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05/11/2002 - The OECD Territorial Review on Helsinki, Finland evaluates the metropolitan region's development in recent years and assesses challenges for the future.

The Greater Helsinki Region benefits from the Finnish information and communications technology (ICT) cluster says the Review. The Greater Helsinki Region emerged as a highly competitive economy in the latter half of the 1990s. The report examines the factors contributing to this success, as well as the new development challenges it has created. The region's continued development will need further economic diversification, responding to the education gap as well as the income gap among the area's residents and controlling urban sprawl. All of these challenges create the need for greater co-ordination, the report concludes.

The Territorial Review on Helsinki, Finland is the first in a series of OECD reviews that focus on metropolitan regions in member countries. It evaluates the impact of territorial polices, especially at the regional level. The review benefited from the co-operation of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior and the OECD as well as the City of Helsinki Urban Facts. The principal objectives are to: a) identify the nature and scale of territorial challenges using a common analytical framework; b) assist governments in assessing and improving their territorial policies; c) assess the distribution of competencies and resources among the different levels of government; and d) identify and disseminate information on best practices regarding governance.

A Policy Brief on the Territorial Review on Helsinki can be found at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/27/1837154.pdf