The City Living in Jätkäsaari event organised by Housing Fair Finland offered city dwellers an introduction to the future of urban living
The Housing Fair Finland Co-op’s new urban event highlighted fresh approaches to future city living and showcased the everyday life of Jätkäsaari residents. The City Living event, that was held for the first time between 1 and 9 September 2018, was organised in cooperation with the City of Helsinki. The event concept can be implemented in all types of emerging urban environments in Finland and overseas. Access to the City Living 2018 was free.
”With our new City Living concept, we wanted to invite people to explore the new, urban neighbourhood of Jätkäsaari. For nine days, the public had the opportunity to see and experience urban living through a completely new residential area that is under construction. We also discussed the future of housing: how urbanisation and other trends such as new global services will change our lives. The future of housing was considered from a number of perspectives during the event, thanks to our particularly diverse partner network,” says Harri Tuomaala, Managing Director of the Housing Fair Finland Co-op.
”Helsinki is growing at the same pace as the popularity of urban living. Responding to the challenges of sustainable urban development is one of our most important tasks when building Helsinki. Our goal is to build a Helsinki where daily life is smooth and where climate smartness is integrated with the building of functional communities in the neighbourhoods,” says Anni Sinnemäki, Deputy Mayor for Urban Environment.
The City Living in Jätkäsaari event offered participants an opportunity to explore elements that characterise urban living such as communal spaces, courtyards and services in Jätkäsaari.
”In addition to these, discussions and seminars brought various partners together. Urban researchers, architects, builders, service providers and a large number of specialists in various fields discussed the future of housing from the viewpoint of the development of digital services, the ageing population, communality and sustainable urban development and architecture,” explains Kimmo Rönkä, Future Living Specialist at Housing Fair Finland, who was in charge of the programme content.
Nine days full of different events
The City Living in Jätkäsaari event offered a versatile programme for all visitors, from factual content to more entertaining activities. It was also easy to navigate the different event sites using the event app.
”People were able to visit some very interesting sites in Jätkäsaari during the event, taking their time to see what they like and making an adventure of it. There were also guided tours such as a resident showing visitors around in a residential building, a guided Instagram walking tour with an architect and a representative from the Finnish Museum of Photography and Parkour Helsinki’s parkour course across Jätkäsaari,” says Producer Mikko Leisti.
During the two event weekends there were events for families on different sites in Jätkäsaari, including the parkour course that is said to be the best in Helsinki.
Seminar talks discussed living as a service in the future and sustainable urban development.
On the weekdays of 3 to 7 September, the diverse aspects of urban living was explored in discussions led by researchers and specialists in seminars with various themes, in the ”Urban Research takes to the Streets” programme and in the less formal Jätkä Talks! events.
The seminars and workshops focused on one topical theme, and they were held every weekday from 12:00 to 16:00 at the Clarion Hotel. On Monday, city and urban living was considered as a service boosted by digitalisation. On Tuesday, the Think Tank – the City Living in the Future seminar featured state-supported housing projects and research findings on housing trends and new concepts. On Wednesday, the topics included communal housing and construction. Thursday was the day of sustainable urban development, led by the Ministry of the Environment, and the seminar was opened by Kimmo Tiilikainen, Minister of Housing, Energy and the Environment. The week ended on Friday with the opening seminar for the architecture and innovation competition Housing Reform Helsinki – Housing 2020; the seminar featured speeches about housing trends in Europe and new types of wooden housing.
Urban research for everyone
Every afternoon between 14:00 and 16:00, the Urban Research takes to the Streets programme – held at Jätkäsaari Pavilion – introduced the audience to current research on cities, neighbourhoods and all of us. Researchers described their most recent research results in short popularised presentations. The themes included everyday living conditions and dreams of the ageing population, neighbours working together and stories, places and histories. The theme-based days ended with Jätkä Talks! discussions between 17:00 and 18:00; these were less formal, moderated talks about various housing-related themes.
The City Living event was perfect for anyone interested in urban housing and living as well as for housing experts. The main venue of the event in 2018 was Hyväntoivonpuisto (’the park of good will’) and Jätkäsaari Pavilion, which is located in the park. Expert panels built around topical themes were held every weekday at the Clarion Hotel.
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For more information, please contact:
Interview requests and media contacts:
Pia Mouazan, Pink Eminence, +358 44 7991180, [email protected]
Images for the media:
The Housing Fair Finland Co-op media resources: https://bit.ly/2Ph9PZ7
(Photographs for the Housing Fair Finland Co-op by photographer Iiro Rautiainen)
The City of Helsinki media resources: https://helsinki.emmi.fi
Website and social media:
https://vanha.asuntomessut.fi/tulevat-messut/kaupunkielamaa/
Facebook: @asuntomessut
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The City Living 2018 event was organized in cooperation with:
