Mukkula 2030
Creating an innovative concept for the suburb in Lahti for the needs of children and teenagers in 2030
LEADERSHIP
DESIGN THINKING
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
SERVICE DESIGN
FACILITATION
URBAN DESIGN
Creating an innovative, fun and safe surrounding to grow up
In this project, I was responsible for concept design, visual design and urban design. The project was held in 2021.
How to transform a bit shabby suburb into vibrant and fun neighbourhood for 10 to 18 year old children?
Not really sure, but the starting point was surely very interesting! This project was run by LAB University of Applied Sciences together with City of Lahti. It was a project where I joined with my team when studying my master’s in Lahti Institute of Design in 2021.
The case scope was to find out ways how to develop Mukkula district for children and teenagers. Overall Mukkula is a nice suburb near the center of Lahti. There are lot of great elements like fresh nature, lakeside and diversity. Downside is that the surroundings around the Mukkula shopping centre and the elementary school area is somewhat uncomfortable and not that great for children and teenagers to find out something decent doing.
So we grabbed the ball with our team including Henna Parkkinen, Heidi Hölttä, Pia Salmijärvi and me.
First things right - right things first
We conductet a local research by walking around Mukkula, observing how people move there, what kind of people actually seem to live there, what kind of services are there, how the urban space is utilized, how does it look like in different part of Mukkula and so forth.
We also had some previous research analytics available about hopes and wishes from the target group (children and teenagers) so we combined and mapped our own observations together with the previous data. Also, the client, City of Lahti, opened up the case a bit and told about their opinions, expectations and the vision.
Forming the concept with design drivers
Based on all that we created design drivers that guided through our work. After that we had a workshop where we brainstormed ideas pretty freely, voted the ideas and iterated them further.
We decided to select one particular area, which is located in the very center of Mukkula but currently is almost useless spot. It’s very popular hanging place as it locates next to the shopping mall, elementary school and playing field.
As all the data pointed out, we decided to create an area where our target group could play, hang out and meet friends – by their rules but safely.
Toimintapuisto - activity park for children and teenagers
We named our area as Toimintapuisto – place which is green but urban, playful but safe and attractive to come. We decided to create different areas inside the park which are focused more to some activities, chilling, playing and performing.
Our concept works nicely both in summer and winter time and there are also lot of options to increase the functionality of the area. We kept in our mind that the economical situation is a bit challenging, so we designed the area to be developed with just minimal investments and costs.
The results were considered great and feasible
Eventually we demonstrated our concept to the grand jury that included representatives of the City of Lahti and LAB University of Applied Sciences. The feedback was very positive and the jury was pleased on that the plan is feasible without any major costs.
In addition to our core plan we also defined the next steps how to validate the concept, implement it partially if not as whole and how to develope it even further during the next years.
