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Oulu

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For other uses, see Oulu (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Finnish municipality Oulu (/ˈaʊluː/,[1] also US: /ˈoʊluː/,[2][3] Finnish: [ˈou̯lu] ⓘ; Template:Lang-sv [ˌʉːlɛɔˈbɔrj] ⓘ) is a city and municipality of Template:Infobox Finnish municipality/population count inhabitants (Error: Invalid time.)[4] in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland, and the fifth most populous in the country. Only the city ofMurmansk, Russia, has more people and is further north.

Oulu is considered one of Europe's "living labs", where residents experiment with new technology (such as NFC tags and ubi-screens) at a community-wide scale.[5]

Etymology

The city is named after the river Oulujoki, which originates in the lake Oulujärvi. There have been a number of other theories for the origin of the name Oulu. One possible source for the name Oulu is a word in the Sami language meaning 'flood water', but there are other suggestions. At minimum, the structure of the word requires that, if originally given by speakers of a Uralic language, the name must be a derivative. In all likelihood, it also predates Finnish settlement and is thus a loanword from one of the now-extinct Saami languages once spoken in the area.

The most probable theory is that the name derives from the Finnish dialectal word oulu, meaning "floodwater", which is related to e.g. Southern Sami åulo, meaning "melted snow", åulot meaning "thaw" (of unknown ultimate origin). Two other word families have also been speculated to be related. The first is seen in the Northern Savo dialectal word uula and its Sami counterpart oalli, both meaning "river channel". The second is the Uralic root reconstructed as *uwa, meaning "river bed" (reflected as vuo in modern Finnish, also in derivatives such as vuolas "heavy-flowing"). To either of these roots, some Sami variety would have to be assumed having added further derivational suffixes.[6]

History

Drawing of central Oulu from the 19th Century

Oulu was founded on 8 April 1605 by King Charles IX of Sweden, opposite the fort built on the island of Linnansaari. This took place after favourable peace settlements with Russia, which removed the threat of attack via the main east-west waterway, the river Oulu. [citation needed] The surrounding areas were populated much earlier. Oulu is situated by the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of river Oulujoki, which is an ancient trading site. Oulu was the capital of the Province of Oulu from 1776 to 2009.

In 1822, a major fire destroyed much of the city. [citation needed] The architect Carl Ludvig Engel, chiefly known for the neoclassical (empire style) buildings around Helsinki Senate Square, was enlisted to provide the plan for the rebuilding of the city. With minor changes, this plan remains the basis for the layout of Oulu's town center. The Oulu Cathedral was built in 1832 to his designs, with the spire being finished in 1844. During the Crimean War, Oulu's harbour was raided by the British fleet, destroying ships and burning tar houses, leading to international criticism.[citation needed]

Once known for wood tar and salmon, Oulu has evolved into a major high-tech centre, particularly in IT and wellness technology. Other prominent industries include wood refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper, and steel. [citation needed]

The municipality of Ylikiiminki was merged with the city of Oulu on 1 January 2009. Oulu and the municipalities of Haukipudas, Kiiminki, Oulunsalo, and Yli-Ii were merged on 1 January 2013.[7]

Oulu was the site of the 2018 Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä declared that “Sex crimes against children are inhumane acts of incomprehensible evil.”[8]

Geography

A satellite image showing the Oulu region in mid-January 2007

Oulu is located in northern Finland, a considerable distance from the other cities in the country. Mainland Finland's northernmost and southernmost points are roughly equidistant from Oulu. Oulu's coast sits at the Bothnian Bay (Perämeri in Finnish) and the Swedish mainland is about 180 km directly west across the Bothnian Bay. The nearby island Hailuoto is just off the coast.

Subdivisions

See also: Category:Districts of Oulu

Oulu is divided into 106 city districts. The largest of these are Haukipudas, Oulunsalo, Kaakkuri, Ritaharju, Tuira, and Kello.

