Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern end of lakeVesijärvi about 100 kilometres (60 mi) north-east of the capital cityHelsinki, 38 kilometres (24 mi) south-west ofHeinola and 74 kilometres (46 mi) east ofHämeenlinna, the capital of the region ofKanta-Häme. Lahti is situated at the intersection ofHighway 4 (between Helsinki andJyväskylä) andHighway 12 (betweenTampere andKouvola), which are the most significant main roads of Lahti. Its neighboring municipalities areAsikkala, Heinola,Hollola,Iitti andOrimattila.[8]
Lahti is a long-time pioneering city in environmental sustainability, dating back to as early as 1990 and before. TheEuropean Commission has named Lahti as theEuropean Green Capital of 2021.[9][10]
Lahti is the headquarters of the Salpausselkä UNESCO Global Geopark,[11] one of 4 UNESCO Geoparks in Finland. Salpausselkä was added to the list of over 170UNESCO Global Geoparks in the world in 2022.[12]
Thecoat of arms of the city depicts a train wheel surrounded by flames. It refers to theRiihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway, which had a decisive influence on the birth of the city at its crossroads.[13]
In English, the Finnish word Lahti literally means 'bay'.[14] Lahti is also dubbed the "Chicago of Finland" due to the similarity of early industries of both cities, when they were known as "slaughterhouse cities".[15][16][17] Also, the troubled history of both cities in terms of crime has been seen as one of the similarities.[15][16][17]
Lahti was first mentioned in documents in 1445. The village belonged to theparish ofHollola and was located at the medieval trade route ofYlinen Viipurintie, which linked the towns ofHämeenlinna andViipuri.
Lahti town plan from 1878 by Alfred Caween.A map of Lahti made by Nils Westermark in 1750–52
The completion of theRiihimäki – St. Petersburg railway line in 1870 and theVesijärvi canal in 1871 turned Lahti into a lively station, and industrial installations began to spring up around it. For a long time, the railway station at Vesijärvi Harbour was the second busiest station in Finland. Craftsmen, merchants, a few civil servants and a lot of industrial workers soon mixed in with the existing agricultural peasantry.
On 19 June 1877, almost the entire village was burned to the ground. However, the accident proved to be a stroke of luck for the development of the place, as it led to the authorities resuming their deliberations about establishing a town in Lahti. The village was grantedmarket town rights by EmperorAlexander II of Russia in 1878[1] and an empire-style, grid town plan was approved, which included a large market square and wideboulevards. This grid plan still forms the basis of the city center. Most of the buildings were low wooden houses bordering the streets.
Lahti was founded during a period of severe economic recessions. TheRussian Empire was encumbered by the war againstTurkey, which also affected the economy of theGrand Duchy of Finland. The recession also slowed down building of the township: land would not sell and often plots were not built on for some time. In its early years, the town with its meagre 200 inhabitants was too small to provide any kind of foundation for trade. At the end of the 1890s, Lahti's Township Board increased its efforts to enable Lahti to be turned into a city. In spring 1904, the efforts finally bore fruit as theSenate approved of the application, although it was another eighteen months beforeTsar Nicholas II finally gave his blessing and issued an ordinance for establishing the city of Lahti.[2]
At the end of 1905, the area that now comprises Lahti accommodated around 8,200 people of whom just under 3,000 lived in the city itself. All essential municipal institutions were built in just ten years, including a hospital and a city hall. At the same time, a rapid increase in brick houses was taking place in the centre of the city. TheBattle of Lahti was fought in the 1918Finnish Civil War as the GermanDetachment Brandenstein took the town from theReds.
In the early 1920s, the city gained possession of the grounds of the Lahti Manor, an important piece of land previously blocking the city from the lake. Large-scale industrial operations grew rapidly in the 1930s as did the population; Lahti, at the time, was one of Finland's fastest-growing cities, and before the start of theWinter War its population was approaching 30,000.
