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Tampere University Urban Lab

Student Visions for a Growing City

Urban Lab students in Teivo-Mäkkylä on a cold January day.
Picture by Anni Seppälä, City of Ylöjärvi

What does the urban future look like at the edge of a growing city? During spring 2026, Urban Lab students set out to answer this question by imagining how Teivo-Mäkkylä, in southern Ylöjärvi near the Tampere border, could evolve into a dense, climate-smart, and green district.

Following the challenge-based learning approach, the students of Urban Lab 1 and Urban Lab 2 familiarized themselves with plans for a new residential area in Teivo-Mäkkylä through site visits and stakeholder lectures. The area forms part of the growth corridor extending from Tampere toward Ylöjärvi. This location requires careful consideration of sustainable mobility and traffic-related noise. Key features and strengths of the district include a nationally valuable landscape area around Teivaalanharju esker, a trotting track with cultural and historical value, outdoor trails, and fitness stairs.

View from Teivaalanharju.
A view from Teivaalanharju esker.

Working in small groups, the students identified specific challenges related to the area, explored them in depth, and developed solutions to address them. The ideas were created in collaboration with representatives of Tampere University, City of Ylöjärvi, Teivo Trotting Centre, Pro Teivaalanharju, Kaupin Kanuunat cyclists’ association, Tampere Tram, and Council of Tampere Region. The students also heard talks by experts of child-friendly urban planning and event industry, including Kati Kuusisto from Kuusisto & Partners.

Poster exhibition at Leija Library in Ylöjärvi.
The students’ work was exhibited to the general public at the main library of Ylöjärvi.

The students’ ideas were presented in the form of posters and policy briefs, which examine, among other things, the change in the identity of the area, the sustainable recreational use of the esker landscape, climate-smart housing and traffic arrangements. The posters and policy briefs were exhibited at the City Hall of Ylöjärvi, Leija Library in Ylöjärvi, and the Finnish Urban Studies Conference. The City of Ylöjärvi will use the students’ ideas in the planning of Teivo-Mäkkylä.

A poster about connected courtyards for children's play, mobility and belonging.
A poster made by Urban Lab 1 students Ella Peltola, Matias Helin, Riccardo Carnesella, Thu Chau and Tin Ngo.

Urban Lab 1 and 2 are 10 ECTS courses offered each spring as part of the Sustainable Urban Development degree programme. Their aim is to draw on systems thinking, a case study approach, as well as multidisciplinary and stakeholder knowledge to generate creative, practical, and feasible ideas for improving developing urban areas. The students’ works were supervised by Salla Jokela, Markus Laine, Jenni Kuoppa, Mikko Kyrönviita and Alonso Espinosa Mireles de Villafranca.

You can explore the students’ work by clicking the links below.

Posters made by Urban Lab 1 students

Policy briefs made by Urban Lab 2 students

 

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