Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä
—  City  —
Jyväskylän kaupunki
Jyväskylä when approaching from east.

Coat of arms
Coordinates:
Country Finland
Region Central Finland
Sub-region Jyväskylä sub-region
Charter 1837
Government
 • City manager Markku Andersson
Area(2011-01-01)[1]
 • City 1,466.34 km2 (566.2 sq mi)
 • Land 1,170.99 km2 (452.1 sq mi)
 • Water 295.35 km2 (114 sq mi)
Area rank 70th largest in Finland
Population (2011-01-31)[2]
 • City 130,974
 • Rank 7th largest in Finland
 • Density 111.85/km2 (289.7/sq mi)
 • Metro 173,825
Population by native language[3]
 • Finnish 96.7% (official)
 • Swedish 0.2%
 • Others 3%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 16.4%
 • 15 to 64 69.8%
 • 65 or older 13.8%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19%
Unemployment rate 13.8%
Website www.jkl.fi

Jyväskylä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjyvæsˌkylæ]) is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, 147 kilometres (91 mi) north-east of Tampere and 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded by lakes, hills and forests. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a city of schools, the Athens of Finland. It is famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. The city hosts Neste Oil Rally Finland, which is part of the World Rally Championship. It is also home of the annual Jyväskylä Arts Festival.

As of 31 January 2011, Jyväskylä had a population of 130,974.[2]

The Jyväskylä sub-region includes Jyväskylä, Laukaa, Muurame, Petäjävesi and Toivakka.

In 2004, Markku Andersson became the city mayor. He was the mayor of Lappeenranta until that year.[6]

Contents

History

In Jyväskylä region, there are archeological findings from the Stone Age and cultivation had already started 3500 years ago. According to the oldest available taxation documents (maakirja) there were seven estates in the Jyväskylä region in 1539. One of them, the estate of Mattila, alone possessed the areas stretching from the village of Keljo to the villages of Vesanka and Palokka. The oldest estate in Jyväskylä that has been held continuously by the same family is the estate of Lahti which emerged when the estate of Mattila was split for two brothers in 1600.[7] The history of the estate of Lahti and the family of Lahti have had a significant impact on the development of Jyväskylä region. Lahdenrinne in the south-west corner of Jyväsjärvi lake belongs to the old heartland of the estate of Lahti.

The City of Jyväskylä was founded on 22 March 1837 by Czar Nicholas I of Russia and the infrastructure was essentially built from scratch. The original town was built between Lake Jyväsjärvi (which is connected to Lake Päijänne) and the Jyväskylä ridge (Harju), and consisted of most of the current grid-style city centre. In the early 20th century, the town expanded several times. Most of today's Jyväskylä was built after the Continuation war, when refugees from Karelia and other parts of the country moved to the city and housing was badly needed. Today, Jyväskylä is growing fast – by approx. 1,000 inhabitants/year.

Säynätsalo was consolidated with Jyväskylä in 1993. Jyväskylän maalaiskunta and Korpilahti were consolidated with Jyväskylä on January 1, 2009.

Name

The second part of the city's name, kylä, means village. The first part of the city's name, jyväs, has been associated with Taxus, a genus of yews, and the Old Prussian word juwis. It has also been speculated that the word jyväs refers to the sun's reflection of the surface of the water.[8]

Government

The city council in Jyväskylä is the main decision making body in local level. Its 75 members are elected every fourth year in municipal elections. The city council elects the mayor. The current mayor is Markku Andersson.

Seat distribution in the city council

Party 2008 2008% 2004% 2000%
Social Democrats 21 seats 26,6% 29,9% 31,9%
National Coalition Party 16 21,0% 20,0% 20,6%
Centre Party 15 19,1% 19,1% 17,3%
Green League 9 11,7% 11,5% 9,6%
Left Alliance 6 8,5% 9,0% 11,4%
Christian Democrats 4 5,8% 6,3% 6,9%
True Finns 3 4,5% 0,3% -
Communist Party 1 2,4% 3,5% 1,9%
Swedish People's Party 0 0,2% 0,2% 0,2%
Others 0 0,1% 0,1% 0,2%

Administrative division

The city of Jyväskylä, is divided into fourteen wards (suuralueet in Finnish, storområden in Swedish), which are further divided into 89 districts (see Districts of Jyväskylä). The ward division does not always follow district boundaries.

