Koskela ( sv, Forsby, lit. "rapids village") is a district in the city of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. There are about 3 300 inhabitants. The borough is surrounded by

Käpylä Käpylä (; sv, Kottby) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki with 7,600 inhabitants. Administratively speaking, Käpylä is a part of the Vanhakaupunki district. It is located between Kumpula, Oulunkylä and Koskela. Käpylä has a terminus for ...

Kumpula Kumpula ( sv, Gumtäkt) is a verdant neighbourhood in Helsinki, bordered by Eastern Pasila to the west, Vallila to the south, Käpylä and Koskela to the north and Toukola and Arabianranta to the east. As of January 1, 2003, Kumpula had approxi ...

, Vanhakaupunki, and Oulunkylä. Koskela is located in the subdivision of ''Vanhankaupungin peruspiiri'', near the rapids close to the mouth of the

Vantaa River The Vantaa ( fi, Vantaanjoki, ) is a long river in Southern Finland. The river starts from the lake in Hausjärvi and flows into the Gulf of Finland at ' in Helsinki. One of the tributaries of the Vantaa river is Keravanjoki that flows through ...

. The earliest mention of the

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of citi ...

in Koskela dates back to 1417, which makes it the oldest part of Helsinki. Koskela can be divided into two distinct areas: the small north side dominated by detached housing and the dense south side with apartment buildings. The streets of ''Puu-Koskela'' (wooden Koskela) have been named after municipalities in

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...

. Before the recession of the 90s, Koskela had many kiosks and stores. After the financial collapse, only one

Alepa Alepa is a grocery shop chain in the Greater Helsinki region of Finland. It is currently owned by HOK-Elanto, a part of the nationwide cooperative S Group. Alepa was founded in 1918, when Edvard Pajunen and his wife founded a shop in Sörnäine ...

remained in the center of the apartment building district. Although one of the

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

depots is named ''Koskelan varikko'', it isn't situated in the borough.

Koskela teenage murder

On December 4, 2020, a teenage murder occurred in Koskela that shocked the entire country. The victim of the homicide was a 16-year-old boy. Police suspect the perpetrators of three boys of the same age who were imprisoned in the

Helsinki District Court Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

on December 10 on suspicion of murder. The perpetrators and the victim already knew each other. According to police, the motive for the act was to punish the victim for some previous activity. Prosecutors have demanded an absolute prison sentence for perpetrators of suspected minors.

Politics

Results of the

2011 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%. The ...

in Koskela: *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

24.2% *

True Finns The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

16.8% * Left Alliance 16.0% *

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the pol ...

15.3% *

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

14.5% * Centre Party 3.8% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

3.2% *

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

2.4%

References

Districts of Helsinki {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub