Pasila
Encyclopedia
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. It is a central-northern neighbourhood, bordering Alppila
Alppila
Alppila is a quarter of Helsinki, Finland. It is located north of the city centre, between the districts of Kallio and Pasila, and together with Harju it forms the district of Alppiharju. Alppila has a population of 4244 and an area of 0.60 km². The Linnanmäki amusement park is located in...
to the south, Central Park (Keskuspuisto) to the west and Vallila
Vallila
Vallila is a neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.Vallila is a central-northern district, bordered by Pasila to the west and Kallio to the south. Like Kallio, Vallila is mostly residential and has a reputation of a working-class district...
to the east.
The eastern and western part of Pasila are separated by a large railroad classification yard
Classification yard
A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...
, which, as Central Pasila, is currently under development planning by the city administration. The major sports and music venue Hartwall Areena
Hartwall Areena
Hartwall Areena is a large multifunctional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland...
is located in the junction of the two main railways.
Eastern Pasila is a commercially active district with its own Pasila railway station
Pasila railway station
Pasila railway station is a railway station in Helsinki, Finland, approximately north of Helsinki Central railway station. It is the second busiest railway station in Finland, after Helsinki Central, and takes up a large part of the district of Pasila...
, a Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
and the Helsinki Fair Centre
Helsinki Fair Centre
The Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre is the biggest and most famous fair centre in Finland. It is located in the capital city of Helsinki....
. It is also home to over 3,500 people. Most of the buildings in Eastern Pasila were built in the 1970s and are made of prefabricated concrete elements. Educational facilities in the area include the Helsinki Business College and Helsinki Business Polytechnic Helia
Helsinki Business Polytechnic (Helia)
HAAGA-HELIA University Of Applied Sciences is one of Finland's largest business polytechnic . It is an open polytechnic, owned by a foundation, which is run by Helsinki's Business-life. Helia-building number 1, located in Pasila. Other premises are located in Haaga, Malmi, Vallila, Porvoo and...
.
Western Pasila was built during the 1980s. It is a mainly residential area with approximately 4,500 inhabitants. The apartment buildings in Western Pasila are skinned with red bricks. The Finnish national broadcasting company YLE as well as the commercial MTV3
MTV3
MTV3 is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV , due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials...
have their main premises in the northern end of the area.
In the ranking of the best places where to live in Helsinki, Western Pasila is ranked 74th, and Eastern Pasila is ranked 92nd, out of 94 different parts of Helsinki.
Before the Pasila-suburb was built, there were old wooden houses in the whole Pasila area and the area was called Wooden Pasila . Today only few of the old wooden houses still exist.