Laakso () is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Its borders are defined by the streets of

Mannerheimintie Mannerheimintie () (previously known as ''Henrikinkatu'', ''Läntinen ja Itäinen Henrikinkatu'', ''Läntinen ja Itäinen Heikinkatu'', ''Turuntie'', ''Läntinen viertotie'', ''Heikinkatu''), colloquially known as Mansku, named after the Finni ...

and Nordenskiöldinkatu and the Helsinki Central Park. The neighbourhood is bordered by Töölö in the south, Meilahti in the southwest, Ruskeasuo in the north and Länsi-Pasila in the east. The neighbourhood has an area of 0.74 km², a population of 1781 and 1583 jobs (December 31, 2003). Laakso is neighbourhood #18 in the official neighbourhood numbering of Helsinki, and belongs to the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Reijola. The population in Laakso is mainly concentrated in multiple-floor

apartment building An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) ...

s on Mannerheimintie. The neighbourhood also includes a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

, a riding field, a traffic playground, and a large part of the southern Central Park. For the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

, the neighborhood hosted the

Eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

equestrian riding competitions.

References

1952 Summer Olympics official report.
p. 58.
Helsinki by districts (2005), district Reijola

Keskuspuisto blog
a blog about the history of the neighbourhood
Laakso from a satellite view.
Google Maps. Venues of the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrian venues Neighbourhoods of Helsinki {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub