Openness makes sustainable development possible A city is a long-term project. City planning reflects its time, and above all it shows us how we organise the needs of people’s lives both today and into the future. The planner must see far beyond the horizon. This ability is well illustrated by the painting “They see what we don’t see” by the artist Otto Mäkilä. I would like to think that Otto Mäkilä had good reasons for including three figures in his vision instead of just one. Mäkilä’s vision illustrates the essence of embedded design: early, far and together. We will shape our city for our children and their children. For this, we need truly intelligent planning which creates durable solutions that continue to work. This demand includes a great responsibility, because the effects of the choices are long-lived and the city’s solutions will be implemented with meagre common resources. Planning work must produce a single solution that solves several seemingly contradictory challenges. Solutions to multifaceted problems are best found when sought together with city inhabitants instead of just having experts try to produce ready-made solutions on their own. In Helsinki, advanced Living Lab operational models have been developed. Because of its suitable size and infrastructure, the city is an ideal test bed also for our international partners. The Forum Virium Helsinki develops and utilises interactive operational models in which the forerunners of digital convergence design products and services that are integrated with the living city structure and, above all, in the community of the city inhabitants. In the design of services man is the measure of all In Helsinki, the design of systems and services belongs to the expanding field of design. We have achieved exemplary results in organising public transportation to meet people’s needs. The stimulating and developing daycare model created for the children of working parents is an international benchmark. The school system for children has already been mentioned. Several institutions of lifelong learning can be seen as a continuation of this system. The public library service maintained by cities is a means of bringing people to open information making use of all methods of saving and sharing knowledge. The same purpose is being realised by university libraries. The unique and extensive special library of the City Planning Department of Helsinki, which is open to all professionals, also deserves a mention. The process related to the concept, being and location of the new Central Library is a topic of lively debate in Helsinki. Also the new library of the four faculties of the University of Helsinki will be built in the heart of the city. Both institutions will be open to all those who need information. The catalogue of all the public libraries in the Helsinki area is available to the borrower via the Helmet network, regardless of where they live. Major challenges for the design of services are being faced in the field of healthcare services and the decentralised services required by the ageing population. A trend in the services provided for senior citizens is to secure a city resident’s independent life and home-like living as an active member of the community for as long as possible. An example of this is the pioneering ‘Healthy Helsinki’ project going on in Helsinki. Of critical importance for the success of programmes like this is how well the recipients of services and the people providing them are integrated in the
Open Helsinki — Embedding Design in Life
World Design Capital 2012 Application