Tasks
The Planning Office is a unit subordinate to the central administration whose task is urban design, planning and other land use planning as well as development of the state and appearance of the city. The Planning Board is a decision-making body composed of elected representatives which controls and monitors master planning and town planning. At meetings of the Planning Board matters prepared by the Planning Office are presented by City Architect Ilkka Halinen.
Planning
Two levels of plans are drawn up by the Planning Office: master plans and town plans. The plans make building possible and control it. Planning is governed by the Land Use and Building Act.
Provincial plans are drawn up by the Regional Council of Central Finland. These serve as the point of departure for planning of the city. At the national level planning is guided by national use aims for the regions. Plans drawn up annually are chiefly determined in the planning scheme.
Other plans and projects
The Planning Office also participates in the development and drafting of plans and projects other than master and town plans. Examples of these include urban region cooperation, the national city park, architectural competitions, summer schools, infilling locations, the dimensioning of services, control system for community construction, housing programme, supra-municipal real-time master plan, general traffic planning etc.
Architectural policy program
The architectural policy program of the City of Jyväskylä was approved by the city council 17.6.2002. You can find the program here in PDF-format. For further information contact city architect Ilkka Halinen.
Studies and impact assessments associated with planning
A number of different studies and surveys are conducted in connection with planning, such as soil, nature and landscape studies, commercial surveys, forecasts and statistics associated with the population, traffic surveys, noise calculations etc.
Where every plan is concerned the impacts of the plan are studied in accordance with the Land Use and Building Act.
Cityscape and street name committees
The Cityscape Committee assists the Building Board and Building Inspector in assessing applications for building permission from the perspective of the cityscape. The Building Board appoints the Cityscape Committee, in addition to which the City Architect and a planning architect named by him serve as permanent members; for the current four-year term this position is occupied by planning architect Anne Sandelin. The committee includes representatives of the Building Board and professional organizations in building planning.
The Street Name Committee has operated in the city of Jyväskylä from 1947 onwards. Its task is to express opinions on street names to the compiler of the town plan as new town plans are drawn up. The committee is also entrusted with the task of examining former street names and making proposals for changes where necessary. The Committee operates beneath the Planning Board and with effect from 1.1.2001 is serving for the first time for a four-year term. The chairman of the Street Name Committee is currently museum curator Erkki Fredrikson. The Street Name Committee meets according to need roughly once or twice per year.
Opinions, exceptional building permission etc.
When requested the Planning Office/Planning Board delivers opinions on a number of matters, including logging and public transport permits.
Environmental program
Since 1999 the Planning Office has had an environmental program which constitutes part of the whole city's management system for environmental affairs. The environmental program is being continually developed. The goal of the environmental program is to bring attention to environmental affairs in the everyday operation of the work community.
