Pop-up’s in and around the Helsinki city center in August-September

What is attractive about Helsinki’s city centre? What people like to do there? How the city centre should be developed so that it remains attractive and stands out from other centres in the Helsinki metropolitan area?

I am currently involved in the Ydinkeskustan elinvoimateot project*. In the project, we seek answers to the questions above by creating an up-to-date analysis of the existing situation by looking at studies, research and statistics. In addition, we gather views and ideas from a wide range of users and visitors of the city centre. As a result, our multidisciplinary team will use the data and findings to produce recommendations for concrete actions and steps to be carried out.

We began the work during this summer looking into the existing data and reports. Now in August we launched the interactive part of the project. Interaction involves three different methods: Pop-up -questionnaires in and around downtown, a map-based questionnaire, and a series of workshops.   

We held our first Pop-up with Maija Urponen of Kaupunkitutkimus TA in the lobby of the Helsinki City Museum during the Night of the Arts. Last Tuesday we were at the Central Library Oodi.

At the Pop-ups, we ask people what they appreciate in the Helsinki City centre and what brings them downtown Helsinki. On the other hand, we are interested in how the city centre should be developed in the future.

At the Pop-ups, passers-by can write their thoughts and ideas on post-it notes. Good ideas can be supported by adding a sticker on the note. On another board we have named twelve possible activities or reasons to come to the centre. This is the easiest way to take part in the Pop up -questionnaire – we just ask to place a sticker on the things you like or definitely do not want in the centre.

The next opportunities to share your ideas at a Pop-up will be on Tuesday September 3^rd at the University of Helsinki Porthania lobby from 12-15, and on Thursday September 5^th at Tripla Mall.

The results and findings of this project will be published early next year.

Stay tuned!

*The project is commissioned by the The City of Helsinki’s Urban Environment Division and implemented by Kaupunkitutkimus TA, Lundén Architecture Company, Realidea and Flou. In addition to Maija ja me, Riitta Nieminen of Lundén Architecture Company is working with the interaction parts of the project.