Over 10,600 people signed the Lapinlahti residents’ initiative

Outcome: The committee decided to safeguard mental health services, cultural heritage and community activities

The Urban Environment Committee considered decided in January 2025 that Lapinlahti’s future operational concept would be built around the area’s cultural heritage in mental health work and civic engagement, alongside other possible activities.

We would like to thank the committee members and deputy members who voted in favour of mental wellbeing:

• Anni Sinnemäki (Greens)
• Amanda Pasanen (Greens)
• Otso Kivekäs (Greens)
• Tuomas Nevanlinna (Left Alliance)
• Noora Laak (Left Alliance)
• Olli-Pekka Koljonen (Social Democratic Party)
• Borgarsdóttir Sandelin (Swedish People’s Party of Finland)

The city will renovate the buildings and remain their owner during the renovation

The committee did not take a position on whether the city will continue to own the Lapinlahti area in the future.

The City of Helsinki announced back in September 2024 that it would be renovating the historically significant buildings entirely as its own project. This means that the city will remain the owner of the buildings until the renovations are complete.

Further planning for the city’s Lapinlahti project is guided both by the guidelines established by the City Board in 2020 and by the aforementioned City Environment Committee’s statement on the residents’ initiative.

The campaign was a real success

The Lapinlahti residents’ initiative was published on 5 February 2024, when we organised a major launch event at the Oodi Central Library. Within the first 24 hours, over 1,200 people had signed the initiative.

The initiative received support from a very wide range of public figures, thanks to whom it gained media coverage in outlets such as Helsingin Sanomat and MTV3.

Throughout the winter and spring, we focused on raising the awareness of the initiative through our own digital channels. In the summer, we shifted the campaign’s focus to a physical presence and engaging with people face-to-face. We campaigned continuously in front of the main building at major summer events in Lapinlahti. Our conversations with people were filled with enthusiasm, gratitude and a commitment to supporting Lapinlahti.

We submitted the initiative to representatives of the Helsinki City Council groups on 9 October 2024, the eve of World Mental Health Day. Political decision-makers recognised the value of the current cultural, artistic and small-business activities that promote mental wellbeing. Each of them expressed the hope that activities of this kind would continue in the area in the future.

THE INITIATIVE TEXT

SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF LAPINLAHTI

We, the undersigned residents of Helsinki, propose that the City of Helsinki continues as the main owner of the former hospital area, park and buildings in Lapinlahti and secures the future of Lapinlahti as a Centre for Arts, Culture and Mental Well-being open to all.

The operation is threatened by the sale of the buildings in Lapinlahti to a private entity, to which the site would be primarily a real estate investment. Lapinlahti is an oasis of recreation, relaxation and empowerment for tens of thousands of people, a workplace for hundreds of people and a multidisciplinary meeting place for mental health and inclusion. This valuable entity must be safeguarded through public ownership and the decision-making power of Helsinki residents.

The site of Finland’s oldest psychiatric hospital in Lapinlahti, Helsinki, with its buildings and park, is a cultural environment of national importance. Activities promoting mental health are a key part of the area’s living cultural heritage. The current activities are a direct continuation of the 180 years of mental health work in the area. The buildings, the park and the activities are a whole that the city has a responsibility to safeguard for future generations.

A community-based urban culture, created by people from a wide range of backgrounds, promotes genuine and equal inclusion. The spirit of the area has been born out of decades of civic activism. Transparent, democratic and participatory decision-making is best achieved through public ownership. Already in 2020, the city government decided that the city group could remain the owner of the buildings in the area.

According to the recent Helsinki Cultural Environment Programme, the preservation, development and use of diverse tangible and intangible cultural heritage is an asset and economic value for the city. According to the cultural environment programme, the experience of continuity creates added value for places and intangible cultural heritage is integrated into cultural environments as part of their history and use. In addition to the cultural environment programme, Lapinlahti also implements other strategically important objectives of the city and complements the service network of the Helsinki region.

The City of Helsinki’s real estate strategy allows the city to own strategically important properties. Lapinlahti is definitely such a strategically important site, which also has unique cultural and historical values.

The decision-makers now have every opportunity to ensure that Lapinlahti remains a place of well-being and inclusion for everyone, regardless of background, characteristics or wealth, owned by its residents, open to all, with a community and human spirit.

With this residents’ initiative, we, the undersigned, demand that the Helsinki City Council makes a decision in principle that the City of Helsinki will continue as the main owner of the former hospital area, park and buildings in Lapinlahti and that the City of Helsinki will secure the future of Lapinlahti as a Centre for Arts, Culture and Mental Well-being.