City planners should bring people closer to nature

SHANGHAI - City planners should bring people closer to nature to provide livable environments, said Pertti Huitu, Commissioner General of Finland for the Shanghai World Expo.

"Even in the very center of a city, people should be able to escape into nature and enjoy life," said Huitu, also vice chairman of the Steering Committee of the Shanghai Expo Commissioners General.

The Scandinavian country has "Sharing Inspiration" as the theme of its pavilion, to promote ideas on how to improve living standards, of which a livable environment is a key element.

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Nicknamed "the Giant's Kettle" or "Kirnu", a Finnish word meaning a rocky hollow formed along the seashore, the pavilion resembles a small island floating over water that offers a "refuge" from busy city life.

"We hope visitors can experience a view of a promising future that celebrates man's place in nature," Huitu said.

In Finnish cities, nature is closely knitted into residential and industrial areas. Almost all cities have "nature corridors," such as seashores, rivers, forest and snowfields, said Huitu.

When city dwellers wanted to ski at the weekend, they could stay in the city rather than travel 20 km first, he said.

"To make sure nature is blended with people's lives, our transportation system, including roads and railways, has been planned in such a way that they don't cross these 'nature corridors'," said Huitu.

In addition, city planners in Finland try to combine residential and industrial areas, rather than separate them as cities normally do, to avoid unnecessary traffic and long commutes. "This means people can have more time and resources to enjoy life," Huitu said.

Encouraging a green lifestyle and developing a renewable society through regulation was another element of a more livable city, he said, citing the construction materials of the pavilion as an example.

The 25,000 fish scale-like shingles covering the external wall are made of waste paper and plastic. In Finland, more than 90 percent of waste paper is recycled to produce printing paper, toilet and tissue paper, and cups.

"We have strict regulations for city planning and closely follow them to create conditions for ordinary people to be part of the solution," Huitu said.

Finland and China differed in many aspects of national circumstances, and Chinese city planners faced enormous challenges given their cities' scale and the unstoppable trend of urbanization, he said.

"However, real changes start from ordinary people and big changes come from small moves. This might be one of the key messages that the Shanghai Expo should spread to people all over the world," Huitu said.