MAL 2023 – new land use, housing and transport planning cycle has begun in the Helsinki region

The development of the new MAL 2023 plan for land use (M), housing (A) and transport (L) of the 15 Helsinki region municipalities and the State has commenced in accordance with the framework program adopted in December 2020.

Sustainable urbanization is at the core of the MAL 2023 planning. In addition, the work focuses on three key themes: the transformation of society, social justice and Helsinki region as part of the world.

MAL planning is carried out in four-year cycles. The previous MAL plan, MAL 2019, paved the way for the current MAL 2023 work, which now supplements and deepens insight into the development needs for land use, housing and transport in the region.

In 2021, an MAL snapshot was developed and various studies were conducted. In addition, the vision, objectives and indicators developed were approved by regional decision-makers.

In 2021, the MAL work defined the vision and objectives for the Helsinki region and MAL 2023 planning. These were further developed in interaction with other parties during 2021.

Indicators will be defined for the objectives to monitor whether the planned measures are effective and whether they take the Helsinki region in the desired direction.

Decisions on the vision and objectives were made in autumn 2021. The Decisions are made by the Helsinki Region Coooperation Assembly (HSYK), the HSL Executive Board and the KUUMA Board of the KUUMA Region.

The MAL 2023 work involves developing a regional and strategic package of land use, housing and transport, which includes a plan for the development of land use in the region, housing production targets and other housing policy measures, as well as a statutory transport system plan covering all modes of transport.

The review years of the plan are 2040 and 2060. The plan for 2040 will be prioritized and scheduled over a 12-year period

Planning work will be carried out mainly during 2022 on the basis of the vision and objectives approved by elected officials.

An important part of the MAL 2023 planning is an extensive impact assessment to ensure that the planned measures are effective and take the Helsinki region in the desired direction.

The draft MAL 2023 Plan will be sent out for comments to the Helsinki region municipalities, state transport and environmental authorities and other stakeholders in autumn 2022.

The final plan will be approved by decision-makers in spring 2023.

The Helsinki Region Cooperation Assembly (HSYK) and the municipalities in the region will decide on the land use and housing sections of the plan. The transport system section of the plan will be approved by HSL Executive Board for its member municipalities and for other municipalities by the KUUMA Board and the municipalities concerned.

The MAL 2023 plan serves as the basis for the MAL Agreement between the state, municipalities and HSL. The agreement includes the most important land use, housing and transport measures in the Helsinki region in the next few years.

The implementation of the MAL agreement will be monitored by the MAL agreement secretariat. Data will be compiled and coordinated by Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY).

The agreement now in force is the MAL Agreement approved on 8 October 2020.

An ex-post evaluation will be carried out on the MAL planning process and the results of the evaluation will be used to develop the process. 

The status of the Helsinki region transport system is monitored annually, and you can learn about it here (in Finnish).