Future in Wood? Timber Construction in Boosting Local Development

Abstract

Large scale timber construction has been on the upswing for some time in many European countries. Besides the building cluster, also regions and cities have taken advantage of the ongoing timber boom in their economic and spatial development. In this article the focus is on the South Ostrobothnia region and the city of Seinäjoki in Western Finland, where the potential of the business is quite weakly exploited regardless of favourable preconditions. By studying the key actors of the innovation network we are able to better understand the premises of the local development platform that should aim at boosting timber construction.