Topic
Construction
Commentary
Traditional infrastructure, like Austin’s I-35, often benefits some while harming others, especially marginalised communities. Expanding from six to twenty lanes, as proposed, could exacerbate this. Instead, regenerative infrastructure—rebuilding communities and ecosystems—offers a vision for 21st-century development, promoting social equity and environmental health, crucial for a sustainable future.
Sustainability is no longer enough to address today’s environmental challenges. Regeneration, which emphasises renewal, restoration, and resilience, is emerging as a more effective framework. By shifting from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric approach, regenerative infrastructure can positively impact both communities and ecosystems, fostering long-term, net-positive environmental and societal change.
Demos Helsinki cofounder Aleksi Neuvonen presents research on how backcasting scenarios can help cities achieve carbon neutrality. By working backwards from a desired carbon-neutral future, backcasting enables collective learning, redefines urban planning, and fosters cross-sector collaboration, crucial for the societal transition towards sustainable, carbon-neutral cities.
The Humble Timber alliance, a 9-actor collaboration in Finland, identified key barriers to timber construction, proposed solutions, and delegated responsibilities to accelerate carbon-neutral building. By fostering cross-sector cooperation, they addressed demand, supply, governance, and skills challenges, aiming to scale timber use in construction and promote sustainable urban development.
The event on May 18, 2022, gathered Finnish policymakers, city planners, and industry leaders to discuss the transition to timber construction. The Humble Governance model facilitated collaboration, addressing bottlenecks in emissions reduction, planning, and policy updates. Timber construction offers significant potential to lower emissions, but it requires proactive, collaborative efforts.
Publications
Given that the global building stock is estimated to double by 2060, the only way to meet the industry’s ecological budget is to turn towards regenerative construction. The publication, a joint effort between Ylva and Demos Helsinki, shares exciting initiatives that are already pursuing regenerative construction.
The future of our built environment is built today. 70% of the existing building stock will still exist in 2050 (Kiinteistölehti, 2017). We are now defining the opportunities and limitations of how the future homes will allow us to participate actively, decrease emissions and create life-improving services. Keeping this in…
Projects
BEMINE-project produces new knowledge about urbanisation, solves problems related to the planning of city-regions, and develops new concepts and practises to enhance more visionary strategic planning. Current urban planning has several problems that hinder it from steering city-regional development towards a more sustainable future. The strategic research project BEMINE (Beyond…
S group in co-operation with Demos Effect developed a new vision for Kera area in Espoo in 2015-2016. The goal was to find ideas on how a large, industrial site in a great location right next to a railway station could be transformed into a modern living and working neighbourhood. The project…
People
Liisa Perjo
Liisa is a social scientist who thrives when she gets to analyse, understand, and explain how things work in policy and urban planning. She is especially into exploring approaches that make cities better drivers for just and inclusive sustainability transitions. In her work, she supports European cities and regions in…
Oya Duman
Do you ever find yourself thinking about how to mobilise various stakeholders to achieve fair, sustainable, and joyful cities of the future? Oya sure does! She seamlessly integrates her professional background in architecture with a keen research focus on collaborative urban planning processes. Thanks to this, she really knows her…
Erkki Perälä
Did you know that cities account for over 70% of global emissions? Erkki sure does, which is why he works on supporting the decarbonisation of several European cities. He is especially intrigued by connecting the narratives of climate change and the built environment, and finds cities a practically-sized unit to…
Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé
Kaisa works with one foot in the practical, one in research. She is our in-house Docent, i.e, Adjunct Professor in Strategic Planning for Urban Sustainability at Tampere University. She is happy to be on-call on this topic and on anything related to regenerative, joyful cities. Kaisa is not a fan…
Otto-Wille Koste
Otto-Wille is a senior expert in the Regenerative Infrastructure Team. He focuses on cities’ sustainability transformations. Cities are under constant change opposed by various phenomena, and Otto-Wille develops processes and solutions with which cities and other actors in the urban sphere can foster required transformations. Otto-Wille holds a master’s degree…
Aleksi Neuvonen
Aleksi Neuvonen is a recognised expert and thinker on understanding the change (and unchange) of societies and organisations. Aleksi holds PhD honors from Tampere University and Radboud University Nijmegen. During his career, Aleksi has published over 30 reports, books or academic articles, focusing primarily on methods and tools for transformative…
Roope Mokka
Roope is all about the future. For many the future seems scary, but where some see problems Roope sees solutions. He has an exceptional mindset to see the pathway for societal transformation. He gathers impactful alliances through various fields to work together with a shared goal. Whether it is learning…
Themes
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Infrastructure: The overlooked tool for societal transformation
July 25, 2022
Infrastructure shapes human activity and influences both societal and economic outcomes, but it’s often overlooked in discussions about systemic change. Our past investments can lock us into outdated systems, yet future decisions must prioritize infrastructure that supports environmental and human wellbeing, enabling a transformative path towards a more sustainable future.