Tuusula

Tuusula
Municipality
Tuusulan kunta
The wooden church of Tuusula The wooden church of Tuusula
Coat of arms
Location of Tuusula in Finland Location of Tuusula in Finland
Country	Finland
Region	Uusimaa
Sub-region	Helsinki sub-region
Founded	1643
Seat	Hyrylä
Villages	Jokela, Kellokoski
Government
• Municipal manager	Hannu Joensivu
Area (2011-01-01)
• Total	225.46 km2 (87.05 sq mi)
• Land	219.51 km2 (84.75 sq mi)
• Water	5.95 km2 (2.30 sq mi)
Area rank	293rd largest in Finland
Elevation	63 m (207 ft)
Population (2016-03-31)
• Total	38,564
• Rank	29th largest in Finland
• Density	175.68/km2 (455.0/sq mi)
Population by native language
• Finnish	96.4% (official)
• Swedish	1.7%
• Others	1.8%
Population by age
• 0 to 14	22.2%
• 15 to 64	67.1%
• 65 or older	10.7%
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	04301
Municipal tax rate	18.25%
Urbanisation	93.4%
Unemployment rate	5.6%
Climate	Dfb
Website	www.tuusula.fi

Tuusula (Finnish pronunciation: [tuːsulɑ]; Swedish: Tusby, [ˈtʉːsbyː]) is a municipality of Finland. It belongs to the Helsinki sub-region of the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of 38,564 (31 March 2016).

Geography

Tuusula, lying on the shores of Tuusulanjärvi lake, is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. It covers an area of 225.46 square kilometres (87.05 sq mi) of which 5.95 km² (2.30 sq mi) is water. The population density is 175.68 inhabitants per square kilometre (455.0/sq mi).

Tuusula has three population centres. The administrative centre is Hyrylä (about 19,500 residents), other two are Jokela (5,300 residents) and Kellokoski (4,300 residents). The remaining 4,400 residents are distributed to the rural areas outside of municipal centres.

The neighbouring communes are Vantaa to the south, Nurmijärvi to the west, Hyvinkää to the north, Mäntsälä and Järvenpää to the north east, and Sipoo and Kerava to the east.

History

The area in what is now Tuusula was located in the larger municipality of Sipoo. In 1643, it became a separate parish in the municipality, and in 1653, it became a separate municipality. Tuusula's boundaries have not always remained the same: in 1924 the municipality of Kerava split from here; in 1950 the municipality of Korso was split between Tuusula, Kerava, and Sipoo; and in 1951 the municipality of Järvenpää split from here.

During the Crimean War (1853–1856), a Russian garrison was stationed in what is now Hyrylä. The modern parish mostly developed around it.

The area had always been a fairly fertile area, thus encouraging farming. The development of other industries began in 1795, when an ironworks was created in Kellokoski that functioned until the 1980s. The establishment of a railway in Jokela furthered the growth.

Soon after this industrial time another aspect of Tuusulan history was realised. The Tuusulanjärvi lake attracted many artists who wanted to paint the beautiful landscape. Following the footsteps of Aleksis Kivi, the Finnish national poet who spent the last years of his life in a hut on the shores of the lake, Jean Sibelius, Juhani Aho, and Pekka Halonen even established their main residences here. Recently these houses have become tourist sites, especially Sibelius' house Ainola. Also, Tuusula Lake Road on the eastern shore of the lake is an outside museum.

The Jokela rail crash was a rail crash which occurred on 21 April 1996 here.

Jokela High School was the site of the Jokela school shooting, a school shooting which occurred on 7 November 2007, leaving 9 dead (including the 18-year-old perpetrator, Pekka-Eric Auvinen).

Demographics

Tuusula, in the Helsinki suburbs, has been in a positive balance of population, with it more than doubling in size since 1970.

The municipality is officially Finnish. Swedish was the second official language until 1943. Today only 2% are Swedish-speaking.

Population in:

• 1970 – 17.235
• 1980 – 22.151
• 1987 – 26.234
• 1990 – 27.328
• 1997 – 29.957
• 2000 – 31.957
• 2007 – 34.890

Politics

Parliamentary elections

Results of the Finnish parliamentary election, 2011 in Tuusula:

• National Coalition Party 28.6%
• True Finns 22.5%
• Social Democratic Party 21.0%
• Centre Party 10.1%
• Green League 7.1%
• Left Alliance 4.8%
• Christian Democrats 3.3%
• Swedish People's Party 1.1%

Municipal Council

Composition of the Municipal Council (2005–2008)

Party	Percent of the council	Seats
National Coalition Party	26.2%	14
Tuusulan Puolesta (Eng. "For Tuusula")	25.2%	14
Social Democratic Party of Finland	25.1%	13
Centre Party	11.6%	5
Christian Democrats	3.2%	2
Left Alliance	3.5%	1
Green League	3.5%	1
Swedish People's Party	1.1%	1

Twin towns – Sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland

Tuusula is twinned with:

Oppegård, Norway Sollentuna Municipality, Sweden Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark Vinni, Estonia

Augustów, Poland District Celle, Germany Vidnoye, Russia Querétaro, Mexico

Economy and Infrastructure

Economy

Due its proximity to the Helsinki, Tuusula is, for the most part, a commuter town. Tuusula itself has around 10,000 jobs. 66% of the jobs are in the service sector, 31% in the workforce, and 1.5% are farmers. The unemployment rate amounted to 3% (2007), far below the national average.

Transportation

From the centre of Tuusula, Hyrylä, there are good bus connections to Helsinki, via the Tuusula motorway. There are also two train stations in the main railway line of Finland, Jokela and Nuppulinna.

Education

Tuusula's network of schools include:

• 18 primary schools
• 4 secondary schools
• 3 high schools
• 1 hospital school

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Municipality of Tuusula – official site