Turku sub-region

The Turku Region (Turun seutukunta, Åbo ekonomiska region), The City Region of Turku (Turun kaupunkiseutu, Åbo stadsregion) and Greater Turku (Suur-Turku, Storåbo) all refer to regions of different size surrounding Turku, the capital city of the region of Southwest Finland. The Turku Region is one of the Sub-regions of Finland. It is located in the southwest of Finland and the area has around 300,000 inhabitants. More exclusive urban area the city region of Turku with population around 235,000 and second highest population density (586/km²) among city regions. The region has three universities and four polytechnics. Biotechnology and ICT  are one of their most important sectors. In fact the largest bio-industrial cluster in Finland locates in Turku, as well as from Turku to Salo is one of the principal concentrations of ICT in Finland. Because The Turku Region lies on the coast of the Baltic Sea it has strong logistical activity. Region's two significant seaports the Port of Turku and the Port of Naantali and Shipyard industry are big employers in the area. The Turku Region has also growing activity on air cargo logistics. LogiCity is a concept of Pilot Turku to create logistic cluster around Turku Airport, in where logistic industries of marine, plane, train and truck cargo can be met with manufacturers and commercial markets to share synergy benefits. TNT Airways is one of the logistic operators in the LogiCity of Turku.

Definitions of the Turku Region
In the strictest definition the city region the area consist of four municipalities with city status Kaarina, Naantali, Raisio and Turku, however in some definitions also Aura, Lieto, Paimio, Piikkiö, Rusko are counted in. In case of the Turku Region is defined according to LAU 1 (number 023) it will include all 11 municipalities listed below.

Geography
The Turku Region is located in the southwestern corner of Finland around the city of Turku. It is part of the region Southwest Finland and Western Finland. It shares borders with the sub-region of Salo in east, the subregion of Loimaa in northeast, Vakka-Suomi in north and Åboland in southwest. The Turku Region has part of the Archipelago Sea southwest along with its several islands.

The city region of Turku is formated by four major cities. Turku in the middle, Naantali and Raisio in west and Kaarina east. Coastline is occupied by two seaports one of Naantali and one of Turku. All four cities are connected with the Turku Ring Road and Kaarinantie. It has connections to E18, E63 highways, national roads 1, 8, 9 and 10. Turku Airport is located north side of the city center and ohikulkutie and its area is partly shared between Rusko and Turku. To north-east from Airport is where the city region ends and inner Finland with forest and countryside begins.

Because big part of the region is on the Archipelago Sea, there are several islands in the area and some of the municipalities are completely on them, such as Rymättylä for example. In the city region of Turku are some of the most notable islands of the Archipelago Sea like Luonnonmaa in Naantali, Hirvensalo, Kakskerta and Ruissalo in Turku, and Kuusisto in Kaarina. Islands are not so populated excluding Hirvensalo in Turku which is really near the center. Most of them are covered by woods but near the mainland there are field areas.

Most of the waters in the Turku Region are concentrated in the Archipelago Sea, but there are also few lakes and reservoirs which of some are on the islands. The sea is at most part narrow straits between islands. At most part the waters are quite shallow but major sea routes can be used even by the biggest ship cruisers in the world which some are made in shipyard in Turku.

Mainland is full of small hills, valleys and river valleys. Hills are often rocky as like the islands of archipelago and actually those hills used to be part of the archipelago short after the ice age, but they grew up from the sea and got connected to the mainland. Some of the hills used to serve as guardian towers on the age of vikings, who used to rob villages on the Baltic Sea. When guards spotted the vikings they set up an alarm fire on the top of the hill that other guardian hills on the row would see it and make their own fire. One of such hills is Vartiovuori in Turku, which actually means "Guardian Mountain". The river valleys have always been places of settlement, safe from the open sea yet close and connected to it. When valleys aren't populated they are usually occupied by grain fields.

Urbanization
Inside circle roads lives majority of people in the Turku Region. Population density is quite high. Outside of the city region population density drops hard and urbanization is more separately concentrated and surrounded by countryside. Though the city region of Turku in whole picture has low population density it is good to notice that there are large unpopulated areas inside city borders, but activity and inhabitation is actually more concentrated. These more populated areas do not exist only in Turku, but continue through four major cities from Naantali to Kaarina. This area has actually been considered as one city in many concepts of the future though at this moment there are no such reforms coming up. Instead of that Naantali will be united with Merimasku, Rymättylä and Velkua in 2009.

The sub-regions heart is in center of Turku, on Market Square to be more specific. City Centre is quite small and concentrated. Something around 4 to 5 km² of blocks. Old small and spread suburbs are surrounding the City Center build around the '50s and the '60s along with more modern buildings. More further from the city center around 5 to 10 km reaching neighboring cities, are build the more larger suburbs and neighborhoods which may have their own centers. There are also several big shopping malls and centers.

The bus net is only way of transportation in Turku sub-region though there has been talks about to activate light-rail connection again. At this moment only inside borders of Turku, public transportation can be considered as good, but there can be expected improvements in the near future.

Statistics
The table below lists population, area, and population density for the most central municipalities of the Turku Region area. (Note that terms used are not completely established, and may vary in different contexts.)