Towards a more sustainable city through co-creation

In the co-creation model, it will be proposed how various sustainable and smart urban areas can be developed in co-operation between the city organization, companies, educational institutions, research institutes, other organizations and associations, and citizens. The model will be built using co-creation methods: starting with the definition of shared objectives and by promoting open communications. The model will focus on the themes of energy, mobility and land use development, in particular, which have a significant impact on the City of Espoo’s goals of becoming carbon-neutral by 2030. The model will also support the development of partnership work on sustainable development.

“Cities such as ours cannot respond to the sustainability challenge on our own, since we also need extensive co-operation and residents’ participation. The new co-operation models for urban development are only now being formed, and the co-creation model is an excellent example of this. It is wonderful to be able to work on this model with WSP’s support and together with the stakeholders. Developing the model through extensive co-operation has attracted great interest, and we are looking forward to presenting the results to everyone interested,” says Elina Wanne, Project Manager for SPARCS at the City of Espoo.

The City of Espoo’s goal is to develop operating models to take smart city solutions into consideration early on during a city district’s planning phase. The process will result in a virtual toolkit for supporting the development of sustainable and smart urban areas. At the same time, the land use and urban development process also are being described from the perspective of inclusion: who is able to influence matters, how, at which stage, and at which level, e.g. how a resident can influence the planning of a building or a park.

“We are very happy for the opportunity to do this fascinating and socially impactful R&D work with the City of Espoo and other partners. With the model that will be formed, it is possible to boldly take a step towards smoother and increasingly sustainable processes for building smart cities,” says Terhi Tikkanen-Lindström, WSP Finland’s Director of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility who is also the project manager for the ongoing work.

The results of the development work on the co-creation model will be presented and shared in late 2022.

The EU project SPARCS began in October 2019 and will end in September 2024. Espoo is involved in the project as a developer city, along with Leipzig, Germany. In Espoo, new sustainable energy and electric mobility solutions will be developed and piloted in the Espoonlahti, Leppävaara and Kera districts during the first three years. In the last two years, the solutions chosen will be monitored and spread elsewhere in Espoo and to the project’s five follower cities. Espoo’s consortium includes Kone, Siemens, Plugit, Citycon, RIL, Adven and VTT. The SPARCS project involves a total of more than 30 partners from around Europe.

More info about the SPARCS-project: https://www.espoo.fi/en/kestava-kehitys/sparcs