Through the addition of new areas in 1924, 1933 and 1956, Lahti grew, both in terms of population and surface area. The increase in population was especially strong afterWWII, when 10,000 evacuees fromceded territories to theSoviet Union were settled in the city, and then later in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of urbanization. The rapid population growth came to a sharp end in 1975 and the city has since grown significantly slower albeit more steadily, with the latest notable growth in population happening in 2016 when the municipality ofNastola became a part of Lahti.[18]
In December 2018, Lahti became the first new university city in Finland afterRovaniemi in 1979 when the Parliament accepted a change in the university law.LUT University nowadays consists of two campuses,Lappeenranta and Lahti.
The terrain of Lahti is dominated by the firstSalpausselkä ridge, a terminalmoraine that cuts through the city from west to east. The city is located in the transition from the southern coastal area to theFinnish Lakeland; prominent to the north of the Salpausselkä are rocky hills and fragmented lakes, while its south side is dominated by forests and small rivers. The divide is also apparent in the soil, which mostly consists oftill in the north andclay in the south.[19] The biggest lake isVesijärvi which also is a gateway toCentral Finland viaLake Päijänne. There is also apond calledPikku-Vesijärvi ("Little Vesijärvi") near theLanu-puisto park.[20]
The area of the city of Lahti is divided in two ways: first, the 40 individually numbered districts (Finnish:kaupunginosa),[21] and second, the 9 greater areas (Finnish:suuralue), which are divided into 41 statistical districts (Finnish:tilastollinen kaupunginosa) and further into 169 statistical areas (Finnish:tilastoalue).[22] The definitions of the districts and statistical districts do not necessarily match each other. Below are listed the districts:
Under theKöppen climate classification, Lahti has ahumid continental climate (Dfb). Summers are usually warm in the city, with the average daily temperature in July exceeding over 23 °C (73.6 °F) and also having had the most 25 °C (77 °F) (or more) days in the last two decades, alongside Kouvola. Winters are cold and long but as a result of the climate change, specially winters are becoming more and more mild. During the heatwave of 2010, the temperature in Lahti reached 35.0 °C (95 °F). The amount of precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The driest season is spring, the most precipitation is in the second half of the year.
Climate data for Lahti Laune (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1938–05/2019 from Laune, 05/2019 -present from Sopenkorpi)
The city of Lahti has 121,622 inhabitants, making it the 9th most populous municipality in Finland. TheLahti region has 204,747 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest region in Finland afterHelsinki,Tampere,Turku andOulu. Lahti is home to 2% of Finland's population. 11% of the population has a foreign background, which is close to the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities ofHelsinki,Espoo,Tampere,Vantaa orTurku.[26]
Population size of Lahti (and merged municipalities) 1980–2020[27]
Lahti is a monolingualFinnish-speaking municipality. As of 2024[update], the majority of the population, 108,248 persons (89.2%), spoke Finnish as their first language. In addition, the number ofSwedish speakers was 537 persons (0.4%) of the population. Foreign languages were spoken by10.3% of the population.[26] AsEnglish andSwedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.
At least 100 different languages are spoken in Lahti. The most commonly spoken foreign languages areRussian (2.8%),Arabic (1.1%),Estonian (0.6%),Ukrainian (0.5%) andEnglish (0.3%).[26]
As of 2024[update], there were 12,841 persons with a migrant background living in Lahti, or 11% of the population.[note 1] The number of residents who were born abroad was 12,146, or 10 per cent of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Lahti was 8,268.[26] Most foreign-born citizens came from theformer Soviet Union,Estonia,Iraq,Russia andUkraine.[26]
The relative share of immigrants in Lahti's population is close to the national average. Furthermore, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.
