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Metsäkylä: A living village for regenerative peri-urban futures
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
Electronic archive copy is available via Aalto Thesis Database.
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en
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165
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Abstract
The Helsinki Capital Region is undergoing rapid suburban expansion, placing increasing pressure on its peri-urban ecologies. Agricultural fields and forest margins on the urban fringe are being fragmented by low-density development, leading to biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and a disconnection between people and their bioregion. This thesis investigates whether urban growth and ecological restoration can be aligned by proposing a regenerative alternative to conventional parcel-based housing.
Situated in the degraded agricultural zone of outer Vantaa, the project explores the concept of the Living Village—a new model of settlement envisioned as a living organism. Drawing from ecological theory, circular urban metabolism, and vernacular resilience, the thesis frames the village as a co-evolving system where architecture, landscape, and community function as interconnected parts. Key frameworks include forest restoration, agroecological productivity, modular timber construction, and participatory governance.
The design process combines territorial reading, ecological mapping, and scenario-based prototyping to develop a multi-scalar spatial strategy. The result is a site-specific prototype that challenges sprawl by integrating mobility, biodiversity, and care into the structure of everyday life. Rather than separating the built and natural, the Living Village operates through cycles—of materials, of people, of regeneration—offering a spatial and conceptual blueprint for urbanism in a time of climate and cultural transition.