Laakso ( sv, Dal) is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Its borders are defined by the streets of

Mannerheimintie Mannerheimintie ( sv, Mannerheimvägen), named after the Finnish military leader and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, is the main street and boulevard of Helsinki, Finland. It was originally named Heikinkatu ( sv, Henriksgatan), after Ro ...

and

Nordenskiöldinkatu Nordenskiöldinkatu (Swedish: ''Nordenskiöldsgatan'') is a frequently trafficked street in Helsinki, Finland, going from Taka-Töölö to Alppila and Pasila. It was named after the explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld.''Helsingin kadunnimet, Helsi ...

and the Helsinki Central Park. The neighbourhood is bordered by

Töölö Töölö (; sv, Tölö, formerly spelled ''Thölö'') is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö ( sv, Främre Tölö, lit=Front Töölö, links=no) and Taka-Töölö ( sv, Bortre Tölö, lit=Rear Töölö, links=no) in Helsinki ...

in the south,

Meilahti Meilahti (in Swedish Mejlans) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki between Mannerheimintie (the main entrance road to Helsinki) and a bay named Seurasaarenselkä. Most of the houses in Meilahti were built in the 1930s and 1940s. Meilahti is home to ove ...

in the southwest,

Ruskeasuo Ruskeasuo (Brunakärr in Swedish, verbatim "Brown swamp") is a neighbourhood of Helsinki (Helsingfors in Swedish), about 3 kilometres north of the city center. With a population of 2670 (year 2005) Ruskeasuo is a rather quiet residential area. ...

in the north and

Länsi-Pasila Länsi-Pasila ( sv, Västra Böle) is a subdivision of Pasila, Helsinki, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Swede ...

in the east. The neighbourhood has an area of 0.74 km², a population of 1781 and 1583 jobs (December 31, 2003). Laakso is neighbourhood #18 in the official neighbourhood numbering of Helsinki, and belongs to the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of Reijola. The population in Laakso is mainly concentrated in multiple-floor

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

s on Mannerheimintie. The neighbourhood also includes a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

, a riding field, a traffic playground, and a large part of the southern Central Park. For the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

, the neighborhood hosted the

Eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

riding competitions.

References

1952 Summer Olympics official report.
p. 58.
Helsinki by districts (2005), district Reijola

Keskuspuisto blog
a blog about the history of the neighbourhood
Laakso from a satellite view.
Google Maps. Venues of the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrian venues Neighbourhoods of Helsinki {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub