Do you know what your child is doing on their phone at night? – stirring night-time outdoor ads portray the harsh reality on children’s phone screens.
Finland’s largest child welfare organization published an outdoor ad campaign to remind parents and adults of the content children see when browsing their phones, especially at night. Canada are you listening?
The campaign consisted of billboards disguised as a child’s screen recording, a continuous stream of disturbing and violent images, including cyberbullying and war. Highlighting the harsh reality that children can face on their phones, the ads were displayed only at night in Helsinki, Finland, because that is when children are most likely to use their phones without adult supervision.
The aim of The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare’s campaign is to support parents in media education for children. According to a Pew Research Center survey (2020), a majority of parents of children aged 11 or younger are concerned that their child is being exposed to inappropriate content online. 59 percent of US parents were concerned about their child accessing violent content online, and 56 percent were concerned about their child being bullied or harassed online*.
“Digitalization has revolutionized our world, for better and for worse. Media is intertwined with children’s lives, where for example the internet, social media, and games are part of their environment. A child has the right to safety in digital environments as well”, says Paula Aalto, The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare’s Head of School Cooperation and Digital Youth Work.
TBWA\Helsinki, the creative partner in the campaign, discovered an approach that allowed drawing attention to the time of day, when children are most likely to use their phones without adult supervision or support. Thus, the outdoor ads are visible only at night.
“Children are at their most vulnerable during the night. We created billboards that are active from 12:00 am to 2:00 am, displaying a stream of images that depict cyberbullying, nudity, war, and violence. It effectively reminds us, adults, about the availability of illicit online content to our children. We purposely hid the content of the billboards from the public – this became the core of our message. These images were too frightening to show, yet they are the harsh reality our kids are exposed to when we aren’t watching”, says TBWA’s Creative Director Joni Furstenborg.
Adults are the solution
The association does not blame adults or technology, but supports parents in educating their children about media.
“It is understandable that parents cannot constantly monitor their child’s phone use. However, as adults, we are the solution to protecting our children from inappropriate content. By developing our own media literacy skills, we also know how to act if a child has seen something scary or inappropriate on their phone”, says Aalto.
The Mannerheim League emphasizes that providing support entails exploring media together, achieving joint successes, and being present and genuinely interested in our children’s lives . Constant communication with the child on and off screen is of the utmost importance. For the Silo, Minna Närhilä.
“As a parent myself, I am concerned about my own children’s media use on their phones. Children are constantly exposed to harmful content, and parents must protect them from seeing things that they do not have the ability to process due to their young age.We, parents, are the solution”, Furstenborg ends.
The World Happiness Report has anointed Finland as the world’s happiest country for six years straight. What makes a Nordic land with 5,5 million people so happy? In Helsinki, the capital of Finland, art and culture make the city a good place to live and visit.
According to the UN-published report, Finns rate highly on key issues such as a high level of education, affordable healthcare, social stability, and positive work-life balance. But it’s not just these societal indicators that affect how Finns view their quality of life – Culture and art are highly prized aspects as well.
“We see a vibrant cultural sphere that is accessible and affordable for all citizens as a major contributor to everyday happiness. And we are looking at culture through a broad lens: from urban city culture, to sauna culture, to high-end cultural offerings, such as the world-famous Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s a diverse mix,” according to Reetta Heiskanen, Deputy Culture Director at the City of Helsinki.
Sauna culture
In Helsinki, cultural events are designed for everybody, regardless the socioeconomic status, with world-class ambition. The city’s expanding cultural life makes the city a more exciting and diverse place for residents and visitors.
Photo: Julia Kivelä, Visit Finland
“Good examples are the Helsinki Festival and Flow Festival that draw international music lovers’ and urban hipsters’ attention to Helsinki every August. As well as the Helsinki Biennial, a visual art festival in summer – dealing this year with the wicked problems of our time, such as environmental crisis, political conflicts, and the consequences of technological development,” Heiskanen says.
“In Helsinki, culture belongs to everyone. For example, in the Culture Kids program, every child from Helsinki born in the 2020s has a cultural institution as a host, through whom the children and their families get a personal touch with art,” she adds.
Culture Supports Economy
Helsinki has a Nordic approach to art and culture: A unique urban culture is a key enabler of a good life – and culture also supports economic wellbeing.
Culture and events make Helsinki an enjoyable, dynamic, and attractive city. Cultural events boost economic development – while the city government is flexible, people and businesses find the city easy to work with when arranging events, big or small.