This is a listing of the 14 wards of Jyväskylä by population as of 12.5.2010 [9]

Geography

Jyväskylä is located in the Finnish Lakeland. Lakes and rivers constitute even 20% (295 km2) of the total area of the city.[10] 36 lakes are located alone in The Old Jyväskylä (the city before the consolidations in 2008), which has an area of 137 km2.[11] Most notable lakes are Päijänne, Jyväsjärvi, Leppävesi, Muuratjärvi, Tuomiojärvi, Palokkajärvi, Alvajärvi, Vesankajärvi, Luonetjärvi and Köhniönjärvi.

The landscape in Jyväskylä is hilly, forested and full of waters. The architect Alvar Aalto compared the hilly landscape of Jyväskylä to Toscana in Italy: "The slope of Jyväskylä ridge is almost like the mountain vineyards of Fiesole".[12]

Climate

Latitude is the principal influence on Jyväskylä's climate. Because of its northern location, winter is long, snowy, cold and dark. During midwinter the city receives daylight only five hours. Summers are mild and temperature after midday is often over +25 °C (77 °F) (77 °F). During summer Jyväskylä experiences long daylight and white nights i.e. midnight twilight.

Climate data for Jyväskylä
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) −5.3
(22.5)		 −5
(23)		 0.2
(32.4)		 6.0
(42.8)		 14.5
(58.1)		 19.3
(66.7)		 21.3
(70.3)		 18.4
(65.1)		 12.3
(54.1)		 6.0
(42.8)		 0.2
(32.4)		 −3.5
(25.7)		 7.0
(44.6)
Average low °C (°F) −12.3
(9.9)		 −12.9
(8.8)		 −8.4
(16.9)		 −3.2
(26.2)		 2.4
(36.3)		 8.1
(46.6)		 10.4
(50.7)		 8.9
(48.0)		 4.2
(39.6)		 0.3
(32.5)		 −4.9
(23.2)		 −10
(14)		 −1.4
(29.5)
Precipitation mm (inches) 43
(1.69)		 31
(1.22)		 37
(1.46)		 37
(1.46)		 38
(1.5)		 59
(2.32)		 79
(3.11)		 88
(3.46)		 63
(2.48)		 60
(2.36)		 57
(2.24)		 47
(1.85)		 638
(25.12)
Source: Climatological statistics for the normal period 1971–2000[13]

Cityscape

Jyväskylä was founded in the Northern end of the lake Päijänne at the crossroads of three major waterways. Lakes control the cityscape.[14] The city grid plan from year 1833 by Jacob Leonard Boringh can be well recognised in the city centre.[15] Nevertheless, due to very rapid population growth the cityscape has gone through one of the most massive changes in all of Finland.[16]

Nowadays Jyväskylä is a city of modern architecture. The city has more buildings designed by one of the best known international functionalist architects Alvar Aalto than any other city in the world.[17]

The establishment of schools in the 1850s and 1860s proved to be the most important step from the point of view of the later development of Jyväskylä.[14] The headquarters of the University of Jyväskylä are considered to be Aalto's masterpieces. Later, a modern architect Arto Sipinen, a pupil of Aalto, has influenced in the cityscape since 1970s by designing most of the new university buildings in the city.

The outskirts of the city are mainly populated by student apartments and single family houses. Some of the most important buildings like Säynätsalo Town Hall designed by Aalto are located outside the city centre in Säynätsalo and Muuratsalo.

Consolidated areas Korpilahti, Jyväskylän maalaiskunta, Säynätsalo and also western parts of Jyväskylä are mainly countryside dominated by hilly forests and lakes.

A 360 degree panorama of Jyväskylä taken from the Horisontti building. From left to right: Lutakko with the city centre and Harju in the background, lake Jyväsjärvi, Kuokkala bridge with Kuokkala neighbourhood and Kuokkala water tower in the background, and Ylistönrinne campus.