In 2023, theEvangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 60.6% of the population of Lahti. Other religious groups accounted for 2.9% of the population. 36.5% of the population had no religious affiliation.[29]
The economic region of Lahti, which includes the surrounding municipalities, was strongly affected by the collapse of Finnish-Soviet trade and by the recession in the early 1990s. The value of production slumped, especially in the mechanical engineering industry and other manufacturing industries (e.g. the furniture industry). Production also decreased in the textile and clothing industry. In 1990, there were 90,370 jobs in the Lahti region. The number of jobs diminished over the next couple of years, so that in 1993 there were fewer than 70,000 jobs in the region. The number of jobs had slowly increased to 79,138 in 1999.
Employment by sector (City of Lahti)
1980
1990
2000
2007
Services
52.0%
59.3%
63.5%
72.4%
Industry
47.1%
40.1%
36.4%
27.4%
Agriculture & Forestry
0.9%
0.6%
0.1%
0.2%
In 1995, R&D expenditure wasFIM 715 per person, while Finland's average was about FIM 2050. The amount of Tekes (the National Technology Agency) funding in the Lahti Region grew 40% during 2004–2007 while the average growth in Finland was 60%.
Flea market in the Lahti harbour, Sibelius Hall in the background.
Lahti harbors cultural ambitions, manifested notably in the construction of a large congress and concert centre, theSibelius Hall (2000) by architects Kimmo Lintula and Hannu Tikka. Lahti has one of Finland's most widely known symphony orchestras, theLahti Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonia Lahti ), based at the Sibelius Hall, which performs both classical and popular music, notably concentrating on music byJean Sibelius. The orchestra has won several well respected international prizes, and is often heard onBBC Radio 3.
Lahti's annual music festival programme includes such events as Lahti Organ Festival, a jazz festival held in the city's market square and the Sibelius Festival.
Lahti has a rich sporting tradition, especially in various wintersports. The city is well known for the annually heldLahti Ski Games (Salpausselän kisat) and theFinlandia-hiihto cross-country skiing contest. It is also the only city to host theFIS Nordic World Ski Championships seven times, doing so in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978, 1989, 2001 and 2017.
Historically the city's most successful association football club has beenKuusysi. In their golden years lasting from the early 1980s to the 1990s they won five Finnish championships as well as twoFinnish Cup titles, with appearances in European competitions each year. Their greatest rivals, Reipas, won a total of three championships and seven cup titles from 1963 to 1978 but diminished in the early 1980s as Kuusysi got stronger.
In the 1990s both clubs ended up in such massive financial difficulties that a merger was executed in 1996, with the newly formed club adopting a new name, crest and colours.FC Lahti has played in theVeikkausliiga since 1999, excluding a season-long visit to the first division in 2011, having placed twice third and appearing in Europe three times.
The Kärpänenmotorcycle speedway track existed from circa.1950 to circa.1980, it was located where the Kärpäsen koulu sports field is today and hosted a qualifying round of theSpeedway World Championship in 1957[37] in addition to theFinnish Speedway Championship, multiple times between the years 1963 and 1978.[38] Another former speedway track at Pipoo (built in 1980),[39] off the Vanhanradankatu held the final of the Finnish Championship in 1980, 1987 and 1990.
Lahti will host the 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship August 26–27, an annual event which rotates venue and is the 2nd most important event in long course triathlon after Kona World Championship held annually in Hawaii.
The city is served by 20 local bus lines, most of which are pendulum lines between two different areas via city centre. Bus transport in the Päijät-Häme region is organised by the regional transportation authority, known asLahden seudun liikenne orLSL, and run by several private companies which have bid for the right to run their lines. LSL buses cover all urban areas at 10–20 minute intervals and most nearby municipalities at 30–60 minute intervals.
Lahti is served byVR commuter rail, the Z train toHelsinki and the G train toRiihimäki run hourly. Most services toKouvola don't have a letter designation and are run every three hours aside from rush hours. There are plans for building two new train stops inside the city limits before 2020,Hennala and Karisto. A local service toHeinola has been proposed but renovating the old line has been deemed too expensive and unprofitable in the long term, unless the Finnish state reaches an agreement with regional councils to finance a direct rail link from Lahti to eitherJyväskylä orMikkeli.
