The center of the tourist city of Rovaniemi is concrete gray – a plan to brighten the look, but it does not proceed

Entrepreneurs would like to take the booth to improve the look of the downtown Rovaniemi downtown. The city’s real estate company does not warm up to this.

A couple of years ago, the city of Rovaniemi planned to improve the look of the center and commissioned a make -up plan from the Architectural Office. The purpose was to renovate existing lamps and bring more residence points and green elements to the city center.

– Without special funding, we will not be able to promote the make -up plan with current financial resources. The matter will certainly be examined again when the 2026 budget is being prepared.

The coarse cost estimate of the make -up plan is well over EUR 200,000 and will be specified at a possible implementation phase. According to Alk, the amount will increase if you want to plant trees on the pedestrian street. There would be difficult solutions ahead. Sufficient planting pits should be built underground to plant trees.

– However, this is a traffic route, the structures of which are to be kept as dry as possible to prevent the structures from rotating and lasting for a long time. This results in the fact that the trees do not want to grow and flourish in the soil, says Alkki.

In his estimation, in practice, the only option would be some kind of planting boxes. They, on the other hand, limit the size of the planting and must withstand mechanical transfer. According to Alk, no good solution has yet been found.

The city center association would like to have a greater role

Currently, Lordaaukio and the pedestrian street are managed by Rovaseuudun Market Real Estate Oy. The company leases business premises to companies, renting and maintaining event areas. Rovaniemi’s Living City Center Association would be pleased to take responsibility for the administration of the city center.

– I do not believe that funding is an obstacle to development, and this is not the case with millions of euros. In my opinion, the essence of the problem is that the city and market properties do not have the will to promote the downtown, says Hiukka.

According to a bit, the association would be happy to take the management of the city center area to its own plot. In many other cities, the development association is responsible for the downtown area.

– We could market the area in an entrepreneur -friendly and actively. We would get more events and comfort, says Hiukka.

– It is important for the city that the downtown is managed by a neutral operator. The living city center does not represent all entrepreneurs in the center. The public owner cannot control if all parties would be treated equally, says Kirkarinta.

Rovaniemi summer tourism is on the rise – a more cozy center would increase purchasing power

– Summer travelers come to Lapland primarily to look for nature and experiences, ie nightless night and Lapland nature are the most important things. Still, I believe that a more cozy center would attract the traveler to stay longer, says Kärkkäinen.

Summer tourism is rising in Rovaniemi, although there is still a long way to go to the winters. This summer, Rovaniemi will have two scheduled flights a week from Italy, and next year summer flights will also come from Germany.