Urbanising Society (URBAN)

Urbanisation has advanced at great pace in Finland. Even so, we continue to lag behind other Western European countries. Finland has the advantage of coming from behind. We can look at how urbanisation has advanced in other countries and put this information to good use in our own processes of urbanisation. Research under this theme needs to solve questions such as how cities can respond to residents’ needs, what adds to the appeal and competiveness of cities, how cities support innovations, and how functional labour markets are created in cities. It is also important to find ways in which the strengthening of cities can contribute to enhancing the vitality of surrounding regions.

Research under this theme will be aimed at increasing understanding of urbanisation and its impacts on the interaction between cities and regions and on the vitality of regions. The research approaches include, for example, digitalisation and resource efficiency. Information and solutions are needed about how to promote health and wellbeing, and about how urbanisation is affected by community planning, planning and land use policy, housing policy, taxation and industrial and commercial policy. Research can shed light on the impacts of urbanisation on how and where people will live in the future, on where the various functions of society should be located, on how mobility and transport should be arranged, on how social and health problems and opportunities will change, on how energy will be produced, on what kinds of resources will be available (e.g. quality of air, access to clean water, and food), and so on. Research is needed to explore the characteristics of centralised and decentralised community structures from different perspectives, specifically from the point of view of energy production and consumption, different industries, security of supply and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, research is needed into how the changing demography, the diversification of households and lifestyles, the growth of multi-place living, internationalisation and differences in people’s values and practices influence the development of cities.

Projects:

Urbanization, Mobilities and Immigration (URMI) 
Consortium PI Jussi Jauhiainen, University of Turku

Consortium's composition: University of Turku, Demos Helsinki, Åbo Akademi University, Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere University, Migration Institute of Finland, University of Tartu

Beyond MALPE coordination: Integrative Envisioning (BEMINE)  
Consortium PI Raine Mäntysalo, Aalto University

Consortium's composition: Newcastle University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Tampere University, Tampere City Region, Aalto University, Finnish Environment Institute, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Demos Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä

Dwellers in Agile Cities (DAC) 
Consortium PI Helena Leino, Tampere University

Consortium's composition: Tampere University, Finnish Environment Institute, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd