Vaasa

The City of Vaasa will participate in the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 year with the goal to create meeting places which are functional and provide experiences for the residents, under the principles of sustainable development, and make the diversity and possibilities of design visible.

Sustainable development creates a natural framework for design, which has expanded from product design to design of services, environments, and systems. At the core of design, there is creativity, user-orientation, and visuality, which are combined with economic and technical viewpoints.

Vaasa is a multifaceted city, a meeting point of a rich cultural offering and the peace of an archipelago, a strong energy industry, and a long history, bilingualism and multiculturalism. These qualities have created a unique and active operational environment for design, which provides excellent opportunities for the creation of a more experiential city environment.

Western Finland Design Centre MUOVA, a common research and product development centre of the Aalto University School of Art and Design and the University of Vaasa, has acted as the forerunner of design for over 20 years. Muova specialises in renewing market-oriented design, which means ways to obtain customer and user understanding, and use this understanding through design know-how in product, service, and strategy processes.

Vaasa feels it is important to take the residents' opinions into account when designing their city. Design introduces new methods for co-operative city design.