Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 competition looks at future urban development

Source: Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 – “Emerald” submission

In a previous post I have written about the technological ascent of Finland in the last three decades. It is a country that does not rest on its laurels but looks far ahead with planning and environmental sensitivities rarely met in most parts of this world.

Helsinki is the capital of 1.3 million inhabitants, expected to grow to 2 million in the next fifty years. Because of the scale of the expansion that will take place, 14 towns and municipalities of the Helsinki region set up an international competition for proposals as to how it will all take place. The aim was to not only build a larger orderly city, but to also increase the influence and appeal of the city in financial, residential, business and cultural terms. An all important factor is the environmental impact and how to minimise it with public transport and sensible zone creation.

4 questions to ask yourself before you invest in the Blu-ray format

I have yesterday given here 9 reasons why you should not yet invest in Blu-ray.

As a follow up, and in order to help readers decide whether it is the right time to go ahead and buy, I decided to list here the questions I would be asking myself before making a sensible decision:

1. Do you own a HDTV and home cinema audio equipment? Do not bother without these prerequisites. Even if you only have a HDTV without the audio part, you will miss the uncompressed surround sound bliss which is more or less half of the fun.
2. Does your local video club stock films in the Blu-ray format? If not, you will not want to buy all the movies you wish to watch. Simple economics. It will work out cheaper to go to the cinema…