New tools for Helsinki to evaluate the impact of design

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Below is a reprint of an article produced by the City of Helsinki, Finland.  (Reprinted with permission.)

In 2013, I wrote about Helsinki, "Helsinki as an example of creative industries driving urban revitalization programs," for the Europe in Baltimore project conducted by the Washington Chapter of the European Union National Institutes of Culture.

Design is a key element of Helsinki's identity and economy.  And while writing the article, I learned a lot which has influenced my thinking ever since, about cultural planning, cultural production, systematic planning of new districts, specifically Arabianranta, where the Aalto University is now located, assigning cultural planners to districts, libraries, and more.

An article on Arabianranta,

"Developing creative quarters in cities: policy lessons from 'Art and design city' Arabianranta, Helsinki," Van Tuijl, Carvalho, and Van Haaren, Urban Research & Practice 6(2):211-218 · June 2013

introduced me to a new line of thinking about "creative quarters," which we might call Arts Districts 2.0.

The research was part of a larger project which resulted in the book Creating Knowledge Locations in Cities: Innovation and Integration Challenges.

(Another huge lesson for me was about housing in the context of master planning.  What they do when "re-planning" grayfield developments is as part of the process, they allocate parcels to social housing organizations from the outset.  That definitely doesn't happen in the US.  Therefore, they developed a better place in terms of the representation of a broader array of income levels and forms of housing tenure.)

Some relevant past blog entries concerning the value of design include:

-- "City branding versus identity | Branding versus Urban Strategy," 2019
-- "Why can't the "Bilbao Effect" be reproduced? | Bilbao as an example of Transformational Projects Action Planning," 2017
-- "All the talk of e-government, digital government, and open source government is really about employing the design method," 2012
-- "PL #7: Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward," 2017
-- "World Usability Day, Thursday November 9th and urban planning," 2017
-- "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit," 2018
-- "Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times architecture critic to become Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles," 2018
-- "Illustration of government and design thinking: Boston City Hall to Go truck," 2013

I've argued that city's should consider having design elements as part of their master plans.

And what I call my "action planning" approach is based on the design method rather than the traditional "rational planning" approach which is a lot more static.

"Best practice bicycle planning for suburban settings using the "action planning" method," 2013, outlines the approach I took in developing the Western Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan.

Some planning offices have used design method approaches in planning engagements and the planning firm Arnett Muldrow is a leading example of a firm that is infused by the design method.

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New tools for Helsinki to evaluate the impact of design

The City of Helsinki initiated collaboration with Aalto University’s Department of Design last spring to evaluate the impact of design activities. The evaluation represents the first extensive survey of the City’s design projects and the benefits and challenges of those projects. The results of the evaluation were presented at the closing seminar of an Aalto University design course in December.

Students of Aalto University’s Strategic Co-Design course. Photo: Laura Oja, City of Helsinki.

The City of Helsinki has utilised design for many years in the development of services and the built environment. Design has also been incorporated into strategy work and organisational development in recent years.

“Helsinki has been a pioneer in the use of design in the public sector, but information on the scope of the City’s design activities and on the contents and impact of those activities has not been gathered systematically,” says Helsinki’s City Design Manager Päivi Hietanen.

“Our collaboration with Aalto University has given us a good picture of Helsinki’s strengths in the utilisation of design and areas to develop. We now have an excellent analysis of the current situation and have obtained new tools and practical advice for the development of our operations,” Hietanen says, delighted with the results.

Opportunities and challenges of design recognised

According to the analysis produced by Aalto University researchers, Helsinki has utilised design extensively and without hesitation for a variety of purposes. Design has been used to make customers’ voices heard, to increase the understanding of customer needs, and to improve services and internal operating models. The researchers also see it as a strength that design and customer orientation have been incorporated into the City Strategy.

Some of the challenges discovered in the survey were the great variance in design expertise and how well design is utilised in the City organisation. Furthermore, design activities are often carried out as projects, and the opportunities and concrete benefits of design are not yet fully recognised.

“The findings of the researchers strengthened our own understanding that it is advisable to invest in systematic and persistent design activities. In addition, we should compile and share information and lessons from various design projects increasingly systematically,” Hietanen asserts.

Visualisation of city design map. By Bin Shamsul Amri Daud, Nader Sayún Michel, Zheng Zheng, Menegolli Alessia

Students visualise a city design map

The City of Helsinki and Aalto University collaboration produced a city design map. The map divides Helsinki design activities into six categories.  [text of the categories added below]

• Categories of design activities
• City services
• Level and quality of participation
• Resident groups
• Sustainable Development Goals
• Design projects in the City of Helsinki

The city design map can be used to categorise various design projects and to evaluate their properties and impact. The map helps users to store information on projects and to communicate about the City’s design activities.

The collaboration continued in the autumn with the Strategic Co-Design course, in which students worked on the results of the analysis phase. Students took a closer look at the City design projects and refined the city design map.

“Students created a straightforward and comprehensible method in the course to evaluate and to categorise various design projects. They developed an interactive version of the city design map, and they visualised the map magnificently,” Hietanen says.

“Our work with the students produced concrete tools for us to define project goals and to measure the achievement of those goals. This is a good basis to continue the City development work,” Hietanen asserts.

Aalto University is also satisfied with the collaboration.

“The City of Helsinki is a pioneer in the use of design. Especially the scope and diversity of the City’s design activities create completely new types of challenges to develop design and its impact. Our expertise and interests are well suited for solving those challenges,” says Sampsa Hyysalo, Professor of Co-Design at Aalto University.

“At the same time, the collaboration has given us a unique vantage point to wide-ranging use of design in urban contexts through both research and student projects. Our collaboration has been a pleasure to us so far, and we are hoping that it will continue far into the future,” Hyysalo says.

International interest in the evaluation of design

Helsinki’s design expertise has roused international interest.

“Helsinki is a large-scale consumer of design, and the international community has taken note. Design has made Helsinki an exciting role model. Helsinki is asked for experiences and advice in the use of design,” says Development Consultant Meri Virta of the Helsinki City Executive Office.

For the City of Helsinki, design means human-centred approaches and the utilisation of the customer perspective.

“Helsinki seeks to be the most functional city in the world. A functional city is created through cooperation, by listening to customers, and by taking customer needs into consideration. Design has a great deal to offer in this regard. We want also to be pioneers in evaluating our design activities. That is why I would welcome continued close cooperation with Aalto University in the future,” Virta asserts.

The City of Helsinki is an internationally recognised pioneer in the utilisation of design. Helsinki is a leading City of Design, which has made design one of its strategic choices. Since our designation and year as World Design Capital 2012, followed by the UNESCO City of Design title in 2014, Helsinki has systematically developed the design capabilities and capacity of the City organisation. By combining design with digitalisation and dialogue, we create the best urban user experience in the most functional city in the world.

City of Helsinki

City Design Manager Päivi Hietanen
tel. +358 40 665 3229
paivi.hietanen(at)hel.fi

Development Consultant Meri Virta
tel. +358 50 553 1310
meri.virta(at)hel.fi

Aalto University

Professor Tuuli Mattelmäki, Head of Department of Design
tuuli.mattelmaki(at)aalto.fi

Professor Sampsa Hyysalo
sampsa.hyysalo(at)aalto.fi

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I want to try to track down the report, but I bet it's in Finnish.

But to me, it appears to be a variant of cultural mapping.

-- Cultural Mapping Toolkit, Creative City Network of Canada