Only together can we fight for a fair, sustainable, and joyful next era
Meet Demos Helsinki, a globally operating, independent think tank.
We build practical paths to fair, sustainable, and joyful societies.
Demos Helsinki is a globally operating, non-profit, and independent think tank that conducts research, creates new policy tools, and helps build capacities that instigate and sustain essential transitions. We collaborate with local and national governments, international organisations, civil society, and critical industries to create the tools that will define this pivotal moment in global history.
We help organisations of all kinds to lead societal transformations.
Building fair, sustainable, and joyful societies requires widespread effort. In our 20 years of experience, we bridge the gap between immediate interventions and long-term societal needs. Working with us, you can be sure that you ask the right questions and that the answers are backed by our research-based, kind, and passionate experts.
Transforming our economies to address this reality is hard work—but it’s work we can do together.
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Building new and exciting capacities is one of the most long-term impact interventions that can turn organisations into a examples of a new era.
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Foresight is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have for strengthening your societal relevance in a complex world.
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Cities can lead collective action. We help city leaders and administrations transform their governance, equipping them with the mindset, tools, and knowledge to address societal challenges.
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While substantial efforts have been made to identify and address issues of environmental justice in urban areas, the question of how to consider and plan for the concerns of humans and other species remains a major challenge. This paper provides a conceptualisation of what ‘justice’ might mean from a multispecies justice (MSJ) perspective within the contexts of nature-based solutions (NBS) and urban sustainability planning. We offer a wider conceptualisation of representation, distribution and agency compared with dominant framings in NBS scholarship and provide exemplar cases on how to integrate these concepts in planning discourse. We critically discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of considering MSJ when confronted by established procedures and practices in NBS science and decision-making, focusing on (i) moving beyond existing standards for biodiversity conservation; (ii) embracing MSJ as a process and practice; and (iii) building the capacity of NBS planners to work with MSJ.
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The report provides insights into how the dominant ways of thinking about growth have taken shape and become entrenched: What has changed over the decades? And what might the future look like? Finnish discourse is also placed in the broader context of international societal and scientific debates, as well as global shifts in the operating environment.
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For 20 years, we have been fighting for a fair, sustainable, and joyful next era. These are the beginnings of our journey.
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Design for Circularity helps policymakers move beyond recycling by focusing on upstream design decisions that shape sustainable value chains and industrial transformation.
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Collaborations
We are leading societal transformations with partners around the world.
Doomed to grow or ready to transform?
Post
December 3, 2025
Economic growth used to be a cause that had effects, and the desired and expected effects were a matter of political and public debate until the 1990s recession. The meanings and expectations towards growth changed over time, and the idea of economic growth evolved within the debates and the very varied perspectives to growth. Our report “Doomed to Grow” calls for acknowledging growth’s historical recent origins and past pluralism in how economic growth has been discussed.
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