Climate

Oulu has a subarctic continental climate (Köppen: Dfc), being the largest Finnish city entirely in this climatic zone as well as and one of the largest in the world. The features are cold and snowy winters with short and warm summers.[9][10] Average annual temperature is 2.7 °C (36.9 °F). The average annual precipitation is 477 mm (18.78 in) falling 105 days per year, mostly in late summer and fall.[citation needed]

Climate data for Oulu, 1981-2010 normals
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 9.3
(48.7) 		7.8
(46.0) 		11.5
(52.7) 		20.3
(68.5) 		29.9
(85.8) 		31.7
(89.1) 		33.2
(91.8) 		30.5
(86.9) 		24.8
(76.6) 		16.4
(61.5) 		11.2
(52.2) 		8.2
(46.8) 		33.2
(91.8)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) −6
(21) 		−5.7
(21.7) 		−0.9
(30.4) 		5.6
(42.1) 		12.5
(54.5) 		17.9
(64.2) 		20.9
(69.6) 		18.3
(64.9) 		12.5
(54.5) 		5.8
(42.4) 		−0.4
(31.3) 		−4
(25) 		6.4
(43.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) −9.6
(14.7) 		−9.3
(15.3) 		−4.8
(23.4) 		1.4
(34.5) 		7.8
(46.0) 		13.5
(56.3) 		16.5
(61.7) 		14.1
(57.4) 		8.9
(48.0) 		3.3
(37.9) 		−2.8
(27.0) 		−7.1
(19.2) 		2.7
(36.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −13.6
(7.5) 		−13.3
(8.1) 		−8.8
(16.2) 		−2.6
(27.3) 		3.3
(37.9) 		9.0
(48.2) 		12.2
(54.0) 		10.1
(50.2) 		5.4
(41.7) 		0.8
(33.4) 		−5.5
(22.1) 		−10.8
(12.6) 		−1.2
(29.9)
Record low °C (°F) −37.5
(−35.5) 		−41.5
(−42.7) 		−32
(−26) 		−21.4
(−6.5) 		−9.1
(15.6) 		−1.0
(30.2) 		3.6
(38.5) 		−1.5
(29.3) 		−8
(18) 		−20.6
(−5.1) 		−33
(−27) 		−37.2
(−35.0) 		−41.5
(−42.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 31
(1.2) 		26
(1.0) 		26
(1.0) 		20
(0.8) 		37
(1.5) 		46
(1.8) 		71
(2.8) 		65
(2.6) 		44
(1.7) 		45
(1.8) 		36
(1.4) 		30
(1.2) 		477
(18.8)
Average precipitation days 10 8 8 6 7 7 9 10 9 10 11 10 105
Average relative humidity (%) (daily average) 87 86 82 73 67 66 71 76 82 86 90 89 80
Mean monthly sunshine hours 24 69 137 208 273 296 283 212 133 69 28 8 1,740
Source 1: FMI[11]
Source 2: FMI (record highs and lows)[12]

Demographics

In 2008, there were 316 Swedish speaking inhabitants, which was 0.2% of the total population, making the city unilingual. In 2007, there were 2,417 foreign citizens living in the city, of whom 618 were from elsewhere in the EU. 51.1% of the population is female.

Population

The population growth of Oulu (and merged municipalities) 1980–2015
Year Population
1980
 
 121 809
1985
 
 128 869
1990
 
 136 029
1995
 
 146 395
2000
 
 160 851
2005
 
 173 436
2010
 
 185 419
2015
 
 196 956
Source: Tilastokeskus[13]

Culture

Air Guitar World Championships 2012, an annual event held in Oulu since 1996

The best known cultural exports of the city of Oulu are Air Guitar World Championships held annually in August, Mieskuoro Huutajat (also known as Screaming Men), the now defunct metal band Sentenced, and one off the best ice hockey teams in Europe Oulun Kärpät.

Many artists, writers, and musicians live in the city. A variety of concerts — rock, classical, and jazz — as well as other cultural events take place each year. Examples include the Oulu Music Video Festival, the Air Guitar World Championships, and the Musixine Music Film Competition, all in August. In July, the annual rock festival Qstock takes place. The Oulu Music Festival is held in winter and the Oulunsalo Music Festival in summer. The Irish Festival of Oulu takes place each October and the International Children's Film Festival each November.

