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Tampere University Urban Lab

Tag: KauksuAnnalaUrbanLab

Embracing Conflict: A Catalyst for Positive Urban Placemaking

Throughout the course of my studies, concepts relating to the development and creation of urban living rooms and community hubs have repeatedly arisen. This has reflected the global trend of the popularity in creating adaptable, informal, multiuse spaces to be used as places for community gatherings. Relating especially to the themes of social sustainability, the popularity of such concepts in urban studies and with urban developers draws on the importance of communities and community belonging in creating strong, safe, and welcoming urban neighbourhoods.

How to promote sustainability in a 1970s' suburb?

Every spring, the students of Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) at Tampere University have an opportunity to bring theory into practice in two phenomenon-based courses: Urban Lab 1: Living in the city and Urban Lab 2: Planning policy and Infrastructure. In spring 2024, Kaukajärvi-Annala, a garden suburb from the 1970s in western Tampere, acted as an urban lab. The SUD students developed new and fresh ideas on how to promote sustainability in the area.

Increasing recreational park use among marginalized populations: Development plan #KauksuAnnala

The main focus of our Urban Lab 2 course has been the development of the Annala-Kaukajärvi neighborhood in Tampere. I am aware that combining these two areas might spark heated discourse among the population, as residents typically associate their identity with one neighborhood at a time rather than both simultaneously. However, since the city of Tampere is developing both areas concurrently, it makes sense to discuss them as a combined area. This theme was also prominent during our field trip "Cities in Flux", which was accompanied by students from similar programs at Utrecht University (BSc) Global Sustainability Sciences and Dublin City University (BA) Climate & Environmental Sustainability. Our hackathon pitch focused on developing the Isolammi park as a connecting factor between the neighborhoods Annala and Kaukajärvi, as well as its potential for constructing neighborhood attractions.

Winter in Tampere: A Finnish mindset for urban planning

In January, we had a week-long field trip in Ylöjärvi and Tampere with our Irish and Dutch peers. During that week, we started to realize how different winter is for us compared to them, also from an urban planning perspective. Urban planning for winter on these latitudes needs more than just throwing gravel on the sidewalks. During the field trip, us students were assigned to identify challenges in Tampere area and propose solutions to them. The week finalized in a hackathon, an intensive event of collaborative problem-solving, which resulted in every group presenting their challenges and solutions in a pitch. The pitches truly inspired us to think about the unique challenges the Finnish winter presents to the field of urban planning.