Oulu Hous­ing Fair 2025

Visualisation of the guest marina with colourful boats attached to the jetty and a small house on the water.

Close your eyes and imag­ine a mod­ern, com­mu­nal way of vil­lage liv­ing – one that not only pays homage to his­to­ry but also offers today’s poten­tial for var­i­ous stages and styles of life. Now you are think­ing about Har­taanselän­ran­ta where a new res­i­den­tial dis­trict for Oulu Hous­ing Fair 2025 is being built.

Oulu Hous­ing Fair will take place in the sum­mer of 2025 in the beau­ti­ful Oulu Riv­er estu­ary land­scape in Har­taanselän­ran­ta dis­trict. This will be the set­ting of a new, stim­u­lat­ing liv­ing envi­ron­ment offer­ing ver­sa­tile pos­si­bil­i­ties for out­door activ­i­ties and city cul­ture for future res­i­dents, all the peo­ple of Oulu, and vis­i­tors, too.

The Har­taanselän­ran­ta neigh­bour­hood will con­sist of mul­ti­ple types of hous­ing, includ­ing styl­ish apart­ment build­ings and small res­i­den­tial build­ings, fash­ion­able town hous­es and lit­tle pri­vate hous­es. Also being planned is a float­ing res­i­den­tial block, which is a rar­i­ty in Fin­land.

Stay tuned with the devel­op­ment of Har­taanselän­ran­ta dis­trict (opens in a new tab)
Nightly visualisation of Hartaanselänranta as seen from the Oulu River estuary.

A high­er grade of com­mu­ni­ty in nature’s embrace

The Har­taanselän­ran­ta dis­trict cov­ers both sides of the Har­taanselkä water­shed in the Oulu Riv­er estu­ary. The new neigh­bour­hood will rise in places where not only water but dif­fer­ent peo­ple and cul­tures as well as new ideas and inspi­ra­tions have flowed through the years.

The pleas­ant winds of the district’s live­ly his­to­ry still blow today, and an open com­mu­ni­ty spir­it can be sensed in the DNA of the area: all kinds of peo­ple and busi­ness­es are wel­come here! The com­mu­nal, humane spir­it that is so typ­i­cal of Oulu is tan­gi­ble in the mul­ti­ple types of res­i­dents and hous­ing here as well as in the atmos­phere and envi­ron­ment of doing things togeth­er.

In the future, the new dis­trict will offer res­i­dents func­tion­al every­day liv­ing in har­mo­ny with the sur­round­ing nature. The blue-green infra­struc­ture of the area has been con­sid­ered in the plans, with addi­tion­al sur­veys on the nature and land­scape. The aim is to pre­serve as much for­est and coastal bush area for birdlife as pos­si­ble in Hietasaari Island and pay atten­tion to mead­ows in the plans. Har­taanselän­ran­ta dis­trict also aims to par­tic­i­pate in devel­op­ment projects sup­port­ing car­bon neu­tral­i­ty, with efforts to facil­i­tate envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly and car-free traf­fic in the area.

Visualisation of a neighbourhood street in Hartaanselänranta district with people walking in the evening twilight. Along the street there are beautifully lit business premises and verdant trees. A tall apartment building can be seen in the background.

Vital­i­ty for every­one through a new kind of hous­ing

The Har­taanselän­ran­ta dis­trict will become an appeal­ing and refresh­ing alter­na­tive for spend­ing your free time – whether you are rid­ing a bike or a wheel­chair, for exam­ple. The dis­trict exem­pli­fies what Oulu is all about for var­i­ous tar­get groups from trav­ellers and fit­ness enthu­si­asts to city devel­op­ers.

The prob­lems of the future will be solved in Oulu with a high­er grade of smart­ness, and Har­taanselän­ran­ta will be includ­ed in the cre­ation of future suc­cess. The dis­trict strives to devel­op along­side its entre­pre­neurs and busi­ness­es and thus facil­i­tate new and inno­v­a­tive forms of enter­prise.

Visualisation of a lighted bridge across Oulu River.

The foun­da­tion of the plans for Har­taanselän­ran­ta is to sup­port unhur­ried every­day liv­ing, ecol­o­gy, and com­mu­nal­i­ty: Could drones deliv­er res­i­dents’ food orders to their doorstep? Would it be fea­si­ble to utilise the waste heat from build­ings in the heat­ing and cool­ing of apart­ments? Could a boat or a car be rent­ed eas­i­ly and flex­i­bly accord­ing to per­son­al needs, instead of own­ing one? Would it be pos­si­ble to find sup­port for dai­ly chores near­by, or like­mind­ed com­pa­ny for tak­ing a run or pur­su­ing oth­er leisure activ­i­ties?