Helsinki is about to go through a massive urban change in the next few years. There are many parts to this, of which a good long article might come in the future, but one of the first ones, will be the introduction of houseboats and pontoon houses into Kaisainiemenlahti and Eläintarhanlahti right in the centre of Helsinki. Last night on the news Marinetek (2) were interviewed, and I don’t know whether they have the job, but you can have a look around and see what they are offering, although these kind o visualisations I find pretty offputting. This really is a nice lake in the centre of Helsinki which is underused, its kind of unconnected to its surroundings I feel. But the next few years will telll whether the urban plan for Helsinki can pull this together into a coherent and lively part of the centre. There was an English Helsingin Sanomat article about it also. Also why doesn’t Helsinki City planning throw this open to the whole city. It seems that this area is the only one being offered up for this kind of development. But why only here when the whole harbour area is shortly to be rebuilt? Anyway it will be interesting to see how this catches on.