Bus station, built in 1939 and designed by architectKaarlo Könönen.
The city's main transportation hubs are the market square (Kauppatori) and the travel centre (Matkakeskus), with local buses providing a non-stop service between the two. The travel centre, which replaced the oldLahti bus station that had been in use since 1939, was built between 2014 and 2016 around theLahti railway station by building new local bus stops around the station, a long-distance bus terminal next to the station building and an automated parking facility for commuters.
All local and long-distance trains and buses stop at the travel centre, making it convenient to transfer from one mode of transport to another. The city council has sold the old bus station in the city centre and it will be redeveloped for other uses in the near future.
Lahti's proximity toHelsinki provides a fast and well-serviced operation between the cities. Long-distance and commuter trains service the city at least twice an hour in the daytime. There is also a commuter train service towardsRiihimäki in the south-west and toKouvola /Kotka in the east. All the east and north-east long-distance train services to and fromHelsinki railway station call at Lahti. From Lahti, it is also convenient to travel toHelsinki airport. Travel time to Helsinki airport viaTikkurila station is between 49min to 65min.
Additionally to the train connections, the long-distance busses are well-serviced in Lahti. Thanks to its geographical location, Lahti provides a hub-like possibility for busses too. From Lahti, the long-distance busses service routes to Helsinki,Turku,Tampere,Jyväskylä,Mikkeli,Oulu,Rovaniemi amongst the other destinations.
Lahti has 16 comprehensive schools and eight secondary schools. Comprehensive education is also available in English and Swedish.[40]Lahden yhteiskoulu is the city's only private school offering both comprehensive and upper secondary education.
All four upper secondary schools in Lahti have a specialty: the Lyceum has expertise on subjects such as mathematics and biology, and sports (formerly in Salpauselkä), Tiirismaa focuses on music in association with the Lahti Conservatory, Kannas organises theatre classes and Lahden yhteiskoulu offers an economy-centered class. In 2022, Tiirismaa and Kannas merged to form Gaudia which is currently the largest upper secondary school in Finland with 1350 students.[1][2]
Salpaus is an educational consortium owned by the municipalities in Päijät-Häme arranging most of the region's vocational education and trade schooling. The privately owned Dila and Lahti Conservatory educate students for healthcare and music-related professions, respectively.
LUT University offers education in engineering science as well as in business and management. The Institute of Design and Fine Arts has gained international recognition in particular for jewelry and industrial design, while other areas of expertise include metal, woodworking and furniture.
There are two national sports institutes in greater Lahti. TheVierumäki International Sports Institute based inHeinola is the most versatile centre of sports and physical education in the country, operating under the Ministry of Culture and Education. In addition thePajulahti Sports Institute, located in the district of Nastola in Lahti, is one of the leading sports and training centres in Finland.
Furthermore one of Finland's six multidisciplinary university campuses is based in Lahti. TheUniversity of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences is the university's sole science department located outside theHelsinki metropolitan area.
The radio masts on top of theRadiomäki are 150 metres (490 ft) tall.[41]
Lahti won theEuropean Green Capital Award of the year 2021. In 2020,National Geographic selected Lahti as one of the five most forward-looking cities in Europe for its sustainable urban development and environmental initiatives.[42]
Although theInstitute for the Languages of Finland recommend forNorway andDenmark to use the Swedish names for all Finnish towns, the use of Lahtis in those countries is almost non-existent even among major newssites,[43] especially as a result of Lahti being the branding name used for skiing events held there.
^Huovinen, Pentti; Rikkinen, Kalevi; Sihvo, Hannes (1984).Finlandia: Otavan iso maammekirja, osa 3: Häme ja Pirkanmaa (in Finnish).Helsinki:Otava. pp. 108–116.ISBN951-1-07914-X.
