A radical model for collaborative development has been developed as part of Aalto University's Suburb 2072 project. The model is intended to promote the resident-driven regeneration and improvement of suburban areas. The project was organised by a research group at the Department of Design and sparked cross-sector cooperation between the public, private and third sectors.

An essential part of the project was the active involvement of the residents of the suburbs themselves.  This resident activity was strengthened by various means, including ‘housewife’ and ‘househusband’ training. In the future, this training can be organised by adult education centres, trainers in the real-estate and property sector or by building superintendents.

The cooperative model developed by the project was piloted in Finland's largest borough, Mellunkylä in Helsinki. The Mellunkylä suburb was selected as the pilot site for the Suburb 2072 project owing to the fact that the majority of the apartment blocks in the area were built in the 1960s and '70s; in other words, during the suburban boom period. These apartment blocks have been on the threshold of significant regeneration during the project's 2012–2014 cycle.

– In addition to being part of the Suburb 2072 project, Mellunkylä has also been the platform for active regional development and the site of several R&D projects over the course of the last decade. An example of such is the Vetoa ja Voimaa Mellunkylään (Traction and Drive in Mellunkylä) project, aimed at developing an active model of local democracy, explains Director of Research for the project Sari Dhima (Aalto University, Dept. of Design).

– The area's residents were really keen to get on-board with the project and our partner organisation, the Helsinki Deaconess Institute, will continue working on the ‘housewives and husbands' network. The institute is working with us on looking more deeply at social challenges and seeking out meaningful ways of organising collaborative measures and promoting togetherness. Our newly-trained ‘housewives and husbands’ have also agreed to keep on meeting each other, Sari Dhima continues.

Economic Success

One of the most important outcomes from the project has been the increase in awareness and understanding of energy-related issues by the housing associations in the area.

– For example, in a sub-project carried out with Helsingin Energia, energy-efficient repairs lead to an increase in annual heating savings by more than 25 %.  In addition, the water flow fee for the district heating system was reduced by 5 %. In area-wide terms, this means that similar measures could lead to savings of around 500 000 to 800 000 euros a year, remarks Senior Advisor at Helsingin Energia Turo Eklund.

The project's final report, Yhteistoiminnallinen lähiökehittäminen. Kokemuksia yhteisöllisestä ja tulevaisuusmyönteisestä korjauskulttuurista. (Cooperative development of suburbs: experiences of a community-minded and future-thinking culture of regeneration) will be published in September, as part of the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland’s (ARA) publication series.

Further information:

Director of Research for the project Sari Dhima (Aalto University, Dept. of Design), tel. +358 (0)50 3716949, sari.dhima@aalto.fi

Project Manager Katja Soini, tel. +358 (0)50 374 4830, katja.soini@aalto.fi

https://blogs.aalto.fi/lahio2072/

http://issuu.com/lahio2072

The project partners for the Suburb 2072 project are: Aalto University (Living Places research group, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Dept. of Design; BES research group, School of Engineering), Tekes - the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, the Helsinki Deaconess Institute, Helsingin Energia, the Vahanen Group, the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA),  the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the Vetoa ja Voimaa Mellunkylään project, and the City of Helsinki's Environment Centre.

In his doctoral dissertation written at the Department of Design at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Antti Pirinen examines the complicated way in which the planning living arrangements relates to the residents, and production.

Focusing on residents is a recognised and important goal in housing production. However, this is not necessarily realised in practical planning and construction. Pirinen wants to fix the shortcoming by approaching housing production from an atypical angle - that of user-oriented design.

‘Although we know much about people's needs and hopes with respect to housing, they often do not translate into solutions in design,’ Pirinen says, describing the problem addressed by his research.

‘From the residents' point of view much more needs to be designed than the physical building.’

