Pro Meri-Rastila's Advocacy Work
Article by resident's movement Pro Meri-Rastila
To start
In the summer of 2025, the atmosphere in Meri-Rastila is filled with anticipation: How will the Merirasti chapel – saved from demolition – be used as part of the renewed multi-purpose building? Residents and the city have different ideas about the future of the space that currently functions as Culture Space Merirasti.
The situation is familiar from previous cases, the zoning projects of the Meri-Rastila forest and the planning phase of the multi-purpose building. In retrospect, there is a broad consensus on the final results: It is good that the forest was saved from construction, it is good that the chapel is preserved. But would it have been possible with less work if information about the projects had been shared at an early stage and residents had been listened to with a sensitive ear?
The Pro Meri-Rastila residents’ movement has been the voice of the locals for twenty years. We argue that residents need to be informed about plans for the area in a timely and easy way so that they can participate and have an impact. It is especially important since Meri-Rastila is an urban renewal area, where the existing is changed, the old is destroyed, and the new is created.
The case of the Meri-Rastila forest
The valuable nature area of the Meri-Rastila forest on the south side of the Vuosaari bridge had already been designated for large-scale residential construction in the Helsinki master plan 2002. However, the decades-long multi-phase campaign on behalf of the forest by Pro Meri-Rastila and Vuosaari-Seura eventually resulted in the urban environmental board ending further planning of new construction in the area, when deciding on the design principles of Vartiokylänlahti in 2020.
The case of the Merirasti chapel
When the Vuosaari parish decided to give up the Merirasti chapel at the end of 2022, the rental plot had to be handed over to the city empty. Pro Meri-Rastila demanded that the city take over the plot from the Helsinki Parish Association without demolishing the chapel, and required that as part of the renewed block it be repaired as meeting spaces for the residents or as spaces for activities to be demolished from the block.
The resident movement considered that the chapel should be preserved due to the diversity of the area, because the change in the site plan allows the demolition of the houses next to it and a total of 40 apartment buildings in the area. Dismantling is also unecological. The chapel is one of the most important landmarks in the area and was designed by the architect Kaarlo Leppänen, Alvar Aalto’s “right hand”.
Pro Meri-Rastila’s demand was ignored, and a notice appeared in the chapel’s window that it would be demolished in the fall of 2023. The parish association applied for a demolition permit for the chapel. Pro Meri-Rastila’s rectification claim was rejected, however, because without conservation status there were no grounds for denying the demolition permit. As part of the demolition permit, the parish was required to install a commemorative plaque telling about the chapel on the plot.
However, the residents’ wish to preserve the chapel had an impact. Before the demolition work could begin, the cultural center Vuotalo rented the chapel from the parish association for the use of Teatteri Universum’s pop-up cultural space operations in the fall of 2023.
In the end, the city bought the chapel from the parish association and organized a general architectural competition for the multipurpose building. In it, it gave participants the option to dismantle or preserve. Of the 70 proposals in the competition, the chapel was preserved in 64. It was retained in all finalist proposals.
Future use of the chapel
Pro Meri-Rastila, upon hearing about the planned architectural competition, requested that it be included in the planning of the competition. However, this request was not answered. There was no space for residents or culture in the spatial program of the competition.
Pro Meri-Rastila took a position on the final proposals in the fall of 2024 and after the competition was decided, left a meeting request to the city in December 2024 regarding the future use of the chapel. The residents’ movement proposed that the popular Culture Space Merirasti, which had been discovered by many residents, should continue to operate in the chapel.
It took three months to organize the meeting between the city and Pro Meri-Rastila. Just before the meeting, a research report commissioned by the city was published on the importance of the Culture Space Merirasti and how it has increased community, well-being, inclusion and safety in the area. By the end of 2024, there had been more than 10,000 visitors.
Culture Space Merirasti is a great and new kind of combination of low threshold and high culture. It’s easy to get to the space and many events are free. The program is versatile and there is also a variety of things to do and sometimes food. The organization of events has also been made easy, which has also enabled small and experimental art exhibitions. The activities have been organized by many different operators and the monthly cleanings have been managed by the residents.
People of different ages from many different groups have found the space and they have had the opportunity to meet each other in positive and inspiring contexts. Visitors have come from all over the capital region. The architecture of the chapel has delighted and attracted visitors. The artists praise the acoustics of the halls. The space has served as a calling card that raises the reputation of Meri-Rastila and enhances the local identity. Without the culture space, the metro station would be the only public space open to all residents of the area.
Advocacy through dialogue
Pro Meri-Rastila first proposed that cultural services would take care of the space’s rent in the future, but since the amount turned out to be too large for the sector, a multi-stakeholder model was proposed. In the numerous meetings, events and phone calls organized during the spring and summer, various possibilities were discussed. As we write this, the city is considering placing the culture space in the new part of the multi-purpose building, instead of the chapel.
In the process, there was an unfortunate misinterpretation that the residents’ movement was anti-youth, when it proposed that the youth center would not be placed in the halls of the chapel as presented in the winning proposal, but that it would be placed elsewhere in the multi-purpose building.
A council initiative was submitted in June 2025 regarding the extension of the culture space, but the initiative did not specify in which part of the multi-purpose building it should be located. A more precise definition must have been left out of caution, because not all councilors had time to familiarize themselves with the matter sufficiently in the rush of the new council term. Pro Meri-Rastila came up with the idea and strongly supported the preparation of the initiative.
The residents’ movement has also demanded that the chapel not be over-repaired, so as not to destroy the overall work of art designed by Leppänen. Most of the interior materials are in good condition and should not be replaced.
Pro Meri-Rastila continues to advocate that the city seizes the opportunity to continue the successful operations of the culture space in the chapel, even if it requires additional planning. In the midst of major upheavals, the residents of the area deserve that the landmark of the area is genuinely used by everyone.
Finally
The cases of the Meri-Rastila forest and the Merirasti chapel show that a more open and genuine dialogue and negotiation between the city and local activists that starts at an earlier stage would save work both on the part of the city and the residents’ movement. Ten years of urban renewal demands a lot from active residents, and that’s why we hope for the city to meet us half way. We believe that increasing interaction will positively affect the area’s vitality and thus its attractiveness as a residential environment.
The Pro Meri-Rastila residents’ movement has tried to be pro-active, made concrete proposals and asked the city’s representatives to exchange ideas in order to avoid the last minute rush and complaints. Although we hope for more transparency and earlier participation from the city, we also want to thank the city for all the discussions, promoting things and places of influence!
Authors:
The article is written by Matti Lipponen, Salla Valtari, Anna-Maija Virta on behalf of the Pro Meri-Rastila residents’ movement.
Vokal commissioned the article as part of the art and research project Geography of Memories (Muistojen Meri-Rastila). The text was featured as part of the final exhibition of the project and published in Finnish as part of the project publication. More about the project: vokal.fi