Itäkeskus (, literal translation ''East center'') is a '' quarter'' in the

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

of Vartiokylä (as of the 1980s) in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The district's main attraction is the largest covered-in

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

, Itis, which make Itäkeskus as the most significant commercial center of East Helsinki. The district has a station on the

Helsinki Metro The Helsinki Metro (, ) is a rapid transit system serving the Helsinki capital region, Finland. It is the world's most northern, the world's northernmost metro system. It was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of planni ...

( Itäkeskus metro station), whose eastern entrance at the Tallinnanaukio square leads to the shopping centre. Itäkeskus has the eastern terminus of bus lines 500 and 550; the western terminus of line 500 is Munkkivuori and line 550 is

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

's Westend bus station. Construction of the Jokeri light rail, which replaces bus line 550, began in 2019 and service began in 2023. The most important road connection to the Helsinki central from Itäkeskus runs along Itäväylä. At the end of 2018, 38.1 per cent of Itäkeskus' residents had a foreign background.Helsingin koko väestö ja ulkomaalaistaustaiset taustamaanosan mukaan osa-alueittain 1.1.2019
(in Finland) About 12 percent of the residents had an African background, which was the largest share of all areas in Helsinki. At the end of 2020, the share of foreign language speakers is 41.2 per cent in Itäkeskus.

History

Itäkeskus has been built since the 1970s. The old K-Citymarket, which operated there, opened its doors on March 31, 1977, and its 67,246 m³ hall could accommodate a 6,500 m² store. The Itäkeskus swimming hall was built in 1993. Maamerkki, a high-rise building located on the Kauppakartanonkatu street near the Lyypekinaukio square in Itäkeskus, was completed in 1987. On the other side of the Itäväylä, opposite Itis, is another shopping center called Easton Helsinki, which was completed in October 2017.Itä-Helsingin uusi keskus harjakorkeudessa – nimeksi Easton Helsinki
7 November 2016. Accessed on 21 November 2016.

References

External links

Itäkeskus , My Helsinki
(in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Itakeskus Quarters of Helsinki

History

See also

References

External links