Demographics

Population

Jyväskylä was the fastes growing Finnish city in 20th century. The population has continued to grow rapidly in 21st century. [18][19][20]

Year 1838 1850 1860 1900 1939 1952 1960 1970 1990 1997 2010
Population of Jyväskylä 189 over 500 over 1,000 3,000 10,091 31,504 42,768 59,954 66,431 75,353 130,816

Languages

Finnish is the predominant language spoken in Jyväskylä. 96.7% of the population spoke Finnish as their mother language in 2010. The share of Swedish speaking was 0.2% and other languages was spoken by 3% of the population.

Nationalities

97% of the population have a Finnish citizenship. Biggest immigrant groups in Jyväskylä are from Afghanistan, Russia, Estonia and Iran. [21]

Economy

Because of excellent connections Jyväskylä was a busy market place even before first permanent settlements were founded in the current city centre. The establishment of Finland’s first three Finnish-speaking schools: the lycée in 1858, the teachers’ college in 1863, and the girls’ school in 1864 proved to be the most important steps from the point of view of the later development of Jyväskylä. Educational services became a heart of the economic growth of the city. In 1912 Wilhelm Schauman founded a plywood mill on the shores of Jyväsjärvi. Soon also other kind of forest based businesses opened factories and premises in the city. Thus, forest, pulp and paper became the second stronghold of the economy in Jyväskylä. Later the high quality education and paper machinery industry tempted information technology businesses to settle in the city.[22]

Nowadays main sources of livelihood in Jyväskylä are educational and health care services, paper machinery production, information technology and renewable energy. Most important private employers are paper machinery producer Metso ltd., retail trade company Keskimaa, real estate service company ISS, wind turbine gear manufacturer Moventas and IT service company Tieto.[23] Biggest public employers are the City of Jyväskylä, Central Finland Health Care District, University of Jyväskylä and the Air Force Academy.

1% of the labour force work on the primary sector, 21% on the secondary sector, and 78% on the service sector of the economy.

The unemployment rate in Jyväskylä is 11.9% (12/2010), which is higher than average in Finland (9,3% in 12/2010),[24] due to the high number of students and challenged industries.[25]

In 2011 Jyväskylä topped in an image evaluation research among businesses. The city reached the highest score of Finnish big cities in the research succeeding especially on availability of skilled work force, on commercial services, on transport connections and on geographical location.[26]

The Gross domestic product per capita of the Jyväskylä region was 28,718 € in 2007. The GDP per capita in Jyväskylä region is lower than Finnish GDP per capita mainly due to high number of students and higher unemployment rate than the average in Finland.[27]

Sports

The University of Jyväskylä is the only university in Northern Europe with a faculty of sports. The faculty has been a key player to develop a strong sports culture in the city.

The city hosts the Neste Oil Rally Finland (formerly known as 1000 Lakes Rally). It is the biggest annually organised public event in the Nordic countries, gathering over 500,000 spectators every year. The rally has been held since 1951, first as a national competition, then from 1959 on as a European Rally Championship event and since the introduction of the World Rally Championship in 1973, as Finland's WRC event.

Ice hockey venue Synergia-areena, Hippos Finnish baseball stadium, swimming hall AaltoAlvari and many other main sport venues of the city are located in Hippos two kilometres away from the city centre. Matti Nykänen Ski Flying Hills are located next to the Laajavuori ski resort just few kilometres west from the city centre. Main football stadium lies on the slopes of Harju just next to the city centre. Killeri hippodrome on the western parts of the city serves different horse racing competitions. At winter time amateur ice skaters can practice their skills in Viitaniemi or on the lake Jyväsjärvi, which has a 3,5 kilometres long ice skating track.

The inventor of Finnish national sport pesäpallo, Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala studied and lived in Jyväskylä. The Upper secondary school of Jyväskylän Lyseo hosted the historic event of first pesäpallo match in world in September 1920.[28][29]

Sport teams from Jyväskylä

Culture

Museums

The Alvar Aalto Museum and the Museum of Central Finland form a centre of culture in the immediate vicinity of the historical campus of the University of Jyväskylä. Both museums are designed by a functionalist Alvar Aalto. The Alvar Aalto Museum displays the artist's most important work and design. The Museum of Central Finland specializes in cultural history. It serves both as the town museum of Jyväskylä and the provincial museum of Central Finland.