Concepts of dwelling link individuality and reproducibility

The interests of industry and those of residents can converge in a so-called dwelling concept. In his thesis Pirinen has studied five different Finnish dwelling concepts. In them construction companies, for instance, offer a service allowing residents to make individual choices concerning a dwelling, or residents can commission the construction of a house within the framework of a concept.

Pirinen seeks to close the gap between products and processes standardised by industry on the one hand, and very resident-oriented concepts on the other.

‘How is it possible to establish differences in repeated concepts, and how could users participate in the planning process, bringing their own values and needs into it?’ Pirinen asks, as a way of defining the challenges related to planning.

‘It is necessary to ascertain what elements of a dwelling and the environment, and their fixed establishment and variation in housing production - will bring residents value and individuality,’ Pirinen says.

High-quality planning exceeds users' expectations

In user-oriented design, qualitative differences in people's needs, lifestyles, and values are examined. This differs considerably from the statistical and demographic methods of housing research. Pirinen compiles the dwelling experiences of people of very different socioeconomic backgrounds and suggests how to include the needs of the residents in housing production in a concrete manner.

"User orientation does not only mean asking people what kinds of dwellings or products they want and need. The value of professional and creative design and planning is that the final product is always better than the user could have imagined", Pirinen emphasises.

According to Pirinen, housing planners and developers do not sufficiently utilise information about the residents.

"It is known that nearly everybody appreciates peacefulness and proximity to nature. However, they also mean different things to different people, and therefore require different design solutions.

The doctoral dissertation Master of Arts Antti Pirinen, ”Dwelling as Product: Perspectives on Housing, Users and the Expansion of Design”, will be examined at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design, and Architecture on Wednesday, 16 April 2014 at 12.00 noon in lecture room 822, Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki. His opponent will be Prof. Sten Gromark from the Chalmers University of Technology. Serving as custos will be Prof. Pekka Korvenmaa. Orders for a copy of the dissertation can be made to the online bookstore of the Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture: books.aalto.fi, enquiries: artsbooks@aalto.fi.

Further information:

Antti Pirinen
antti.pirinen@aalto.fi
tel. +358 40 5300 828

M. Sc. Salu Ylirisku, who is defending his doctoral dissertation at Aalto University, examined a design process in which a new kind of multi-channelled map service was developed for those moving around in nature. Ylirisku examined what happens when the same people meet each other repeatedly and talk about the concept of a mapping service.

The study revealed that the idea of a concept emerges only after the initial phase. That is when the resources for an idea are built, and it may take a long time before anyone knows where things are going.

Principles emerge from profound learning

In the mapping service conceptualisation process, the so-called project-specific learning emerged clearly. The term is of Ylirisku's own creation, and it refers to learning that takes place during a project. The initial vision of direction and goals can be quite different from what comes out at the end of the process.

‘In project-specific learning, the moment of insight is significant. That is when a change takes place: people start to speak differently about the object being planned and about what is good and appropriate. The significance of the moment does not come out until later in action and in speech.’

If learning is profound, principles emerge which guide choices that are made in the planning process. Maximising the map experience became a principle in the mapping service project. The aim was to make the map dynamic in a way that allows the user to be in as direct interaction as possible with the map's contents.

New theory of design

Ylirisku's dissertation is both empirical and theoretical. It examines the much talked-about conceptual design - planning that moves forward primarily with the help of speech, drafts and modelling.

For academic research the work offers a theory on project-specific learning. Learning taking place in design projects has not been examined as closely or as deeply in previous studies.

For a designer, the work offers both practical hints as well as a basis for planning the process.

"Uncertainty is worth tolerating. Even if there is initially no clear view of the final outcome, it is still possible to move systematically ahead in the right direction, to produce resources for thinking, and finally to reach a clear perception.

Defence of dissertation

Salu Ylirisku's dissertation ‘Frame it simple! Towards a theory of conceptual designing’ will be examined at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture on 15 November at 12:00 noon, lecture hall 822, Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki. The opponent will be Professor Ellen Christiansen of Aalborg University. Professor Jack Whalen of the Department of Design will act as custos.

