Espoo

Espoo (IPA: /ˈespoː/; Esbo (/'ɛsbuː/) in Swedish) is a city on the southern coast of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of 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, of which 312 km² are land. The current population is 229,443 (as of 2005-07-31), in Finland second only to that of Helsinki.

The declared goal of the city has always been to preserve nature while developing^{[citation needed]}, which has led to the creation of several local regional centers. Espoo is thus divided into the following major areas: Espoon keskus (also administrative center), Espoonlahti, Kalajärvi, Kauklahti, Leppävaara, Matinkylä-Olari, and Tapiola.

The postal codes in Espoo begin with "02", varying from 02100-02380, 02600-02860 and 02920-02980, mainly becoming higher from South to North.

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

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Sports
4 City districts
5 The sister cities of Espoo
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

The name Espoo probably comes from the Swedish name for the River Espoo, Espå (or Espåå), which in turn comes from the old Swedish word äspe, meaning stand of aspen, and the Swedish word for "river". 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 13th centuries. The King’s Road that passes through Espoo on its way from Stockholm via Turku to Viipuri dates back to the 13th century. The oldest preserved building in Espoo, the Espoo Cathedral, originates from the 1480s. The administrative center Espoon keskus has grown around the church and the railway station.

In 1920, Espoo was only a rural municipality of about 9,000 inhabitants, of whom 70% were Swedish speaking. Agriculture was the primary source of income, with 75% of the population making their living from farming. Kauniainen was separated from Espoo in 1920.

Espoo started to grow rapidly in the 1940s and 50s. It quickly developed from a rural municipality into a fully-fledged industrial city, gaining city rights in 1972. Due to its proximity to Helsinki, Espoo soon became popular amongst people working in the capital. In the fifty years from 1950 to 2000, the population of Espoo grew from 22,000 to 210,000. Since 1945, the majority of people in Espoo have been Finnish speaking. In 2006, the Swedish speaking inhabitants represented barely 9% of the total population. The population growth is still continuing, but at a slower rate.

[edit] 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 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

[edit] 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.

Espoo is also the home of formula one driver Kimi Räikkönen

<tr bgcolor="#ADADAD">
 <td width="150px">Club</td>
 <td width="120px" align="left">Sport</td>
 <td width="270px" align="left">League</td>
 <td width="180px" align="left">Stadium</td>
 <td width="50px" align="left">Logo</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
 <td width="150px">Blues (Espoo)</td>
 <td width="120px" align="left">Ice Hockey</td>
 <td width="270px" align="left">SM-liiga</td>
 <td width="180px" align="left">LänsiAuto Areena</td>
 <td width="50px" align="left"></td>
</tr>

 <td width="150px">Blues (Espoo)</td>
 <td width="120px" align="left">Ice Hockey</td>
 <td width="270px" align="left">Women's SM series</td>
 <td width="180px" align="left">Laaksolahti Arena</td>
 <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Naisetblueslogo tr5.gif</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
 <td width="150px">FC Honka</td>
 <td width="120px" align="left">Football</td>
 <td width="270px" align="left">Veikkausliiga</td>
 <td width="180px" align="left">Tapiolan urheilupuisto</td>
 <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Honkalogo200x250valktausta.gif</td>
</tr>

 <td width="150px">Honka Espoo</td>
 <td width="120px" align="left">Basketball</td>
 <td width="270px" align="left">Korisliiga</td>
 <td width="180px" align="left">Tapiolan urheiluhalli</td>
 <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Honka logo.gif</td>
</tr>

 <td width="150px">Espoon Oilers</td>
 <td width="120px" align="left">Floorball</td>
 <td width="270px" align="left">Salibandyliiga</td>
 <td width="180px" align="left">Tapiolan urheiluhalli</td>
 <td width="50px" align="left">Image:Espoonoilerslogo.gif</td>
</tr>  
</table>

[edit] City districts

This is an incomplete list; only the most important parts of Espoo have been mentioned here. For others, see Districts of Espoo

Image:Espoon Tapiola kesällä.jpg

Image:Fortumin pääkonttori.jpg

Image:TKKauditorium.jpg Image:Nokian pääkonttori Keilaniemessä.jpg

[edit] The sister cities of Espoo

[edit] References

Espoon kaupungin taskutilasto 2005, issued by the City of Espoo, 2005

[edit] See also

Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, signed in Espoo 1991
Districts of Espoo

[edit] External links

Image:Commons-logo.svg	Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Espoo

(Finnish) City Website
(English) City Website
(English) Espoo City Travel Website
(Finnish)/(English) Helsinki University of Technology - located in Espoo
(Finnish)/(English) Helsinki.fi - Helsinki region in a nutshell

	Municipalities of Uusimaa	Image:Uusimaa.vaakuna.svg
	Ekenäs \| Espoo \| Hanko \| Helsinki \| Hyvinkää \| Ingå \| Järvenpää \| Karis \| Karjalohja \| Karkkila \| Kauniainen \| Kerava \| Kirkkonummi \| Lohja \| Mäntsälä \| Nummi-Pusula \| Nurmijärvi \| Pohja \| Pornainen \| Sammatti \| Siuntio \| Tuusula \| Vantaa \| Vihti
	Uusimaa Region \| Southern Finland \| Finland