One of architect Aalto's most significant works Säynätsalo Town Hall is located in Säynätsalo island.

The Craft Museum of Finland is a handicraft museum covering entire Finland. The Centre for Finnish National Costumes forms a part of the museum.

The Aviation Museum of Central Finland near the Jyväskylä Airport in Tikkakoski is exhibiting the aviation history of Finland.

The Jyväskylä University Museum is specialized in history of the University and diversity of nature in Central Finland.

The biggest art museum in the city is Jyväskylä Art Museum located in the city centre. Another art museum centre – The Halonen building – near the main railway station consists of The Centre for Creative Photography, the Centre for Printmaking and Galleria Harmonia.

Also churches in the city are open for public, most notables of them being the Taulumäki Church and the Jyväskylä City Church.

Theatres

The biggest theatre in the city is the Jyväskylä City Theatre designed by Alvar Aalto. It stands right in the centre of the city. Jyväskylä Workers' Theatre is located in Ainola on the Eastern side of the lake Jyväsjärvi. Huoneteatteri, founded on the aftermath of the II World War is the third remarkable theatre in Jyväskylä.

Annual Events

Education

Jyväskylä is a traditional education city. Including school children, and the students in high schools, vocational schools, the university of applied sciences and the universities, the number of students and pupils in the city reaches 45,000, boosting Jyväskylä's reputation as a "student city". Almost 30% of the city population are students.[30] A number of firsts in Finnish education have taken place in Jyväskylä:

Due to this, among other things, the city has earned the nickname Athens of Finland.

The teacher training college later evolved into the College of Education (1934) and further into the multidisciplinary University of Jyväskylä (1966).

The University of Jyväskylä is one of the most popular universities in Finland. Almost 16,000 students are enrolled to study for a Bachelor's or Master's degree, and the university also offers PhD programs in most of its subjects. Historically, the university has excelled in the study of education, but in the last few decades it has also gained respect in the sciences. It is the only university in Finland offering university-level education in sports, training sports teachers and coaches. Its IT program is the largest in the country in terms of attendance.

JAMK University of Applied Sciences has 8.000 students. It has four different units: School of Business and Services Management, School of Health and Social Studies, School of Technology and Teacher Education College.[31] HUMAK University of Applied Sciences educates cultural management in Jyväskylä.

Transport

Jyväskylä railway station is served by VR direct trains to Helsinki, Pieksämäki, Tampere, Turku, Vaasa and many other destinations in Finland. The station was extensively modernised in 2002.

Jyväskylä Airport is situated in Tikkakoski, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Jyväskylä. It has regular direct flights to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. The airport serves also as a military and charter airport.

The city is on crossroads of many main roads of Finland. European route E75 passes the city from South to North and E63 from Southeast to Northwest.

Jyväskylä harbour is home for many passenger ships operating on lake Päijänne. On summer time there are direct ship connections to Lahti, Jämsä, Suolahti, Viitasaari and some other cities.

The public transportation system is operated by Jyväskylän liikenne and it is based on bus lines.

In 2009 the modal share of the city was dominated by cars (61%). Modal split of pedestrians 20 % and bicyclers 13 % is relatively high compared to other Finnish cities. Public transportation had 4 % modal share.[32]

People

Artists

Politicians

Athletes

Bands

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland

Twin towns — Sister cities

Jyväskylä is twinned with:

