäki in Länsi-Vantaa via Vantaankoski, Kivistö and Lentoasema to
Tikkurila. There are 14 railway stations and commuter trains stop at
them. In addition, all long-distance trains passing through the main
line, including those going to Russia, stop at Tikkurila station, from
where there is an exchange connection to local trains going to the
airport.
The stations of the Vantaankoski line are Myyrmäki,
Louhela, Martinlaakso and Vantaankoski. The ring road stations are
Vehkala, Kivistö, Aviapolis, Lentoasema and Leinelä. The stations on the
main line are Tikkurila, Hiekkaharju, Koivukylä, Rekola and Korso.
Direct local bus services also operate to the airport from the
Martinlaakso and Vantaankoski and Korso and Koivukylä railway stops.
Between Korso and Savio stations, a new Vallinoja station with the
working name Urpia has been tentatively planned. In 2004, a fourth track
was added to the main line up to Kerava, so Lähijunaliikken now runs on
its own tracks, separate from long-distance traffic. In the summer of
2015, the Ring Road was completed, connecting the main line and the
Vantaankoski line via the airport. The completion of the ring road will
speed up the development of new residential and workplace areas. For
example, the number of jobs in the Vantaankoski area is doubling. Design
ideas for the area are sought through an idea competition.
Tram
traffic
On December 16, 2019, the Vantaa City Council approved EUR
400 million for the further plans for light rail traffic by a vote of
45-22. The planned route leads from Mellunmäki to the airport via
Hakunila, Tikkurila and Aviapolis.
Road traffic
Four highways
pass through Vantaa: the provincial Tuusulanväylä and the national
Hämeenlinnan, Lahden and Porvoonväylä. Ring III and Vihdintie also pass
through Vantaa. The bus service is comprehensive: there are more than a
hundred different lines, most of which are lines within the city of
Vantaa and some regional lines of the capital region to Helsinki, Espoo
and Kerava.
Among Vantaa's rapid transit stops, Kaivoksela,
Martinlaakso and Keimolanportti are located on Hämeenlinnanväylä,
Tammisto on Tuusulanväylä, and Vantaanportti and Ilmekehä between
Tuusulanväylä and the airport. In connection with Ring III, Tuupakka is
used by Lentoasema-Tampere routes. Lahdenväylä does not have express
stops in the Vantaa area. However, the express trains between Lahti and
the airport run through the Korso express train stop. Express trains
from the airport to Porvoo and in the direction of Kotka stop at Kehä
III at the Tikkurila road junction.
Traffic noise
As a traffic
center, Vantaa is harmed by the widespread noise and pollution of
airplanes, railways, and highway traffic. According to the noise survey,
more than 77,000 people in Vantaa live in a noise area of more than 55
dB. Road traffic noise in Vantaa is caused by Kehä III, Vihdintie,
Hämeenlinnanväylä, Tuusulanväylä, Lahdenväylä and Porvoonväylä. About
7,000 people from Vantaa live in the air traffic noise area and about
9,000 people from Vantaa live in the noise area from rail traffic.
There are athletic fields in Vantaa, for example in Hakunila,
Hiekkaharju, Korso and Myyrmäki. The leading athletics clubs in Vantaa
are Kentäurheilijat-58 and Vantaan Salamat. The Mestis team
Kiekko-Vantaa, which plays at Tikkurila's Trio Arena, is Vantaa's
leading ice hockey club. In football, PK-35 Vantaa, which hosts its home
games at the Myyrmäki football stadium, has played in the Veikkausliiga
since the 2015 season, and the club's women's team has won several
Finnish championships in recent years. Almost every neighborhood has its
own football clubs.
Basketball in Vantaa is played by Pussihuka
at Myyrmäki Energia Arena and volleyball by Korson Veto. In handball,
Atlas and in American football, TAFT are the most traditional clubs in
their respective sports, with their long history at the major league
level and their abundant junior organization. The Vantaa marathon has
been organized since 1994 in the surroundings of the Tikkurila sports
park.
Sports clubs
American Football: TAFT
Football: PK-35
Vantaa, Allianssi Vantaa, TiPS, AC Vantaa, VJS, KOPSE, KoiPS,
Itä-Hakkila Kilpa, Keimola Kaiku
Ice hockey: EVU, Kiekko-Vantaa
Basketball: Beanies, Rekolan Urheilijat
Handball: Atlas
Volleyball: Korson Echo, Korson Veto
Floorball: HaKi, Korson Kaiku,
M-Team, SB Vantaa, Tikkurila Tiikerit, VFT
Swimming: Vanders
Athletics: KU-58, Vantaa Salamat