In English

Saara Ilvessalo: Experience and passion to improve Turku

• Master of Laws
• University teacher in law
• Executive manager and Baltic Sea scholar
• Turku City Council member, chair for the Green group
• Turku Urban Environment Committee chair
• Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities member

I am a solution-oriented lawyer and a realistic optimist. I believe in fact-based decision-making that builds on the best available information and takes advantage of both passion and experience. I have worked for a sustainable society for more than ten years from local to international level. 

My hobbies include playing the drums, singing, exercising at the gym, reading and reading Nordic detective stories as well as Guiding and Scouting. I am involved in politics because I want to do my part in building a better world.

Municipal elections 13.6.2021
Advance voting 26.5.-8.6.2021
Information about the elections in English

My strategy for a Turku where problems of tomorrow are solved today

A Turku where sustainable moving and transport is effortless

• More pedestrian areas and cycling lanes, quality bicycle parking
• Efficiency to bus transport, tramline construction and new tramline connections underway
• Let’s design and build a sustainable, comfortable, unobstructed Turku that respects history

Let’s take the Baltic Sea, local nature and the climate seriously – for the sake of our grandchildren

• Let’s be pioneers in the protection of the Baltic Sea
• Let’s cherish the nature in our city, in greenspaces and green-roofs
• Let’s develop the most ambitious climate goal into concrete decisions

The right for everyone to get professional help in time

• Good quality mental health services with easy access
• Let’s get rid of poverty with employment, apartment politics and sufficient services
• Let’s invest in preventative services – for young people, families with children and seniors

Turku as the forerunner of civilisation and culture

• Culture creating welfare for all: let’s make both grass roots culture and high culture flourish
• Let’s support culture and event businesses over this exceptional time
• Academic cooperation creates a thriving city and its makers