The Council decides – the resident gets to enjoy the results
Tampere’s local government had its 150th anniversary at the beginning of the year. It was celebrated at the Council meeting on 17 February 2025.
The Council’s work has mostly been safe, with only a few interruptions in activities over 150 years. Genuine unrest has been extremely rare. When the municipality’s freelance workers took the bourgeois Council as hostages, that was an exceptional day.
Surely, Nottbeck is not calling all the shots?
The Merciful Decree of the Imperial Majesty on Municipal Government in Cities entered into force at the beginning of 1875. Local decision-making took the form of either a court session or a meeting between elected city councillors. In cities with over 2,000 inhabitants, municipal decision-making power belonged to city councillors.
Tampere did not waste any time: the first minutes of the City Council are dated 2 January 1875. They are written in intricate handwriting on paper that has yellowed by now. In Swedish, of course.
For their first meeting, the first councillors met in the Town Hall. There were 20 of them present, and one person was unable to attend the meeting.
It was a time for action. As director-author Juha Hurme stated in his glowing anniversary speech, 150 years ago, Finland was developing rapidly in many different sectors. The educational system was expanding, railways were built, transport connections improved and investments were made in industry.
– Finland was making great strides towards a modern civil society as the structures of a static society based strictly on the Estates of the realm were broken down, Hurme said.
Professor emeritus and historian Pertti Haapala stated in his anniversary presentation that modern politics originated specifically in municipalities. In the 1870s, a trend began that ultimately resulted in the creation of the so-called Nordic welfare and constitutional state, which includes democratic societal decision-making.
– Municipal government continues to be at the heart of Finnish democracy: it is a pillar of stability and trust in our society. If it breaks, a lot of things are going wrong, Haapala stressed.
At first, wives and other family members, maids and farmhands, as well as the poor, were excluded from voting. A female widow who had inherited property was allowed to vote. The number of votes held by an individual was determined by income and the amount of taxes paid.
– It was considered fair at the time: the one who pays also makes the decisions. Municipalities were allowed to set a cap for the number of votes. Tampere made use of this option to prevent Wilhelm von Nottbeck, the owner of Finlayson, from making all the decisions by himself. He did not run the Council – he simply let them know what suited the company and what did not, Haapala said.
Councillors taken hostage
The Council’s activities have only been interrupted on a few occasions. In December 1917, a delegation of freelance workers requesting wage increases joined a Council meeting and, when their demands were not met, took the councillors hostage.
The hostage situation lasted until the next morning. The workers’ guard freed the Council but sent them an invoice for the service.
When the freelance workers’ wage increases were debated four days later, the Council meeting ended in disarray and violence.
The current Council chair, Ilmari Nurminen, said in his speech that there have been divisive and troubled periods in the Tampere City Council's history.
– For example, the Finnish Civil War was a huge tragedy that affected the entire nation. The most important lesson of the war is that we must do everything in our power to prevent something like it from ever happening again.
In spring 1918, the Council did not meet for two and a half months. In its first meeting after the Civil War, the Council had to discuss, for example, the collection of bodies from the streets, burying the fallen and repairing the damage that city offices had sustained in the war.
– A functional local democracy has been a key factor in social sustainability in times of crisis. It was also the principle behind the famous Brothers-in-Arms Axis after the Winter War and the Continuation War, Haapala said.
Decisions reflected in everyday improvements
Over the course of 150 years, many decisions affecting the everyday lives of residents have been made in Tampere. The Council has played a key role in developing the city and promoting the well-being of its residents.
One of the first major decisions of the Council was to extend the city east of the rapids. The Kyttälä area was bought from Hatanpää Manor and merged with the city in 1877.
In autumn 1885, the Council decided to build a poorhouse in Koukkuniemi. The project was funded with money bequeathed by Gustaf Fredrik Ahlgrén in his will, and it was one of the first major actions taken by the city to improve care for the poor.
Finland’s first adult education centre was established in Tampere in spring 1898. A decision was made to establish a boys’ vocational school in 1909 and a girls’ vocational school in 1925. Vocational schools for boys and girls were the predecessors of today's Tredu.
Finland’s first ice rink was opened in January 1965, and the first match – Tampere against the rest of Finland – ended 4-4. The planning of the Hervanta district began in the same year.
The mayor model and the client-producer model were introduced in 2007. Newer significant decisions include the construction of a coastal tunnel, a tramway and the Nokia Arena.
Residents involved in key moments
Decisions are prepared extensively before they are adopted in the Council Chambre. Tampere has promoted resident inclusion by, for example, through participatory budgeting. Inclusion is a systematic part of the activities in different sections of the city organisation.
– Bringing people together is one part of strengthening inclusion. When residents feel at home in the city, they will want to look after it. To embrace it, councillor and Minister of Local and Regional Government Anna-Kaisa Ikonen said in her speech, bringing the greetings of the Government to the Council's anniversary meeting.
Ilmari Nurminen emphasised that, in addition to taking stock of the past, the celebration is a time to look toward the future together.
– Tampere is known for its bold work, strong sense of community and cultural heritage. The work of the Council has been central to maintaining and strengthening these aspects, Nurminen said.
This is where decisions have been made and where the Council has met
- In the early years, the meeting venue changed frequently’. Between 1875 and 1889, the City Council met at the old Town Hall, the Reaalikoulu building and in the City’s reading room in Kauppaneuvos (Finnish honorary title) Hammaren's home on Kuninkaankatu.
The Council moved to the current Town Hall when the building was completed in 1889. The first meeting at the new Town Hall was held on 18 December 1889.
'In autumn 1925, Council meetings were moved to the new library, which was known for a long time as the Old Library and is now known as Laikku’. In 1962, the Council returned to the Town Hall.
'The Council met in the Central Office Building’s (Keskusvirastotalo) Council Chamber from September 1975 to March 2023’. Since then, the Council has met in Tampere Hall due to the renovation of the office building. During the coronavirus pandemic, some of the councillors participated in the meetings remotely. The Council will return to the new Town Hall in 2026.
