BETWEEN OLD AND NEW: TEMPORARY USES AND SPACES IN HELSINKI

City of Helsinki commissioned a report on the potential of temporary use of spaces as a booster for creative economy of the region. The report named “Between old and new: temporary uses and spaces” was written by DoTank – a collective of researchers, city district developers and designers. Besides providing a general view to the topic, the report took a closer look at the Hernesaari area, a peninsula recently vacated by a cargo port and to be developed as a residential area and an interesting port for cruise ships sailing to Helsinki.

After taking up several international (some of them drawn from the Creative Metropoles project) and local examples on how both cities and creative sector can benefit from temporary use of spaces, the report proposes a five step program to make a better use of existing space in Helsinki: The City should:

1) channel more resources, both money and staff, to activate temporary use of spaces,

2) create a website were property owners could advertise empty spaces suitable for temporary use and potential users come up with ideas on their use,

3) create a practical tool kit to help the property owners and potential users of spaces to avoid the pitfalls of temporary use,

4) elaborate contract models for temporary use, and

5) encourage the foundation of temporary use agencies to work between the developers and creative entrepreneurs and different grass-root organizations.

Pilot projects are now planned within the city administration to take forward these ideas.

source: http://www.creativemetropoles.eu