Espoo

Espoon kaupunki - Esbo stad
Coat of Arms Location
Founded	1972
Province	Southern Finland
Region	Uusimaa
Sub-region	Helsinki
Area - Of which land - Rank	528 km² 312 km² ranked 279th
Population - Density - Change -Rank	229,443 (2005) 729 inh./km² + 1.4% ranked 2nd
Urbanisation	97.9%
Unemployment	6.6%
Official languages	Finnish, Swedish
City Manager	Marketta Kokkonen
Home page	http://www.espoo.fi/

Espoo (IPA: ; Esbo in Swedish) is a city on the Southern coast of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with Helsinki, Vantaa and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. Other bordering municipalities are Nurmijärvi and Vihti in the north and Kirkkonummi in the west. The national park of Nuuksio is situated in northwest Espoo.

Espoo encompasses 528 km², 312 km² of which is land. The current population is 229,443 (as of 2005-07-31), in Finland second only to that of Helsinki.

The purpose of the city has always been to preserve nature, while developing, which has led to the creation of several local 'area-centers'. Espoo is thus divided into the following major areas: administrative center Espoon keskus, Espoonlahti, Kalajärvi, Kauklahti, Leppävaara, Matinkylä-Olari and Tapiola.

This decentralised nature has led to Espoo being jocularily called "Finland's only highway with city privileges". Another soubriquet is "Los Angeles of Finland", meaning no decent city center but a cluster of area centers.

The Helsinki University of Technology is based in Otaniemi, Espoo along with a thriving science community that includes numerous startups and organizations such as VTT - the Technical Research Center of Finland. Nokia, the telecommunications company, operates from Keilaranta (and also from Karamalmi), Espoo, along with other high-tech companies such as KONE, Fortum and the mobile telephone branch of Elisa Oyj.

History

The name Espoo probably comes from the old name of river Espoo, Espå (or Espåå), which in turn comes from the Swedish word äspe, meaning cluster of aspen. The name was first mentioned in 1431.

The first inhabitants in the area arrived about 9,000 years ago. A permanent settlement was established during the 12th and the 13th centuries. The King's Road that passes through Espoo on its way from Turku to Viipuri dates back to the 13th century. The oldest preserved building in Espoo, the Espoo Church, originates from the 1490s. The administrative center Espoon keskus has grown around the church and the railway station.

In 1920 Espoo was only a rural municipality of about 9000 inhabitants and 70% of the population was Swedish-speaking. Agriculture was the primary source of income with 75% making their living out of it. Kauniainen was separated from Espoo in 1920.

Espoo started to grow rapidly in the 1940s and 50s and from a rural municipality it developed fast into a fully-fledged industrial city, gaining city rights in 1972. Due to its proximity to Helsinki, Espoo soon became popular amongst the people working in the capital. In fifty years, from 1950 to 2000, the population of Espoo grew from 22,000 to 210,000. From 1945 the majority of the people in Espoo are Finnish-speaking, and in 2006 the Swedish speaking inhabitants were barely 9%. The population growth still continues, albeit at a slower rate.

Demographics

City of Espoo Population by year [1]
1950	22,878
1960	53,042
1970	92,655
1975	120,632
1980	137,409
1985	156,778
1990	172,629
1995	193,754
2000	213,271
2005	229,443
2030 (est.)	305,000

Population by nationality in per cent on 1 January 2005 was 95.7% Finnish nationality, 4.3% other nationalities. Religious affiliation in per cent on 1 January 2005 was 78.1% Lutheran, 1.2% Greek Orthodox, 1.4% other, 19.2% no religious affiliation.

Espoo contains many high income suburbs, six out of ten highest average income zip code areas in Finland are in Espoo.

The population of the seven areas of Espoo in 2005:

Area	Population
-	Leppävaara	56,570
Espoonlahti	47,382
Tapiola	41,565
Matinkylä	32,635
Vanha-Espoo	31,694
Pohjois-Espoo	9,133
Kauklahti	5,506

Sports

Espoo is home to several premier league sports teams. The Espoo Blues play at LänsiAuto Areena in the SM-Liiga - professional ice hockey league. The club was established in February 1984 as "Kiekko-Espoo" and played their first season in 1984-1985 in the Finnish Second Division. In 1988 they achieved a place on the Finnish First Division and in 1992 they celebrated their promotion to the SM-liiga. The club and the team changed their name in 1998. The name came from the dominant colour of their home jersey. The full name of the club is Blues Hockey Oy.

Another sports club from Espoo, FC Honka is a Finnish football club, based in Tapiola in southern Espoo. It was promoted into the Finnish premier division (Veikkausliiga) for the first time in its history at the end of the 2005 season. The manager of the club is Mika Lehkosuo, and it plays its home matches at Tapiolan urheilupuisto. Originally founded in 1953 as "Tapion Honka", it changed its name into FC Honka in 1975.FC Honka is largely known in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1000 young players playing in various age groups.