The centre of Espoo (550 ha) includes a variety of landscapes and sub-areas – ranging from urban to rural – such as a shopping hub, a medieval church, the Espoo river valley, the administrative centre, and two blockhouse areas from the 70’s and 80’s – all surrounded by large detached housing areas and stretches of nature. The image of the area is poor and social problems exist within the blockhouse areas. Our task was to help the city find a positive interpretation of the area. Our vision is based on an idea of developing the area in to an urban ‘archipelago’ offering positive places for different interests focusing on an overall lifestyle of health and sustainability. Turning the vision in to a development program we outlined main projects and directions for the development of the area in various scales: the overall structure, division of functions and roles, block development and small-scale urban design.