But what good would it be to provide interesting cultural offerings if people don’t have the time and energy to enjoy them? If you are working long hours, wouldn’t the sofa be the best option after a long day?
The answer is Finland’s emphasis on work-life balance. This year, Helsinki placed second in the Forbes worldwide work-life balance index of major cities. Generous paid leave and flexible work arrangements, such as hybrid and remote working, were among the factors cited for the high ranking.
“It’s a Nordic dream, a good everyday life, which you can achieve in Helsinki. This means that you can build a successful career and still have enough time and energy for a flourishing personal life and cultural experiences. A vibrant culture creates an attractive city that is easy to fall in love with,” Heiskanen concludes.
Unleash Your Curiosity About Finnish Culture
This year offers unique cultural offerings in Helsinki throughout the year. There are multiple great exhibition openings, such as world-famous Tom of Finland and Albert Edelfelt, in Ateneum, Finnish National Museum of Art, which will open its doors after a year-long renovation, and Helsinki Biennial, a contemporary art event, taking place for the second time in summer 2023, June 12th until September 17th. For the Silo, Leena Karppinen.
For many people, the first things that come to mind when asked about Helsinki are its northern location, the happiest people in the world, and functional design.
The Finnish capital’s high-quality and unique food culture, on the other hand, has remained a well-kept secret and often pleasantly surprises visitors to the city. In Helsinki, one can find numerous innovative restaurants, the oldest market halls in the Nordic region, the Teurastamo centre of urban and culinary culture, distilleries, microbreweries and other craft companies, such as bakeries and chocolate producers.
“The strengths of Helsinki’s food culture are its versatility, personality and a certain kind of uniqueness that combines local flavours and cultural influences from both East and West with a bold and innovative approach. The level of Helsinki’s top restaurants is illustrated by the fact that one restaurant has been awarded two Michelin stars and five with one Michelin star,” says Nina Vesterinen, Tourism Director at the City of Helsinki.
Helsinki wants to focus even more strongly on food tourism
Helsinki is currently implementing its Helsinki Tourism and Events Programme 2022–2026. The programme highlights the city’s vibrant urban culture with its events, visitors and restaurants as a key strategic priority for promoting the city’s vitality and wellbeing. Internationally, food has become an important appeal factor for tourism in recent years.
Restaurants play a key role in the vitality of cities. The restaurants in Helsinki have enormous and partly untapped potential, which can be used together with partners to develop the city as an attractive destination providing wonderful experiences for visitors. Helsinki will highlight the best aspects of the city as a food travel destination at the Matka Nordic Travel Fairthis month by setting up Helsinki Food Court in cooperation with Food Camp Finland and Messukeskus.
The Matka Nordic Travel Fair in Helsinki is the largest tourism industry event in Northern Europe. In connection with the travel fair, Helsinki will also launch its own food culture strategy work. The aim is to make Helsinki a world-class food city of interest.
Finnjävel brings traditional Finnish dishes into the 21st century and to London
One of the advocates of Helsinki’s developing restaurant and food culture is Timo Linnamäki, restaurateur and Chairman of the Board of Muru Dining, which operates several restaurants in Helsinki. Representing Muru Group at the travel fair will be the restaurant Pastis, which focuses on rustic French cuisine and a casual atmosphere, as well as attentive and individual service.
“So much is happening in Helsinki’s restaurant scene at the moment, the range of offerings continues to expand, and there are real gems offering unique experiences throughout the city. Muru Group’s restaurants are a good example of their versatility – our taste worlds vary from the French cuisine at Pastis and the fish and seafood dishes at Sue Ellen to the Italian cuisine at Fiasco and the pure Finnish flavours at Finnjävel.”
Photo: Finnjävel
Finnjävel originally began as a temporary pop-up restaurant but has since established its operations and gained its first Michelin star in 2021. In the same year, Finnjävel received the acclaimed Service Award for the best service in the Nordic countries.
“The concept of the restaurant is to serve the best Nordic flavours and to bring traditional Finnish dishes that are reminiscent of your grandma’s cooking into the 2020s with a new, innovative approach. We strongly believe in Helsinki’s potential as a restaurant city at the international level, and we will be promoting this message by opening Finnjäveli’s pop-up restaurant at COMO The Halkin Hotelin the Belgravia district of London from 21 March to 1 April 2023. The pop-up will also present the Helsinki Distilling Company and Finnish Gin. Our aim is to offer a unique food experience that attracts international interest in Finnish food culture, producers and ingredients and inspires people to travel to the source to experience more,” says Timo Linnamäki. For the Silo, Leena Karppinen.
