Development of population From 1847 to 1946 The first planned constructed areas in Forssa were Wahreninkatu and the buildings at Viksberg. Kalliomäki with its lines was born starting from the 1870s after Wahren had ordered a zoning plan in the area. In addition to Kalliomäki, the oldest inhabited areas in Forssa include Vanha Kuhala to the south of the river Loimijoki, Uusikylä between Rautatienkatu and Räynynoja and Yliskylä, also known as
Ameriikka, slightly to the west of Uusikylä. According to Helga Keränen's 1930 research, the market town of Forssa was divided into ten physiognomical areas, including the Kalliomäki area, the greater population area of Hämeentie, the Puisto area, the Forssa industrial area, the Viksberg industrial area, the Forssa business centre, the smaller population area of Keski-Forssa, "Amerikka" and the new population area of Yliskylä. This division only concerned the tightly built areas in Forssa, not the rural areas around them. Until 1946, the area of tightly-built wooden houses was fairly small compared to the conurbated area of today. A large part of the currently populated areas were still fields. As well as the aforementioned areas, there was inhabitation in Kekkala, a little in Pispanmäki and some buildings on the lands of the Viksberg manor. The construction of Rantalanmäki had already started at this point.
From the 1950s to the 1980s New apartment buildings were built at the Kartanonkatu and Forssa market square area, as well as Viksberg, in the 1960s. which is 1.8 percent of the total surface area. In the central conurbation area, the only bodies of water are part of lake
Kaukjärvi in the east, the river
Loimijoki flowing through the city, the nearly filled-up lake
Loimalammi flowing to the river, lake
Linikkalanlammi in Linikkala and lake
Mäkilammi in Vieremä. The largest lake in the region is lake
Pyhäjärvi in neighbouring Tammela. The river
Jänhijoki, a side river of Loimijoki, flows through the central parts of the area of dispersed settlement in Forssa. Bodies of water at the river's starting point include the lakes
Kiimalammi and
Luomalammi, located in the north near the border of Tammela, belonging to the chain of small forest lakes in
Mustiala in Tammela. The bird lake of
Koijärvi is located in the northern part of the area of dispersed settlement. The river
Koijoki (also known as Kojonjoki or Koenjoki), the largest side river of Loimijoki, starts at the lake, flowing past Matku to the west along the border to Jokioinen and Humppila. Another starting lake of this river is
Valijärvi near the border to Tammela. Bodies of water near Pyhäjärvi in Tammela include lake
Lunkinjärvi near the border to Tammela. Near the border to Urjala, bodies of water partly located in Forssa at the starting point of the river
Tarpianjoki flowing through Urjala included the lakes of
Kokonjärvi,
Särkijärvi and
Matkunjärvi.
Parks There are 110
parks in Forssa, with a combined area of 303 hectares. Some of the most notable parks include: • Ankkalammi park: Located to the south of the market square. The park was renewed during the renovation of the market square. • Yhtiönpuisto park: A park located near the old spinning mill, sometimes also referred to as the Wahren park. • Central park: The next natural park along the river Loimijoki after the Yhtiönpuisto park, also has a football field. • Talsoila park: A partly built, partly natural park in Talsoila, made as a public park open to everyone in contrast to the previously closed Yhtiönpuisto park. • Rantapuisto park: A park located opposite the Central park on the river shore in Rantalanmäki. • Harjupuisto park: A forest park with pine trees, on the border between Kaikula and Vieremä. • Mäkilammi park: A forest park with pine trees, bordering Mäkilammi in Vieremä. • Lamminranta park: A park around Lamminranta. • Paavola park: A partly built, partly forest park in the district of Paavola. • Siurila park: A park in the centre of the Viksberg residential area, with two ponds, an artificial brook and a fountain. • Salmistonmäki and Loimalammi: A natural area located at the eastern park of Haudankorva right next to the border to Tammela. Many of the parks are natural greenspaces and not actively tended "parade parks".
National urban park The city of Forssa has been built on area alternating between forest and field landscapes. Three areas in the city have received the position of a national urban park. • The Haudankorva and Kuusto field areas as
agrarian landscape areas • The old industrial buildings and some old districts (such as Kalliomäki, Kuhala and Rantalanmäki) as
industrial heritage areas • Hunnari in Vieremä, the area next to the cemetery in Kaikula and the area around the pond in Lamminranta as
esker areas.
Climate Forssa has a
humid continental climate (
Dfb)
Transport on the intersection of highways
2 and
10 Transport connections Roads passing through the centre of Forssa include: •
Finnish national road 2 from Helsinki via Forssa to
Pori •
Finnish national road 10 from Turku via Forssa to
Hämeenlinna •
Finnish regional road 282 from
Somero to Forssa •
Finnish regional road 284 from
Urjala via the Koijärvi church to Forssa •
Finnish connecting road 2804 from the centre of Jokioinen to Forssa (named
Jokioistentie in Forssa) •
Finnish connecting road 2821 from the centre of Tammela to Forssa (named
Tammelantie in Forssa, also known as
Tammelansuora) The poor condition of national road 2 has been seen as a factor slowing down the development of Forssa. The
highways starting from Helsinki have been changed to
controlled-access highways, but the national road 2, with a smaller amount of traffic, is still a conventional two-laned highway. The national road 2 was improved in the vicinity of Forssa from 2006 to 2009 by building the new Paavola bridge and a bypass lane in Jokioinen, which also serves as a reserve landing strip for the Finnish Air Force. The
Turku–Toijala railway passes through
Matku, but the trains no longer stop there, and the old station building in Matku has been dismantled. The railway structures in the centre of Forssa were dismantled in the 1970s and the city thus no longer has railway connections of its own. The nearest passenger traffic station is in
Humppila. There have been suggestions for building a railway to the city. These suggestions have included a railway from Helsinki via Forssa and Humppila to Pori. This project could be started in the middle 2020s at the earliest. Another suggestion is the construction of a railway from
Riihimäki via Forssa to
Loimaa. The
Forssa Airfield is located in the district of
Haudankorva and is used for hobby aviation. The nearest
airports for commercial passenger aviation are located in
Helsinki,
Tampere and
Turku.
Internal transport The transport in the centre of Forssa has been seen as problematic. For example the Kauppakatu street was forbidden for heavy-duty car transport in early 2008. There have also been long-time plans for a so-called "Eastern beltway", which would allow traffic to bypass the city centre of Forssa from national road 2 to national road 10 and possibly onwards to Tampereentie. As a part of this plan, the street Loimalammintie was built as new southern entryway to the city and the connection from Helsingintie, the previous entryway, to national road 2 was removed. There have been plans for an extension of the Yhtiönkatu street from the current end of Yhtiönkatu to the start of Tampereentie, along line I past the church, for decades. The planned street was marked into the zoning plan in 1969, and there is a new street connection between Yhtiönkatu and Tampereentie in the new regional plan. The zoning plan is seen as outdated, and there have been frequent discussions about renewing it. There has been support both for various solutions about constructing a road connection and for leaving the street unbuilt. The project has been very controversial, and sometimes there has been much discussion about it in the readers' column in the
Forssan Lehti newspaper. The
administrative law court of Hämeenlinna rejected the plan for the area including the street and Forssa complained about this decision, but the
Supreme Administrative Court of Finland rejected this complaint. There have also been plans for a renovation of the Kartanonkatu street for a long time. Renovation of the street started in July 2012 and was completed in late 2012. Failures in speed bump construction had to be repaired for several times. ==Districts==