When self-organization and urban governance intersect:
Two cases from Helsinki
Liisa Horelli*, Joanna Saad-Sulonen**, Sirkku Wallin*, Andrea Botero**
Aalto University, Finland
*YTK Land Use Planning and Urban Studies Group, P.O.Box 12200, FI-00076 Aalto
** Department of Media, P.O.Box 31000, FI-00076 Aalto
[liisa.horelli, joanna.saad-sulonen, sirkku.wallin, andrea.botero]@aalto.fi
Abstract
Finland is a small, technology savvy country that has excelled with mobile phones, GNU/Linux systems and other communication devices, since the 1990s, and where Internet penetration is very high. During the past decade, the emergence of social media has given impetus to a renaissance of self-organising groups, events, happenings and actions in many neighbourhoods of Helsinki. Some of the activities deal with issues that are traditionally part of urban planning. However, the Finnish governance structures, especially the urban planning system is centralized, leaving little space for public participation, irrespective of the national Land Use and Bulding Act of 2000 that has a special paragraph on citizen participation. This government-led participation is limited to top-down consultation. So far, there are no clear intersections between formal urban governance processes and the flurry of self-organising activities, but it is possible to identify potential directions.
We are interested in the questions: How do self-organisation and urban governance intersect and with what consequences for the environment, urban planning and co-governance? In addition, what is the role of digital technology and social media in supporting the new intersections? We will analyse two empirical cases from Helsinki. The case “Pop-up cleaning day” is an example of a self-organizing group, who has applied social media to build momentum for the event and the mobilization of people. The activities, aided by digital tools, induced change in the way city authorities deal, for example, with providing permits for selling second-hand stuff in public space. The second case highlights time- and e-planning, in a neighbourhood of Helsinki in which we have conducted action research for the past eight years.
The analyses indicate that self-organisation that is supported by the use of community informatics and social media tools, can have an impact on the quality of community activities and the environment with
transformative consequences for urban planning and governance. However, this requires that local co-governance succeeds in finding a balance between the formal, semi-formal and informal in terms of activities, networks, partnerships or discursive spheres.
