What kind of a world would you design? Share your ideas with us

How should a city market itself as a winter destination? Do we have enough bicycle ways and bicycle parking? How parks can be put to use in winter? What is the role of nature in cityscape? How could young people be recruited to improve their city? What kind of world would you design?

World Design Capital (WDC) Helsinki 2012 cities Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Lahti and Kauniainen once more invite everybody to share their views with us on the possibilities of design, organizing brainstorming during the weeks of March 8 and 19. The events are follow-up on the Ideas Forum held last May.

We are now looking for ideas on selected themes and on winter topics that are important to the cities and did not emerge in May. How should Lahti’s city centre be developed? And how about Espoo’s Otaniemi-Keilaniemi-Tapiola science, art and business district? What kind of solutions would improve Tikkurila?

In addition to ideas for winter cities, we are especially inviting ideas about winter cities, moving around in the city and nature. You can join the brainstorming by participating in discussions or by submitting your ideas in writing at brainstorming sessions. You can also submit ideas on the web at the WDC Helsinki 2012 site between March 4 and 20. All ideas can be reviewed at the WDC Helsinki 2012 site during March 7-27.

On hand at the sessions will be WDC Helsinki 2012 guides available for discussion on the themes and topics. Cities will be toured by brainstorming patrols organizing spontaneous brainstorming sessions in busy public spaces, such as bus stops, market squares and shopping malls.

The first Ideas Forum was held in May 2010. We organized around 100 events during one day and collected more than 2,000 ideas. The ideas have been reviewed and forwarded the ideas to appropriate parties for further development.

One concrete outcome from the first Ideas Forum can already be seen at the Lahti design gas station: an idea for drinking-water stations envisioned by a thirsty Lahti bicyclist has been turned into five designs for citizen review. Based on the citizen feedback, three of the designs will be built into prototypes and tested in real urban environments. The idea will be further refined into permanent water stations placed in the city during 2011.