COMMENTARY: What's the difference between Helsinki and Kainuu?
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By Timo Siukonen
Large centres cope with recession better than small remote districts.
For what reason are we in general more interested in the large than in the small, and in strong rather than weak?
We prefer to join the winners, rather than the losers.
Let us take an example of the population development in the growth area of Helsinki and in the recession-hit province of Kainuu.
The comparison analyses the situations prevailing on December 31st in 1980 and 2009.
In the Helsinki Metropolitan Area the number of inhabitants increased from 988,835 in 1980 to 1,379,426 in 2009, up by 40.4 %, whereas in Kainuu the corresponding figure declined from 99,247 to 82,634, down by 16.7 %.
A survey made by Dr Timo Aro, a researcher into migration patterns, indicates unequivocally that the the social status of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area in relation to the other parts of the country only strengthened during the first year of the recession.
What is bothering Kainuu and its capital Kajaani?
When a non-resident drives around a roundabout into the centre of Kajaani, there is nothing in the town that would be particularly different from any other growth centre in the country.
Signs of internationalism can be seen and heard clearly everywhere.
Signposts give the direction and distance to the university and industrial areas. Stores of Citymarket, Prisma, Suomalainen Kirjakauppa (the ”Finnish Bookstore”), and other outlets of familiar retail chains are offering their services and wares.
The history of Kainuu contains many highlights over the course of hundreds of years, including the Finnish philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry Elias Lönnrot (the man behind the national epic Kalevala) and Urho Kekkonen, the longest-serving President of Finland.
On the other hand, several gloomy phases have also cast a shadow over the province, including the closure of the UPM-Kymmene paper mill, a decision made by the University of Oulu to wind up the Kajaani Department of Teacher Education, job reductions affecting public sector employees in the Finnish Defence Forces, the Finnish Border Guard, and in the state enterprise Metsähallitus, administering state-owned land and water areas.
Today, the future of the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences also looks uncertain, while a decision to close the upper secondary school in Hyrynsalmi has already been made. Kainuu is suffering.
Dr Timo Aro’s survey on "recession survival" was commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat in 2009.
The survey involved Finland’s 30 largest municipalities in terms of inhabitants. Seven different parameters were used to compare the municipalities’ ability to cope with the recession.
In Kajaani, all the other parameters showed a downward trend, but the change in the number of jobless indicated stubborn growth.
Among the 30 municipalities under scrutiny, Kajaani had the lowest number of new company starts per 1,000 residents between January and September 2009.
Nevertheless, Kajaani town manager Jari Tolonen says that the picture given by the report is too gloomy. Distinct growth has been seen in the mining industry, the tourism industry, and in the retail sector. The labour force available in Kainuu is good.
Kainuu entrepreneur Kari Moilala says that the answer can be found in the mentality and atmosphere.
Kainuu entrepreneurs are not ready to take risks and make investments. They are forever chewing over ideas but cannot take action rapidly. They also suffer from feelings of inferiority and envy.
The needed spiritual atmosphere will rise only when people are inspired. They have lost their initiative, and new things are good enough only after they have first been successful elsewhere.
”Is our IQ lower than that of others?” Moilala asks, adding that of course it isn't. If only people had more courage, even the Kainuu enterprise know-how could be harnessed at the top level in the world.
The one fact that Kainuu cannot change is geography.
Its location is and will always be far from Helsinki.
In August, it will be possible to think over the disadvantages of the distance, when the City of Helsinki makes an official visit to the Kainuu Province.
The capital city presents itself this year in Kainuu with the theme ‘’Helsinki residents now – encounters in Kainuu’’.
The aim is to create new permanent connections with Finland’s only metropolis and the Kainuu Province, rich in nature.
The theme year will reach its climax in August, and the main event will take place in the Kajaani Hall on August 15th, with the UMO Jazz Orchestra playing and the Rajaton vocal group singing.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.5.2010
Previously in HS International Edition:
Helsinki Metropolitan Area survives recession better than other regions of Finland (10.5.2010)
University of Oulu to lay off 68; teacher training to be shut down in Kajaani (1.4.2010)
Links:
City of Helsinki: Helsinki charms and conquers Kainuu in 2010
TIMO SIUKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
timo.siukonen@hs.fi
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| 18.5.2010 - THIS WEEK |
COMMENTARY: What's the difference between Helsinki and Kainuu?
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