Background
More than half of the global population live in urban areas and this number is growing. At the same time, people often live alone and experience loneliness and lack of interaction with other people around them. Addressing these phenomena requires innovations in urban development and in the ways in which residents use the city.
Goal
The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to explore how intelligent technologies can be used to enhance community interaction and motivate residents to share spaces in order to advance sustainable development of urban living areas. This will be done in the context of a Nordic Superblock, a new planning, housing and living concept utilised in Hiedanranta – in collaboration with City of Tampere. Nordic Superblock is a combination of city blocks that share yards, common spaces, such as saunas, gyms, laundry rooms, workshops and utilities for instance cars, e-bikes, tools and sustainable energy and recycling infrastructure.
Impact
The contributions of this project will be both scientific and practical, leading to both research articles, functional specifications and policy implications. SocialBlock project is in the core of Tampere University’s new strategy by conducting research on human-centered, intelligent technologies and advancing people’s wellbeing in sustainable cities.
Funding
The Intelligent Society Platform (INSO) for 2020-2021. INSO is an Academy of Finland funded profiling action, operating in the new Tampere University.
Partners and co-operators
- PI: Prof. Kaisa Väänänen, Researchers Jouko Makkonen, Nasim Beheshtian and Dr. Aino Ahtinen
- PI: Prof. Atte Oksanen, Researcher Rita Latikka
- PI: Prof. Kalle Kähkönen, Researcher Marko Keinänen
- PI: Prof. Markus Laine, Researcher Laura Kaukonen
- PI: Prof. Fernando Nieto, Researcher Dr. Rosana Rubio Hernández
- PI and Researcher: Prof. Elena-Simona Lohan
Collaboration with City of Tampere and Hiedanrannan Kehitys Oy, Reijo Väliharju