INURA panel discussion: Future of Democracy (25 June 2025)

INURA panel discussion

Time: Wednesday 25 June 2025, at 19.30 – 21.00
Venue: Tampere University main building – D206 D11 auditorio (Kalevantie 4)
Free of charge, no pre-registration required

Welcome to the open INURA panel discussion in Tampere! International Network for Urban Research and Action INURA is a network of people involved in action and research in localities and cities who wish to share experiences and to participate in common research.

The INURA panel in Tampere turns toward the future of democracy, with reflections on urbanity, epistemic shifts, and the contested role of the state—both in historical and contemporary contexts.

The panelists work spans participatory urbanism, youth agency, democratic innovation, and the politics of knowledge. Each contributor engages with contemporary challenges through grounded, often interdisciplinary approaches – exploring how cities, institutions, and young people respond to climate crisis, migration, urban transformation, and political complexity. The suggested materials (see the links below) provide an entry point into their research and help contextualize the themes of the panel discussion.

Panelists

Erik Corijn

Eric Corijn is a cultural philosopher and social scientist, professor in Urban Studies at the Free University Brussels, founder of the Centre for Urban Research COSMOPOLIS, vice-chair of the Brussels Studies Institute, director of Brussels Academy. Eric Corijn’s work on urbanity provides a foundational critique of how the modern state has historically dominated the shaping of urban life, often marginalizing alternative forms of civic engagement and urban imagination. His perspective—especially from his earlier writings and echoed in his 2023 piece Université urbaine—frames the city not merely as a space of administration, but as a site of potential emancipation, complexity, and multiplicity.

Päivi Honkatukia

Päivi Honkatukia is a Finnish social scientist specializing in youth studies. Since 2012, she has served as a Professor of Youth Research at Tampere University. Her academic journey includes earning a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki in 1998 and prior roles at the National Research Institute of Legal Policy. Her research interests encompass youth, gender, social control, and societal participation.

Young People as Agents of Sustainable Society: Participatory research among youth – too little, too much, too romanticised? Reflections on co- research with young refugees

Rinna Kullaa

Rinna Kullaa is an Associate Professor of global history and international relations, with expertise in EU foreign policy, Russian diplomacy, and the postcolonial Mediterranean. Her work focuses on the transition from colonialism, great power politics, and the history of diplomacy. She has held positions as Academy of Finland Research Fellow (2015–2020) and led the NONHEGFP project (2019–2023). Kullaa has also served as Associate Professor at the University of Jyväskylä and co-edited volumes such as Kolonialismi Suomen rajaseuduilla (Colonialism in Finland’s Border Regions ) with Janne Lahti and Sami Lakomäki.

Colonialism in Finland’s Border Regions – link here

Aresniy Svynarenko

Dr. Arseniy Svynarenko is a Researcher at the Finnish Youth Research Society. He earned his PhD from Shevchenko University of Kyiv. The central themes of his research are youth identities and youth cultures. Dr. Svynarenko is currently working in the project The Democratic Epistemic Capacities in the Age of Algorithms or DECA, which explores how Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking youth in Finland engage with information in the context of digital media and linguistic diversity.

Ukrainians in Finland who fled the war: their registration in municipalities of residence and their future plans

More information: tampere2025@inura.org