Aalto University’s Otaniemi campus is a unique landscape where nature, culture, and architecture merge seamlessly. Shaped by a long history, the Otaniemi landscape has developed into a layered mosaic of wooded, semi-open, and open habitats interwoven with built environments.
Alvar Aalto’s vision of harmonizing the built environment with nature continues to guide the strategic direction of campus development. Climate change, habitat requirements, and landscape management goals must be carefully aligned, with a perspective that extends far into the future. The campus tree strategy aims to sustain a balanced and age-diverse tree population that preserves the area’s landscape values, offers recreation, and withstands the challenges of the decades ahead. Nature steers the development of habitats, and its conditions are safeguarded with care, following nature-positive principles.
While Alvar Aalto’s historic master plan continues to guide development in the background, Otaniemi also serves as an exceptional living laboratory for students and researchers. The campus provides opportunities to observe ecosystem functions, such as nutrient and water cycles, as well as the environmental impacts of different land-use solutions. Various species trials and meadow plantings support biodiversity and make the university’s environmental values visible.
A new perspective emerges in the way both student projects and collaborations with leading experts create a foundation built on openness and the sharing of knowledge. In this experimentation-driven approach, field observations are brought directly to a multidisciplinary team and integrated into the planning process.
For example, the micro-forest initiative at Ossi's pond has opened the door to new forms of experimentation. In 2024, dwarf birches (Betula humilis) from Mustila Arboretum were planted as small 20-centimeter seedlings along the pond’s edge. Rather than relying on irrigation, the strategy is to place species in sites and microclimates that naturally support their growth.
The dwarf birch originates from Central and Eastern Europe, with populations also found in Siberia and Mongolia. It was selected for the trial as an intriguing addition to the Scandinavian landscape. Thanks to its modest size, it is well suited for planting close to buildings. The aim of the micro-forest experiment is to create a case example of a rapidly developing, multi-species wooded habitat suitable for a coastal meadow environment.
Nature is in constant motion and transformation. Open habitats gradually give way to woodland, and observing the development of wooded and semi-open environments is both fascinating and, at best, an inspiring opportunity for learning, research, and multidisciplinary collaboration.
The management of campus landscapes aims at adaptive adjustment, bringing research-based knowledge into practice and into the everyday processes of outdoor maintenance. Landscape care on campus is evolving toward an adaptive method in which natural processes themselves set the direction for development. The goal is to move toward resource-wise stability rather than fragmented and intensive control over nature.
The long-term goals and multidisciplinary guidance carried out in the background provide a roadmap for the management of both wooded and open habitats. They create stability in adapting to climate change, anticipating tree health, and supporting the development of resilient plant communities and landscape types.
New strategies in landscape management aim to minimize the risks of invasive species and to reduce intensive interventions that demand continuous resources. These new practices have led to successes, effective models of collaboration, and stronger participation. The campus forests are therefore far more than just a scenic backdrop. They are caretakers of cultural heritage, safeguards of biodiversity, living learning environments, and examples of climate resilience.
The diversity of Otaniemi's forests provides a good habitat for different species. Decaying wood also plays an important role in the natural cycle. Decayed wood is found in almost all forests on campus.
Campus outdoor areas and meadows are managed strategically, taking the growth site carefully into consideration.
The trees in the Otaniemi manor area were significant to Alvar Aalto.
The campus has several meadow areas.