Friendship cities

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2011" (in Finnish and Swedish) (PDF). Land Survey of Finland. http://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/sites/default/files/pinta-alat_2011_kunnannimenmukaan.xls. Retrieved 9 March 2011. 
  2. ^ a b "Population by municipality as of 31 January 2011" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Information System. Population Register Center of Finland. http://vrk.fi/default.aspx?docid=4258&site=3&id=0. Retrieved 18 February 2011. 
  3. ^ "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=060_vaerak_tau_107_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+kielen+mukaan+sek%E4+ulkomaan+kansalaisten+m%E4%E4r%E4+ja+maa%2Dpinta%2Dala+alueittain++1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 29 March 2009. 
  4. ^ "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=050_vaerak_tau_104_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+i%E4n+%281%2Dv%2E%29+ja+sukupuolen+mukaan+alueittain+1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 28 April 2009. 
  5. ^ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. http://www.vero.fi/nc/doc/download.asp?id=7996;193801. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
  6. ^ "Jyväskylän kaupunginjohtaja: Curriculum Vitae" (in Finnish). http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/hallinto/kaupunginjohtaja/cv. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
  7. ^ Berndtson, Nils (1983), "Lahden talon ja suvun varhaisista vaiheista", Keski-Suomen museon monistesarja 2/1983, Jyväskylän kaupunki, Finland: Keski-Suomen museo, pp. 1–23, ISSN 0357-8186 
  8. ^ http://www.sissoset.net/aineisto/nimi.htm
  9. ^ http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/info/tietoja_jyvaskylasta/suuralueet
  10. ^ http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/jyvaskyla/embeds/36620_yleisesite_suomi_2010_www.pdf
  11. ^ http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/jyvaskyla/embeds/32842_ymparisto2008.pdf
  12. ^ Nature and space: Aalto and Le Corbusier. Routledge. 2003. http://books.google.fi/books?id=YV9FzaIu5kYC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=aalto+jyv%C3%A4skyl%C3%A4+toscana&source=bl&ots=CXDpw_Arck&sig=49rqioAuQjabAUKQlETvShLE46M&hl=fi&ei=BjVCTOTkBN6XONT4-aYN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-07-17. 
  13. ^ Climatological statistics for the normal period 1971–2000
  14. ^ a b http://www3.jkl.fi/historia/short/1837_1880.shtml
  15. ^ http://www3.jkl.fi/tiedotus/lehti/index.php/2005-02/582
  16. ^ https://www.jyu.fi/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2005/03/tiedote-2009-10-01-09-25-38-780898
  17. ^ http://www.infoa.fi/lansisuomi/showinfo.php?county=29
  18. ^ "A short history of Jyväskylä". A short history of Jyväskylä. City of Jyväskylä. http://www3.jkl.fi/historia/lyhyt/1837_1880.shtml. Retrieved 2011-12-02. 
  19. ^ "Jyväskylän kaupungin elinkeinoelämän vaikuttavuus 1990-luvulla". Jyväskylän kaupungin elinkeinoelämän vaikuttavuus 1990-luvulla. University of Jyväskylä. https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/8124/1867.pdf?sequence=1. 
  20. ^ "Mouvement de la Population de Finlande en 1939". Official Finnish population statistics 1939. Finnish Government. http://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/67319/vamu1919-1920.pdf. 
  21. ^ http://www3.jkl.fi/maahanmuuttajat/
  22. ^ http://www3.jkl.fi/historia/short/
  23. ^ http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/info/tietoja_jyvaskylasta
  24. ^ http://yle.fi/alueet/teksti/keski-suomi/2010/12/tyottomyys_vahenee_hiljalleen_2235515.html
  25. ^ [1]
  26. ^ http://www.ksml.fi/uutiset/keski-suomi/jyvaskylan-imago-kestaa-edelleen/979945
  27. ^ http://www.keskisuomi.info/fi/?id=3&view=topics&topic=5
  28. ^ http://www.peda.net/verkkolehti/jkl/lyseo/townhistory?m=content&a_id=6
  29. ^ http://www.finnica.fi/keski-suomi/urheilu/kuntuli.htm
  30. ^ http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/palvelut/opiskelu/uusiopiskelija
  31. ^ http://www.jamk.fi/english/aboutus/
  32. ^ http://paikkatieto.airix.fi/tietopankki/jyvaskylanseutu/tekstit/Jyseli/LIPO_20100531.pdf accessdate=July 15, 2011
  33. ^ a b c "Twin cities". International relations. http://www3.jkl.fi/international/intrelations/twin.shtml. Retrieved 2006-08-02. 

External links

Municipalities
Former municipalities
Jämsänkoski · Jyväskylän maalaiskunta · Konginkangas · Korpilahti · Koskenpää · Leivonmäki · Pihlajavesi · Pylkönmäki · Säynätsalo · Sumiainen · Suolahti