fbpx
European Regional Development Fund
European Regional Development Fund

URBAN LAB IN PORI: DESIGNING

On the 23rd to the 24th of October, the third Urban Lab was carried out in Pori, Finland.

We organised the event in order to bring together urbanists, city planners, artists, researchers and academics, students, community organisers, politicians and activists. The main purpose of this specific event was to explore key aspects of the designing part of cultural planning.

More than 50 participants form different countries in the Baltic Sea Region attended the two-day international Urban Lab. The participants were encouraged to come up with new ideas for process designs to develop more cooperative and experimental cities.

PORIS

As part of the Demonstrator Project, the event PORIS took place in the city centre of Pori.

From the 28th of September to the 26th of October, PORIS served as a collaborative space where citizens who walked by were asked to share their wishes for the city centre of Pori. More than 2000 people came by and gave their opinion about the function of the city centre.

Transforming cities into cooperative and experimental neighbourhoods

We used the collected data from the PORIS event as motivation in the the Urban Lab.

During co-creation sessions, the participants worked with specific topics which were related to the overall topic:
Pori as an experimental city. Here we asked participants to try and come up with new and innovative design processes to better the city.

“I was surprised to notice how much the ideas developed in the co-creation workshops. The working groups were mixed with locals and international people within the project. It was really beneficial for our Demonstrator Project in Pori, and I think also for the international partners. They got the idea of the design process and now they have the tools how to develop them further”, Kati Fager, project coordinator.

 

Collaborations between Demonstrator Projects

On the second day of the Urban Lab, the participants discussed limitations and solutions to their ongoing design process. The different groups presented their specific Demonstrator Project to the other participants. In addition, local experts within the field of urban planning helped reasserting certain aspects of their designs.

“We wanted to overdo the corporations and co-creation sessions within this Urban Lab – it is time that we just start to work together”, Harri Sippola, producer.

 

Results

“The Lab has been a huge success. We have collected a lot of inputs and materials from both local and as well international partners, which we now have to work on. I am expecting that this material will be summarised into a toolbox, which the city of Pori later on will benefit from. And the toolkit will be available for all”. Harri Sippola, producer.

 

“At this moment, we are handling all the material collected in PORIS and during the Urban Lab and at the same time deciding what the next steps are. For Pori, specifically, we are working together with the local city development department and are now involved in the official process of the future planning of the city centre. Around Baltic Sea Region, we are focusing on spreading the knowledge and methods of Cultural Planning.” Kati Fager, project coordinator.