Museums in Oulu include the Northern Ostrobothnia museum, the Oulu Museum of Art (OMA), the Tietomaa science center, and the Turkansaari open-air museum.

Notable statues and sculptures in Oulu include a sculpture of Frans Michael Franzén and The Bobby at the Market Place statue.

Kalmah is a melodic death metal-band from Oulu that formed in 1998.

Sights

Churches

Other points of interest

Education

University of Oulu main building.

The University of Oulu and Oulu University of Applied Sciences have their main campuses located in Oulu.

Oulu is home to the most northerly architecture school in the world. The school is best known for its strong regionalistic ideas for developing architecture. This movement is named "the Oulu school" ("Oulun koulu") of architecture. [citation needed]

Oulu Vocational College has over 13 000 students. It houses several different study subjects in different units which are spread over Oulu and neighbouring municipalities. Oulu Vocational College School of Business Studies is one of the few vocational schools which has game programming in its curriculum.

Oulu International School is one of nine schools in Finland offering basic education in English.

Transport

The Oulu Bus Station

Oulu is served by Oulu Airport, the second largest airport in Finland by passenger volume. It is located 15 kilometres (9 mi) south-west of the city centre.

The Port of Oulu is one of the busiest harbours on the Bothnian Bay. It includes four separate harbour areas: Vihreäsaari oil and bulk docks, Nuottasaari docks and Oritkari docks.

The shortest travel time from Oulu railway station to Helsinki Central railway station is 5 h 29 min, operated by VR. Other destinations include Kolari, Rovaniemi, Seinäjoki and Tampere.

The most important road in Oulu is Highway 4 (E8/E75) that runs from Helsinki to Utsjoki via Lahti, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Kemi and Rovaniemi. Other highways running to and from Oulu are Highway 20 to Kuusamo and Highway 22 to Kajaani.[14]

Oulu is notable for its transportation network dedicated to non-vehicular traffic including pedestrians and bicycles (termed "light" traffic in Finland). In 2010, the city contained more than 600 kilometres (370 mi) of pathways and more than 100 underpasses and bridges devoted exclusively to light traffic. The network is used year-round. The ratio of light traffic pathways to residents is the highest in Finland and the cycling mode share is 20 percent.[15][16] Oulu is often touted as an excellent city for bicycling.

In 2015, a large underground parking facility Kivisydän (Heart of Stone) opened in the city center directly beneath main shopping streets. The network of parallel roads for cars and pedestrians was drilled in the rock at the depth of 30 meters. The parking facility includes two ramps, 900 visitor parking lots (expandable to 1500), six access points to the ground served by 19 elevators (expandable to nine and 25), a service facility for commercial delivery vehicles, and ubi-screens which guide the driver to the selected ground access point and help locate the parked car by its license number.[17][18]

Employment

Stora Enso has an important paper manufacturing plant in Oulu.
Nokia premises in Peltola.
Technopolis Linnanmaa is home to nearly 200 corporations.

As of 31 December 2008, the active working population was employed as follows:[19]

Industries Working population
Services 43,049
Industry 11,111
Commerce 10,848
Construction 5,449
Transport 3,698
Farming, forestry and mining 582
Unknown 431
Unemployment rate 16.3% (2016)
Total 75,158

In 2011, the most important employers were:[19]

Employer No. of employees
City of Oulu 9,709
Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District 6,144
University of Oulu 3,045
Nokia Networks 2,100
Nokia Group 2,000
The Oulu Region Joint Authority for Vocational Training 1,955
Kesko Group 1,426
Cooperative Arina Group (S Group) 1,107
Stora Enso Group 1,155
Itella Corporation 780
ISS Palvelut Oy 730
ODL Group 653

Sports

Kärpät wins the Finnish championship in 2005 after beating Jokerit.
Oulun Luistinseura beat Jyväskylän Seudun Palloseura in the 2014 Finland men's national bandy championship final.

