The City of Turku organized an Open Call event on June 16, 2016 to mark the beginning of the planning process for the city’s campus area and Science Park in Kupittaa. The event gathered key stakeholders from the area to discuss and brainstorm what the future of the campus area and science park could look like. Baltic Urban Lab’s pilot site in Itäharju is closely connected to the planning process and project partners from UBC, University of Turku and the City of Turku took part in the event.
The event was kicked off by a foreword by the city’s planning director Timo Hintsanen. The following panel discussion brought together representatives from the universities, businesses and other stakeholders of the area to converse on matters they see important for the upcoming planning process. The panelists agreed that there is a huge potential in developing the area and that the aim should be set at an internationally high standards. To achieve these goals close cooperation and innovative approaches will be needed.
The event was concluded with workshops where the participants were divided into workshop groups that brainstormed ideas for the area. All in all seven workshops were formed that had the following topics: traffic and getting around, encounters, Kupittaa all-night long, smart city solutions, international meeting point, connections and the yearly cycle of the area. The groups exchanged ideas on what we want to achieve, what are greatest chances, possible threats and risks, as well as possible surprising new actors an opportunities in the seven topics.
