The Built Environment Terminology Work — A Major Endeavour Now Finished

This text is an abbreviated and edited translation of an original article written by Sirpa Suhonen and Seija Suonuuti. The original article was published in Terminfo 2/2023 in December 2023.

The Ministry of the Environment has in recent years invested considerably in the compilation of glossaries and specification of data models to support uniform practices and semantic interoperability in the domain of the built environment. As part of this ongoing endeavour, the Finnish Terminology Centre was tasked with creating a extensive set of several glossaries in collaboration with built environment domain experts. The catalyst for the terminology work was the comprehensive reform of the Land Use and Building Act (LUBA).

The terminology work involved updating and expanding the previously completed Rakennetun ympäristön pääsanasto, Terminology of Built Environment. The work focused specifically on preparing terminology that supports the LUBA reform, as well as thematic glossaries on accessibility, housing, acoustics and noise abatement. The work commenced in phases. A separate terminology working group was founded for each thematic glossary, and for the terminology of the LUBA reform, eight separate working groups were founded.

The working groups consisted of about 70 built environment domain experts, while four terminologists from the Finnish Terminology Centre led the terminology work. The contribution of domain experts is naturally required in all projects, but in this project domain experts were specifically needed for keeping up to date on the progress of the regulatory reform, so that the working groups could proactively consider the content of regulations that would come into force later. After the bill for land-use planning and building that was meant to replace the LUBA failed to pass and legislative work shifted to preparing the separate Land-Use Act and Building Act, the prepared terminology had to be reviewed for impact assessment, and some of the concepts already prepared had to be removed or redefined.

Glossary of Acoustics and Noise Abatement

The Glossary of Acoustics and Noise Abatement focuses on acoustics and noise abatement from the viewpoint of the built environment. The glossary contains 75 core domain concepts. The working group for this glossary included representatives from the Ministry of the Environment, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, the Uusimaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, and the Department of Safety and Health of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The working group considered – among other things – what noise is. Noise is by definition sound, but it is not necessarily loud sound. Even quiet sound can be noise in case it is considered disturbing or unwanted. For example, even quiet music coming from a neighbouring apartment at night can be deemed noise if it disturbs one's sleep.

noise
definition
harmful, disturbing, unwanted or unnecessary sound

note
Noise affects adversely the health and well-being of an individual, the quality of living, land use and construction as well as the quality and appreciation of the living environment.
Noise might prevent or exacerbate the hearing of necessary sounds, cause hearing damage, increase stress or danger of accident, and disturb work, rest and recreation. Noise can also affect adversely the well-being and behaviour of many animals.

Glossary of Housing

The Glossary of Housing focuses on the foundational concepts of housing as well as the concepts of housing support. The glossary consists of 44 concepts, and builds on the terminology work for housing support done in 2019. In addition to the Ministry of the Environment, the working group included representatives from the Finnish National Land Survey. The Glossary of Housing contains concepts relevant to both individuals and other actors in the domain, for example related to the management of residential property.

residential and commercial property information system
definition
entity of information, services and functionalities intended for managing the ownership, pledges and restrictions of owner apartments as well as other information related to owner apartments

Accessibility Glossary

The Accessibility Glossary focuses on accessibility in the context of legislation for the built environment, the accessibility degree, and the SFS-EN 17210 standard (Accessibility and usability of the built environment. Functional requirements). The Accessibility Glossary working group included domain experts from the Ministry of the Environment, the City of Helsinki, Avaava, and the Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities. As part of the work, external experts were also consulted, for example, on elevator concepts.

The glossary contains 44 concepts related to accessibility in general, various signs and aids, and structural solutions. For example, accessibility, accessibility survey, and access statement have been defined.

accessibility survey; accessibility audit
definition
survey of the current accessibility of the built environment based on commonly agreed criteria and performed by a trained accessibility surveyor

note
An accessibility survey is performed in order to assess the level of accessibility, such as the accessibility of movement, vision, hearing and understanding.
A surveying method called ESKEH for performing accessibility surveys has been developed in a national collaborative project and maintained by the Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities.
Cf. access statement.

Terminology Work on the Comprehensive Reform of the Land Use and Building Act

For this terminology work, separate working groups were founded to address the following topics: land-use planning and land-use planning information model, energy, real estate, cultural environment, transportation and land-use areas, licensing and supervision, technical requirements for construction, and constructions and building spaces. Some domain experts participated in multiple working groups. Four terminologists led in the work, each heading many working groups.

In addition to the Ministry of the Environment, the working groups included representatives from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, the City of Helsinki, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the National Land Survey of Finland, the Finnish Heritage Agency, Rakli, Ramboll, the Finnish Environment Institute, the University of Oulu, Senate Properties, Vastuu Group, the Southwest Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, and the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. In the course of the project the working groups met over a hundred times and workshops were held nearly every week. The endeavour was thus quite extensive and labour-intensive.

Glossary of Cultural Environment

As part of the terminology work on the comprehensive reform of the LUBA, the Glossary of Cultural Environment was also compiled. It includes 61 concepts related to the cultural environment, cultural heritage, built heritage, archaeological cultural heritage, and landscape. The glossary also includes concepts defined in the Finnish Heritage Agency's archaeological terminology work in spring 2023. The working group spent time considering, among other things, how the key concepts of cultural heritage, cultural environment, and landscape differ from one another.

Commenting of Glossaries and Publishing Glossaries on the Terminologies Tool

A commenting period was organized for all the glossary sections of the Ministry of the Environment. The commenting process was facilitated through the Otakantaa.fi service, allowing anyone to provide comments on the glossary resources under preparation. The Ministry also informed stakeholders of the opportunity to comment. The received comments were utilized in reviewing and finalizing the glossaries.

The thematic glossaries were completed in 2022. The Glossary of Acoustics and Noise Abatement and the Accessibility Glossary were published as separate glossaries on the Terminologies Tool on the Interoperability Platform. The Glossary of Housing was integrated into the Terminology of Built Environment. Other sections were completed in October 2023: the Glossary of Cultural Environment as a separate glossary, and the remaining terminology was merged into the Terminology of Built Environment. A total of 510 concepts were added or updated in the Ministry’s project. All glossaries include terms, definitions and notes in Finnish, and term equivalents in Swedish, and English. The concept diagrams are provided in Finnish.

The Finnish Terminology Center also collaborated with the Ministry of the Environment to create guidelines for terminology work intended to improve semantic interoperability.