Helsinki parks and squares as the city dominant

Abstract

The article is devoted to the park architecture of Helsinki, where the total area of parks and squares is 30 percent of the territory. The author focused on the parks of the central part of the city: landscape, recreational, botanical, coastal, that is, intended for all age groups of the  population. Almost all of them belong to the category of landscape. As features of  Helsinki parks, the author notes the interaction of the natural environment and architectural forms, as well as the use of the terrain – hilly-rocky, coastal or wooded. Of great importance is the fact that most of the citywide green areas were formed at the same time that the city received the status of the capital of Finland. The author also considers sculpture: animalistic, historical-cultural, symbolic, as an obligatory element of designing the Helsinki park space. All this in combination with the organic inclusion of park zones in the urban environment, natural interaction with urban architecture, functionality and diversity allows us to consider citywide parks and squares as one of the dominant capital of Finland.