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Environment
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Lahti

Winning city 2021

Lahti, the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region of Finland, has a population of 119,068. Lahti is situated approximately 100 kilometres to the northeast of Helsinki, the capital city of Finland on the southern bay of Lake Vesijärvi. After the Second World War, Lahti experienced rapid industrialisation that included population and economic growth.

This also led to significant environmental challenges, such as the eutrophication of Lake Vesijärvi and a higher dependency on cars in the city centre. The City of Lahti has addressed these challenges by setting up and funding the Lake Vesijärvi project, where university research groups, residents, local companies and the City work together to improve the lake’s condition.

The City of Lahti also set up Lahti City consortium which has invested €100 million on developing the city centre transport system such as with underground parking spaces, new bicycle lanes and wider pedestrian areas.

The City of Lahti displayed strong performance across the majority of the indicator areas and demonstrated great proficiency in Nature & Biodiversity, Noise and Water. It received top ranking in the areas of Air Quality, Waste, Green Growth & Eco‐innovation and Governance.