Finland has a rich and diverse sauna culture, and now it is used as an incentive to promote environmentally friendly mobility choices in the capital city Helsinki. By choosing walking, cycling or public transport, you will earn free admission to Uusi Sauna, the urban neighbourhood sauna located in Jätkäsaari district in Helsinki. This campaign is part of the research project Mobility Urban Values (MUV) encouraging residents to choose sustainable modes of transport.
The MUV project (Mobility Urban Values) encourages residents to opt for environmentally friendly mobility in an innovative way – by inspiring people to change their behaviour with a game.
In the MUV mobile game, you collect points by walking, cycling and using public transportation. You install the game on your phone and can then register your trips and collect points. By performing challenges and trainings, you can make progress in the game and gain both virtual and real prizes.
Eight cities in Europe competing for sustainable mobility
Currently the MUV game is available for use in eight cities, including Helsinki, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Palermo. In Helsinki, the game has been developed together with residents. For example, the local game avatars are designed by the residents of Jätkäsaari – a district in Helsinki.
In June, a new challenge has now been released in MUV in cooperation with Uusi Sauna, the urban neighbourhood sauna in Jätkäsaari. By performing a light walking task in MUV, players can claim free admission to Uusi Sauna. The campaign is valid until 7 July and available to anyone over 16, regardless of their place of residence.
At the same time, the MUV Cities Tournament is underway, where the residents of eight cities compete for a sustainable mobility trophy. The cities tournament will continue until 21 July.
City of Helsinki’s innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki is responsible for carrying out the MUV project in Helsinki. The company’s goal is to broad-mindedly pilot new services and technologies together with residents, companies and research institutions.
“Cities consider it important to find ways to reduce traffic emissions. In addition to technology, infrastructure and regulation, residents themselves play a key role, as they can influence emissions with their choices. The MUV project studies how the fun of mobile games can be brought to everyday choices and sustainable choices can be made attractive,” says project manager Janne Rinne from Forum Virium Helsinki.
The goal of the MUV project is not only to encourage people to opt for sustainable mobility, but also to study how the anonymised data provided by mobile applications and monitoring stations can be utilised in traffic planning.
Participate by following the instructions below:
- Download MUV onto your phone. The game is available in app stores under the name Mobility Urban Values (iOS and Android).
- Register as a user and start playing.
- In the Trainings section of the game, you can find the sauna challenge and the instructions on how to complete it.
- Complete the challenge and MUV will show that the challenge has been completed.
- You can claim your free admission to Uusi Sauna by showing that the challenge has been completed in the MUV app.
- The free admission is valid for the duration of the campaign, until 7 July 2019.
Photo: Julia Kivelä / Helsinki Marketing
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