Fiksu kaupunki – Helsinki Innovation Districts is looking for solutions to improve the cozyness and attractiveness of urban space for children and young people in Mellunkylä. The application period for the ‘Cozy places to Mellunkylä’ pilot programme is open on 1–24th of February 2023.
Mellunkylä is one of the largest districts in Finland. It is also one of Helsinki’s suburban regeneration areas, or neighbourhoods whose renovation and development the City of Helsinki is going to focus on in the coming years. The ‘Cozy places to Mellunkylä’ pilot programme supports urban development in Mellunkylä by seeking new and insightful solutions to attract children and young people to use urban space and spend time in their neighbourhood.
What we are looking for
The objective of the pilot programme is to find new and innovative ways to develop the attractiveness, functionality and sense of security of the urban environment from the perspective of children and young people. The intention is to have children and young people in Mellunkylä use their surroundings in a wide range of ways to play, move, spend time and hang out.
A pleasant, attractive and safe urban environment supports the independent mobility of children and young people and encourages walking or cycling in the area. Both in Helsinki and globally, an increasing number of children and young people grow up in an urban environment and use urban space also outside the areas that have been specifically built for children and young people (such as playgrounds, schoolyards and daycare centres, skateparks and other recreational areas).
The solutions offered must be suitable for piloting in public urban space. The solutions can be physical and visible in urban space or digital and interactive. They may contain game elements or otherwise inspire joy, curiosity and other positive feelings towards the surrounding urban environment. The solutions can encourage people to spend time or linger in places that have previously not been surprising or inviting. The chosen solution can also combine several different elements to improve the pleasantness or sense of security in urban space.
Propose a pilot
Propose a tender by using the form (link below) and attaching a separate tender document to the form. Read the call for tenders and the tender form (both only in Finnish) carefully before submitting the tender. The tender must be submitted no later than on 24 February 2023 at 16.00 (EET).
The form for submitting the tender (in Finnish)
We are looking for 2–3 solutions to be piloted. The maximum price of an individual pilot is EUR 12,000 (VAT 0%) and the total budget of the piloting programme is EUR 25,000 (VAT 0%).
The selected pilots will be announced in April and carried out in Mellunkylä between May and October 2023. Suitable pilot sites include e.g. school routes, the surroundings of the metro stations, underpass tunnels, park areas and access routes to services or hobbies for children and young people in Mellunkylä. The pilot sites will be agreed separately on a pilot-specific basis.
Mellunkylä as a pilot environment
With more than 40,000 residents, Mellunkylä is one of Finland’s largest districts. It includes the residential areas of Vesala, Kontula, Kivikko, Mellunmäki and Kurkimäki, of which Mellunmäki is currently growing most rapidly. Mellunkylä is easily accessible by metro. In the future, transport connections will be improved further, if the Vantaa Light Rail and the Raide-Jokeri 2 light rail projects are implemented.
Mellunkylä has a diverse building stock. Some of the oldest homes are single-family houses built in the 1940s. In the coming years, the area will undergo even more construction, which will attract more residents and new businesses and services. In the 2000s, the Mellunkylä area has become more multicultural, and today one third of the local residents speak a language other than Finnish or Swedish as their mother tongue.
Read more about Mellunkylä on the Urban Development website
More information on the ‘Cozy places to Mellunkylä’ pilot programme
An information event of the piloting programme was held online on 3dr of February 2023. The event provided more information on the piloting programme and Mellunkylä as an area. Watch the video (in Finnish) to learn more:
Questions about the piloting programme can be submitted during the tender period. Any questions regarding the call for tenders should be submitted by 13 February 2023 to the address petra.turtiainen@forumvirium.fi (subject line: Mellunkylä piloting programme). The questions submitted and the answers to them will be published on this page on 15 February 2023.
Additional information