Further information:

Salu Ylirisku
tel. +358 40 720 2778
salu.ylirisku@aalto.fi
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture

The multidisciplinary research project deals with body learning linked with creativity and design and the neural mechanisms involved. It combines approaches of neuroscience, psychology, design and education in the study of corporal thinking and creativity. The approaches of the various disciplines link the themes of mind, experience and social interaction, revealing new information about the relations of socio-emotional and corporal learning in the processes of art, craft and design. The goal of the research is to open a new kind of research tradition in neuroscience that targets the processes of art, craft and design.

Only a small amount of neurological research linked with design thinking has been carried out, which gives the research consortium excellent possibilities of reaching world class in the fields neuroscience and design research. The Creative Mind research project creates and tests hypotheses linked with the tasks and activities of different areas of the brain, and studies the processes and learning of skills linked with design activities.

Objective: Results applicable to different areas of research

The study comprises four partial studies which complement each other. They will be used to assess how participation in creative craft and design processes will affect the socio-emotional experiences and neural responses of the participants.  In addition, the nature of the related corporal knowledge will be analysed, with a special emphasis on the interaction of the mind, body and materials.

The procedural and theoretical development work that takes place within the framework of research, and the empirical results that are gleaned from it, can be applied further to many areas of research. The results are also expected to promote the development of teaching practices of people of different ages, and to be applicable to service design in the social and health care sector, as well as in therapeutic decisions. It is hoped that the research results will promote more multifaceted design practices and achievements that transcend the boundaries of the environments of today's art and design education and working life.

Further information:
Professor Maarit Mäkelä
maarit.makela@aalto.fi

These are findings from a dissertation by Petra Ahde-Deal, in which she explores the social reasons for women to wear and possess jewellery. Ahde-Deal will defend her dissertation at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture on Friday 25 January 2013. The study is first of its kind, since research in the field of design has not focused on the significance of personal experiences as a motive to wear and possess jewellery.

- Pieces of jewellery are not just contemporary objects; they also function to bring together past, present and future generations. They carry with them memories of relationships, family ties and important milestones in life. Pieces of jewellery that stay in the family for several generations carry particular significance, as they contain so many meanings,' Petra Ahde-Deal explains.

A jewellery box tells a woman’s life story

As her research methods, Ahde-Deal used design probes and in-depth interviews. A total of 28 women from southern Finland and the United States documented their use of jewellery for nine days by keeping a diary and taking photos of themselves. The women were between the ages of 33 and 89, and came from very different backgrounds. Based on this self-documentation, Ahde-Deal conducted in-depth interviews that often evolved into personal discussions.

- Many times, going through the person’s jewellery box meant going through their life story. The pieces of jewellery are associated with a great deal of emotion, and their histories are linked with loved ones and significant life events, Ahde-Deal describes.

Preliminary material for the dissertation research also consisted of extensive story material written by Finnish women, including 464 stories of pieces of jewellery significant to the writers. The theoretical foundation for the study is largely based on sociology, but its results also contribute to the areas of design and jewellery research.

Public examination of the doctoral dissertation

Petra Ahde-Deal graduated as jewellery designer from the Lahti Institute of Design in 2002 and gained a Master of Arts (Art and Design) degree from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (since January 2012 the School of Arts, Design and Architecture) in 2005. She worked as researcher at the School of Art and Design between 2007 and 2012. She has previously worked as a jewellery designer and goldsmith. Ahde-Deal is currently living in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The dissertation was published in January 2013 in the Aalto University publication series Doctoral Dissertations. Orders can be placed with the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture’s online bookshop: books.aalto.fi, enquiries: artsbooks@aalto.fi, tel. +358 50 597 5802.

Further information:
Petra Ahde-Deal Tel. +45 3138 9196 E-mail. petra.ahde-deal@aalto.fi