Ice hockey is the most popular spectator sport in Oulu. The local club Kärpät has won the SM-liiga championship title eight times (1981, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2018). It has also twice been the runner-up in the IIHF European Champions Cup, in 2005 and in 2006.

In football AC Oulu plays in Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish league system. So far OPS has claimed the Finnish football championship only twice by winning Mestaruussarja in 1979 and in 1980. Other notable football clubs include OLS, OTP and JS Hercules.

Oulu has one well-known bandy club, OLS, which plays in Bandyliiga and has become Finnish champions 14 times, most recently in 2014. The other bandy club, OPS, with its 7 championships and a bronze medal as late as in 2009, announced it would be closing down after the 2009-10 season. In 2001 the city was the main venue for the Bandy World Championship.

Oulu is also home to several other sports clubs such as Oulu Northern Lights (American football), Oulun NMKY (Basketball), Oulun Lippo (Pesäpallo), Oulun Pyrintö (Track and field), OYUS (Rugby union), Oulu Irish Elks (Gaelic football) and ETTA (Volleyball).

Oulun Tervahiihto is an annual ski marathon event held since 1889.

Terwa Run & Marathon is an annual running event held since 1989 in late May.

Notable people from Oulu

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland

Twin towns and sister cities

Oulu is twinned with:[20]

Partnership and twinning cities

In addition Oulu has eight 'Partnership & Twinning cities':[25]

International municipal projects

The educational department takes part in Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 in Finland.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Oulu". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. n.d. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Oulu". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Oulu". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference population_count was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Saylor, Michael (2012). The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything. Perseus Books/Vanguard Press. p. 63.
  6. ^ "Oulu-nimen etymologia". Scripta.kotus.fi. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  7. ^ "Uusi Oulu" [New Oulu] (in Finnish). Oulu: City of Oulu. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  8. ^ Aleksi Teivainen (6 December 2018). "Police: 10 people suspected of sex crimes against minors in Oulu". Helsinki Times. Retrieved 31 January 2019. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) on Wednesday issued an official statement on the much-discussed case, saying the events have shocked many, for a good reason. "Sex crimes against children are inhumane acts of incomprehensible evil," he stated
  9. ^ "Oulu, Finland Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  10. ^ Learning, Innovative Language; FinnishPod101.com. Learn Finnish - Level 5: Advanced: Volume 1: Lessons 1-25 (in Finnish). Innovative Language Learning.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "FMI normals 1981-2010" (PDF). FMI. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  12. ^ "FMI open data". FMI. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  13. ^ "Väestö kielen mukaan sekä ulkomaan kansalaisten määrä ja maa-pinta-ala alueittain 1980–2012" (in Finnish). Tilastokeskus. 22 April 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  14. ^ Autoilijan Tiekartta 2007 – Road map (Map). 1:800,000. AffectoGenimap Finland Oy. 2006. ISBN 978-951-593-047-7.
  15. ^ Jeffrey Pratte, "Mainstreaming Bicycling in Winter Cities: The case of Oulu, Finland", Masters thesis, University of Manitoba (Canada), 2011. P. 99-100
  16. ^ Anders Swanson, "Winter Cycling for Everyone", (Video, 21:30 min.), Vimeo, 2013
  17. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-03-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^ "Kivisydän parking facility in Oulu". Oulunliikekeskus.fi. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 24 December 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ a b "Business and industry" (PDF). Information about Oulu. Oulu: City of Oulu. 2012-01-01. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ystävyyskaupungit (Twin Cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27.
  21. ^ "Vennskapsbyer" (in Norwegian). Alta kommune.
  22. ^ Информация о городах-побратимах. Arhcity.ru (in Russian). October 26, 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  23. ^ "Kardeş Şehirler". Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi Basın Koordinasyon Merkez. Tüm Hakları Saklıdır. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
  24. ^ "Astana and Finnish Oulu become twin-cities". Tengrinews.kz. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Partneri- ja kummikaupungit (Partnership and twinning cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27.
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