“Re:Regional” is a diploma work by Sanna Alm and Ylva Hedin, for the Master’s Programme in Spatial Planning presented at the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden. “Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 – International Ideas Competition” was the starting point of this study. The competition was launched the 15th of December 2006 and the closing date was the 31st of May. During the spring term of 2007 we focused on developing and completing our entry. The competition organizers asked for visionary solutions and fresh new-thinking. This gave us, as participants, a great freedom of action and possibilities to form visionary plans for the future. The main assignment was to illustrate a land use plan for the Helsinki region. The regional planning perspective permeates every part of this study. When the entry had been sent to the jury we wanted to gain higher knowledge about different planning models regarding city planning in regional contexts. Our diploma work is therefore divided into two main chapters. The first chapter has a practical orientation and the second chapter is more theoretical: Part 1. Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 – International Ideas Competition: Apart from a presentation of our competition entry, the first part of this study contains information about the competition, the main assignment, required documents e.t.c. Our proposal “Re:Regional”, that is the regional plan and the detailed studies, is presented after a review of our process of thought. We don’t want to see Greater Helsinki develop into a grown-together grey mass with a centralized and standardized monocentric structure. In our proposal the three cities Nummela, Hyvinkää and Mäntsälä are being developed and strengthened. Less pressure is therefore put on the Helsinki metropolitan area regarding the fast building development that is needed. We suggest that today’s big city district develops inwards with different projects and solutions regarding cheaper dwellings, larger living spaces, new living forms and new forms of urban greenery. “Re:Regional” shows Greater Helsinki as a region with a multicentric structure, where old typologies and dichotomies have faded and where centralizing and decentralizing forces are not seen as opposites. We claim that differentiation can create integration, therefore the region is divided into areas with different characteristics and different levels of urbanity. These are the four so called “Regional Blocks”: - Helsinki Metropolitan Area - The mid-dense centres Nummela, Hyvinkää och Mäntsälä - ”Polycentric Space”, an area within the roads that link Helsinki and the mid-dense centres together - Block number four consists of sparse polycentricity, mainly woodland and agricultural landscape The comprehensive idea to form an integrated regional structure, with well-connected cities and smaller communities, can be described as an important task in many regions today – the fast population growth demands flexible and multicentric solutions. Our working method “Regional Blocks” can be developed and applied in other regions where the aim is to create widened but yet coherent structures. Part 2. Study objects/Comparison/Discussion: In the theoretical part of this study we introduce six study objects that we have chosen together and then divided between us. During the selection of objects we first and foremost didn’t look at the physical structures, instead we focused on the underlying aspects – how the cities in the regions have developed due to different trends in society. Our study objects and the literature we have analysed: A CITY CONCEPT - Social City - Sanna Alm – The book “Sociable Cities The Legacy of Ebenezer Howard” from 1998, by Peter Hall and Colin Ward. AN UTOPIAN REFORM - Urban Field - Ylva Hedin – The article ”Urban Field” from ”Journal of the American Institute of Planners” vol. 31: 4 from 1965, by John Friedmann och Johan Miller. A PLAN OF ACTION - The big city region Portland - Ylva Hedin – The homepage: www.metro-region.org (available: 2007-10-10). A DEVELOPMENT PLAN - The Stockholm Region - Sanna Alm – ”Regional utvecklingsplan 2001 för Stockholmsregionen”, by The Office of Regional Planning and Urban Transportation. A STRATEGY FOR URBAN RENEWAL - Urbana England - Sanna Alm – The report ”Towards an Urban Renaissance” from 1999, by The Urban Task Force. A MODEL FOR SOCIETY FORMATION - Linear Grid - Ylva Hedin – A vision for the Helsinki Regions urban structure from 1993, by Arken Arkitekter. First our study objects are introduced and analysed one by one, then follows a text where the objects are compared with each other and with our regional plan “Re:Regional” on the basis of seven factors: Central idea, Density, Green space, Transport network, Social structures, Planning perspective and The future. The conclusions are drawn in the chapter ”Jämförelse och diskussion” (Comparison and discussion). The study objects are also analysed in relation to different trends in society. Through an evaluation of the study objects and our own regional plan interesting points of comparison are being illustrated under the headlines “Att bygga inåt” (To build inwards), “Tydligare flerkärnighet” (Clearer polycentricity) and “Planeringsperspektiv och fysiska strukturer” (Planning perspectives and physical structures). In the last chapter we discuss ecological and social sustainability in a regional context – these two dimensions of sustainable development was focused on during the work with “Re:Regional” and are also discussed in the text where the objects are compared with each other.