Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 54

Photos: Sigge Architects

Bring on the Brains
Turku accelerates its Smart City agenda by creating a “supercampus”
Going well beyond sustainable, Turku gets busy raising its urban IQ: Smart City attitudes and practices are gaining
momentum in the entire Turku Region. This transition did not, however, take place overnight: sustainable development
has long been a core value at Turku and the community has been internationally noted for its efforts, too – for example,
receiving the ICLEI Honorary Award in 2006 and signing the European Declaration of Sustainable Cities already
in 1996. Turku really switched into a high gear in 2011, as the Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) workshopped
intensively with the City of Turku to identify priorities for advancing sustainability.

I

n fact, Turku was the first city to take
part in the UII programme which brought
some international “heavy hitters” from
such companies as Toyota and Siemens to
Turku. A key project of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD), UII was launched in 2010 to help
cities meet the inter-connected challenges of
sustainable development.

Brainstorming Boost
Jouko Turto, Director of Turku Municipal
Property Corporation, recognises that the
workshopping sessions of 2011 ignited a
spark that has yet to die down:
“There was really good interaction and
dialogue. The top executives of World Busi52 Nordicum

ness Council were eager to learn about our
best practices and there was much we could
learn from them as well,” says Turto. As it
turns out, the workshopping resulted in Siemens and the City signing a three-year contract to fully explore the realms of smart and
sustainable practises in, for instance, new
city neighbourhoods such as Skanssi.
“The cooperation with Siemens has
taught us the value of working together with
companies in such issues as energy, transport
and sustainable construction and living.”

Next-Practice Reach
It was apparent already from UII sessions
that, for example, public-private partnerships and performance contracting could

be relevant in order to realise light rail in
the city; to realise cutting-edge smart grid
systems; to take regional traffic management
to another level. Encouraged by its past successes, Turku has sought to create cross-over
initiatives that bridge conventional “silos”.
Jouko Turto notes that the most promising ideas cut across several themes. Hi-tech
solutions are very much on table, as for example applying ICT to improve city energy efficiency will start to reach its full potential.
The crown jewel in midst of all this
is the Turku Science Park, one of the biggest and oldest innovation parks in the land.
There are plans to realise a world-class hitech campus in the park which has a long
and successful history of bridging the academic and the corporate.