Study title

The data are part of the EkoSuKaT research project studying the sustainability of community structures and physical environment in growing and declining regions of Northern Finland. The main aim was to study the needs of communities in order to ensure sustainable residential area development. Six growing and declining residential areas in the outskirts of Oulu and in the Kainuu region were chosen for the study. The areas chosen are typical of their region. This dataset covered the small population centre Huuhkajanvaara, located in the municipality of Kajaani. A number of questions gathered information on the respondent's current dwelling and its amenities, housing tenure, length of residence in the dwelling and in Huuhkajanvaara. Access to and use of a car were charted. Further questions covered opinions on various aspects of the neighbourhood, its streets, buildings and open spaces, neighbourhood facilities and services, community safety, noise levels, neighbours, the town planning, child day care, school, and co-operation between parents, day care centres and schools, environmental issues etc. The respondents were asked about their social networks within and outside Kajaani. Open-ended questions charted what kind of places they regarded as their home and what kind of places they would never regard as home. The respondents' leisure time activities were studied by asking how many times they had been to/visited a library, a theatre, a restaurant, a sports facility, or a religious event during the past year, or had gone hunting or picking berries etc. Finally, the survey investigated attitudes to immigrants. Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, basic education, occupational status and economic activity, place of study or work, and household composition.