Paikallinen tilaus kirkonkylien eheyttävän suunnittelun edellytyksenä

Densification and anti-sprawl policy has traditionally been a tool for urban planning. There is little evidenceof its application in the context of Finnish rural communities and its meaning is unclear. However, climatechange policy has turned sustainable community planning targets, also anti-sprawl policy, to one of the issuesfor developing Finnish rural villages in 2000s. The challenge is to direct community activities and building ofnew houses inside the village borders in a way which advances the formation of more compact communitieswith better services, less mobility and more attractive living environments. In this article, we examine thecurrent conditions of Finnish rural villages and the opportunities for anti-sprawl policy and planning from theperspectives of local needs and active community engagement. Problems of rural communities with positivemigration are different than in declining areas. We examine four different villages from various parts of Finland:Liperi, Mäntyharju, Pohja and Fiskars. The research methodology is qualitative and research data are basedon local people’s workshops and topic interviews. The results argue that the social acceptance of anti-sprawl(densified) land use planning in rural villages requires collaborative discussions with local communities andother relevant stakeholders. These discussions may concern access to local public and private services, mobilityneeds, employment possibilities, historical or other kind of important places, recreation possibilities and hobbies