Ongoing projects
INNATURE – Enhancing biodiversity & social inclusion by transforming Europe’s Living environments
The European Union Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme funded project aims to re-imagine and accelerate new living futures and ‘next practices’ across Europe by co-creating five diverse NBS demonstration cases across Europe (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Romania, UK) that are inclusive, beautiful and sustainable, the three key pillars of the New European Bauhaus (NEB).
Contested Waterfront Transformations
The Research Council of Finland funded project (2024-2028) formed by researchers from Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, and Tampere University aims to gain an understanding on how social inclusion ideals and traditions of waterfront developments have been contested and transformed in the age of the financialized urban growth machine. What kinds of variations have appeared and why? This project views social inclusion as social and political participation and access to services, housing, and public spaces.
Funded by the Finnish Research Council of Finland 2024-28. Consortium with the Finnish Environment Institute, TUNI PI Pekka Jokinen.
Urban wastewater treatment makes up a critical infrastructure. Safe sanitation and pollution prevention are necessary for well-functioning cities and societies. However, even in the Global North, these functions are only partially delivered. If building of a circular society is the goal, wastewater infrastructures must be transformed supportive of sustainable resource recovery. This calls for renewal of the technologies and business models adopted by wastewater companies and resource recovery industries. Cities and the state are to enable and incentivise these changes. The FRACTURES project asks how ageing of wastewater infrastructures come to demand critical attention in Finland; and how cities and companies respond to the development pressures. Focusing on experimentation, policymaking and infrastructure planning, the project analyses politics and policymaking at different governance levels. Based on the lessons learned and transition pathways co-created with experts and stakeholders, recommendations will be provided regarding the steps through which urban metabolisms can make to count for the making of circular cities and societies.
Visions of the City: Politics of visualisation framing urban development and planning
Today, images, videos, and visions of urban futures seem to frame urban development. However, these visualisations are not neutral but constantly used to sway public opinion about development projects even before the planning process starts. Yet, little is known about the ways these visualisations are produced, the stylistic rules they follow and how they are used to frame political decisions. The Research Council of Finland funded (2022-2026) project seeks to fill this research gap and bridge the disciplines of urban planning and visual studies. We investigate, how images are used to advance particular visions of the city. We look at how visualisations are produced, materialised, and consumed in the context of planning and political decision making
This artistic research project funded by Finnish Cultural Foundation develops ways to understand embodied knowledge, inspired by the practices of contemporary dancers. Weekly public exercises in the district of Hiedanranta, Tampere, which is undergoing major transformation, involve varied local groups, with the aim of generating new information for urban planning. (1.6.2025-31.5.2026)
Nordic Superblocks as Decarbonization Catalysts
The initiative, sponsored by Business Finland through NextGenerationEU funding and launched by Skanska, KONE, Tietoevry, Granlund, JIS-Automation (Integrio), Synocus, and Tampere University, accelerates the transition towards zero-emission buildings and carbon-neutral living through new collaboration models inside and between blocks of buildings.
Past projects
Circular Economy Catalysts (CICAT2025) (2019-2023)
Superkorttelien älykkäät sosiaaliset teknologiat yhteisöllistä vuorovaikutusta ja yhteistilojen kestävää käyttöä mahdollistamassa/ Intelligent social technologies enhancing community interaction and sustainable use of shared living spaces in superblocks (SocialBlock), Tampere University INSO Profi-project (1.4.2020-31.12.2021)
Pohjoismainen superkortteli tutkimus -ja kehityshanke, Tampereen kaupunki (1.8.2019-15.6.2020)
Politics, Practices and the Transformative Potential of Sustainable Diets (2016-2020)
Kompensaatiopeli – Offsetting game (2018-2020)
Rotat kuntalaisina (2020-2023)
Miksi Turkuun? (2018-2019)
Strategic Spatial Planning with Momentum Gaining Scenario Storytelling: Legitimacy Contested? (SCENSLECO) (2015-2019)
Dwellers in Agile Cities (DAC) (2016-2019)
Affective Landscapes of Running (2016-2019)