The structural economical changes in Heinola generated a need to look at the city’s future development, both from residents and businesses point of view, in 2010 and 2011. Three views were formed: one addressed Vierumäki’s housing strategy, the second the development of the city center in which a joint theme was wood construction. The third viewpoint addressed the strategic development of the city’s overall structure.

As a continuation for the third viewpoint, a master plan was made in the years 2012-13. The city council approved the plan in spring 2014. The master plan is Heinola’s first. A joint land use draft was drawn up for the unification of the city and the countryside in 1997. The master plan work utilized the results of interactive processes from the three viewpoints examined in 2010-11. The results included the definitions of activity-specific regional land use reservations and regional development recommendations.

Key themes in the master plan are land use allocations, transport solutions, function analysis and environmental protection, as well as defragmenting the urban structure, and preserving and utilizing national urban parks and the wooden city heritage. The sub-consultants were WSP (traffic) and Tuomas Santasalo Ky (trade).