Pakkala ( sv, Backas) is a city

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, subdivision ...

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa is the fourth most populated city in Finland ...

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 Bot ...

. It is the most populated district in the

Aviapolis Aviapolis is a business, retail, entertainment, and housing marketing brand area in central Vantaa, Finland, covering roughly , including Finland's main airline hub and airport, Helsinki Airport. The term is officially used as the name of one of ...

major region, and is named after the Backas estate situated there. Pakkala is notable for the suburb of Kartanonkoski and the

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

of Vantaanportti, which includes both Jumbo Shopping Centre and the

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

entertainment center.

Housing

In 2014, Pakkala had a population of 9,509, which had grown from a mere 416 in 1990. The reason for rapid growth was the construction of suburbs in the area, particularly that of Kartanonkoski. Although officially a part of Pakkala, the suburb and its surrounding area is often referred to as simply "Kartanonkoski" for marketing purposes. Kartanonkoski came about as a result of a 1998 competition organized by the City of Vantaa for the planning of a "garden village". The winner was the Swedish

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countri ...

''Djurgårdsstadens arkitekter'', who derived the concept from the

Garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

in Britain at the end of the 19th century, as well as the

New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually in ...

movement at the time of its inception. The suburb consists of brightly colored houses and apartment blocks arranged primarily in terraces, with emphasis on local

parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

and

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

. With its total land area of , Pakkala has an overall population density of about .

Business

Pakkala encapsulates the

of Vantaanportti, which mostly hosts operations for constituents of the Finnish

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

such as

HKScan HKScan Oyj () is a Finnish manufacturer of meat foods and products, but nowadays its product range also includes ready meals and pet foods. It is based in Turku. In the 1990s and 2000s the company – by then known as HK Ruokatalo Oy – targete ...

, Finn-Catering, and Vaasan & Vaasan. Most notably, however, Finland's second largest

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

, Jumbo Shopping Centre, is located there. Since expansions finished in 2005, Jumbo has boasted a floor area of and about 4,500 parking spaces. In 2008, entertainment center Flamingo finished construction next to Jumbo. It includes a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

, a spa, a

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

, and other entertainment services.

Services

Pakkala Learning and Information Centre (POINT) acts as a concentration of most of Pakkala's public services; specifically, it includes the International School of Vantaa (ISV) ( fi, Vantaan Kansainvälinen Koulu), the Y.E.S. day care center, and the Point Library.Learning and information center
/ref> Prior to 2010, POINT also hosted a tourism and

Helsinki City Transport Helsinki City Transport or HKL ( Finnish: ''Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos'', Swedish: ''Helsingfors stads trafikverk'', abbreviated to ''HST'') is the official city-owned public transport company in Helsinki, Finland. It operates the Helsin ...

info center.

References

Districts of Vantaa Vantaa {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub