Latest content
Our latest updates, thoughts, and events — as they roll out.
In Imagining Change Through Science – Demos Helsinki Research Encounters, we explored how science and research have shaped societal change.
→ Continue reading
Demos Helsinki is currently involved in 14 Horizon Europe projects. From exploring the societal impacts of new technologies to tackling climate challenges, these projects reflect a growing demand for research that sparks systemic change. Discover how we are working across disciplines to shape fairer, more sustainable futures.
→ Continue reading
These three research projects are: 1) Reducing polarisation via material participation (MaDem); 2) Coastal waters under pressure – safeguarding a healthy Gulf of Finland in a changing geopolitical and environmental landscape (CoWup); and 3) Safe Water for All (WaterFall).
→ Continue reading
Amid the complex and persistent challenges of sustainability transitions, experimental governance has emerged as a way to foster reflexivity, learning, and policy innovation through diverse participatory practices. This paper examines the role of transition arena methodologies in expanding and deepening civic engagement in low-carbon transitions, specifically through seven experimental processes focused on “climate-wise housing” in Finland in 2023. These experiments combined digital and in-person facilitation in an attempt to involve citizens in co-producing actionable insights on climate-smart behaviors, building renovations, and renewable energy adoption, hitherto directing the envisioned transition. The research explores three “avenues” of widening participation in transition arenas, namely expanding, complementing, and opening such arenas to explore questions regarding the potential and limitations of widening transition arena participation and the impact of such breadth on the depth of citizen engagement. Findings highlight trade-offs between different scopes and modes of citizen participation and reveal how participatory processes shape public engagement and policy responsiveness. By suggesting four implications on designing and implementing citizen engagement processes, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of participation in transition governance and its implications for sustainability transformations.
→ Continue reading
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.
→ Continue reading
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.
→ Continue reading
- All
- AI
- Business
- Cities
- Civil service
- Construction
- Democracy
- Economy
- Foresight
- Health & Wellbeing
- Industry & innovation
- Justice
- Public governance
- Research
- Skills & work
- Society
- Sustainability & climate action
- Sustainability governance
- Technology
What does a stronger Europe actually require? Demos Helsinki’s comments on the State of the Union.
September 18, 2026
Drawing on three EU-funded research projects, we examine the tensions behind von der Leyen’s State of the Union address. Technological sovereignty risks deepening the dependencies it aims to reduce; climate resilience requires funding architecture that lets mitigation and adaptation reinforce each other; and Europe’s strength cannot be measured by economic indicators alone. A stronger Europe, we argue, depends less on ambition than on governance capable of delivering it.
→ Continue reading
The next frontier for circularity is governance
September 17, 2026
For cross-cutting policy issues, like the transition to circularity, Demos Helsinki has developed a model that works: beating uncertainty through action, empowering relevant stakeholders with autonomy in problem solving, building a shared coordination structure, and adapting through learning what works. The model has been proven to move the circularity agenda forward, despite its complexity and fluctuating political significance.
→ Continue reading
Governing with cities: Europe’s overlooked governance infrastructure
July 21, 2026
The Cities Mission functioned as a natural experiment that revealed an overlooked property of European governance: cities do not merely implement policy more effectively; they generate governing capacity and governance knowledge that Europe should intentionally incorporate into policy design through a revised multilevel governance architecture.
→ Continue reading