Featured image: Tuukka Koski/ Koski Syväri, MyHelsinki Material Bank
Although the smallest city to have hosted the summer Olympics, Helsinki’s functionalist structures were conceived as versatile recreational venues and have been preserved to become modestly emblematic of successful circular design 70 years later.
With functional design and sustainably-driven innovation as core priorities for Helsinki’s future, the city and the partners undertaking renovation work to the heritage sites have echoed contemporary architects and designers across the world using innovative design to renew rather than demolish existing buildings as the city grows.
Hanna Harris
Hanna Harris, Chief Design Officer, City of Helsinki, commented: “Helsinki’s Olympic landmarks are a source of great local and national pride, and are buildings that many of us have either grown up recognizing as part of the city’s fabric, or fondly remember for their original purpose. It is therefore of particular importance that we maintain and protect the legacy of these historic buildings, while reconceiving new uses and undertaking architectural updates that bring new life to former Olympic sites as sustainably as possible.”
Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Built in 1938 and intended to host the 1940 Olympic Games before its cancellation, the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, is an iconic landmark of independent Finland and Finnish functionalism. The stadium is the result of an open architectural competition held in the 1930s – a favoured design process in Helsinki – which was won by Finnish architects Yrjö Lindegren and Toivo Jäntti. Becoming a crown jewel of 1930s functionalist concrete architecture in Finland, and at the heart of the 1952 Games, the Stadium has since been re-envisioned as a multi-purpose sporting and events location.
The refurbishment of the stadium, completed in 2020, respects the original architecture by preserving theangular concrete facade and original structure of the design. Additional features were added in a 20,000 sq m underground extension, and include sports facilities, logistical spaces, technical spaces, and an indoor running track. In addition, K2S Architects + Architects NRT improved public safety and comfort by adding new entrances to the stands, and a canopy to cover the stands almost entirely.
Amos Rex Art Museum
Originally designed as a temporary building to serve visitors to the Olympic Games, the Lasipalatsi (“glass palace” in Finnish) once housed commercial premises, restaurants, and a cinema. 2018 saw the completion of a five-year, €50 million project by Helsinki-based architecture firm JKMM to restructure the Lasipalatsi to house the Amos Rex Art Museum, amongst other public spaces.
At the heart of the museum, 13,000 cubic metres of rock have been excavated to create a world-class gallery space. The gallery is topped with a series of domes and skylights, which above-ground create a series of mounds that articulate the surface of Lasipalatsi Square. The mounds generate a playful landscape which invites residents and visitors alike to interact with the space, and are often used as grandstands, stages, or platforms for public events.
A programme of creatives are invited to also make use of this public space to produce site-specific work, such as The Nest, a sculptural installation by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata (7 May – 4 September 2022), in which reclaimed materials surge over the roof of the Lasipalatsi building and up the courtyard chimney.
Helsinki Airport
Built in 1952, Helsinki Airport saw nearly 2000 flights pass through during the Olympic Games, with guests including royalty, such as Dutch Prince Bernhard and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, as well as Olympic sports teams from around the world.
Designed by Helsinki-based practice ALA Architects, the newest terminal extension aims to streamline the user experience and bring excitement back into air travel, with new departure and arrival halls that from 21 June 2022 centralise all flights under one roof, in addition to the introduction of next-generation security control and a new multimodal travel centre. New stores enliven the visitor experience such as Balmuir and Marimekko stores, a variety of restaurants, and the beloved Moomin Shop.
A central feature of the airport extension is a cross-laminated timber ceiling, made up of 500 unique pieces of Finnish spruce which slot together to form a feat of carpentry in an undulating structure that appears to float overhead. The terminal extension reflects a purposeful dedication to Finnish design and nature through the use of predominantly domestic materials. A freeform installation titled “Luoto” echoes the rocks and islets seen across the national landscape as a natural diorama featuring trees, plants, and stones as a memorable experience for visitors.
The redevelopment is due to complete in 2023, when a new baggage claim hall will be put into service.
Serpentine House
Designed by Yrjö Lindegren, also responsible for the Olympic Stadium, the Serpentine House in the Käpylä district of Helsinki is a highlight of Finnish architecture. The building of 189 residential flats was first constructed as part of the Olympic Village in 1951. The project to renovate the southern residential building ran from 2016 to 2018 and was led by architect Mona Schalin of Kati Salonen and Mona Schalin Architects. Serpentine House subsequently won the 2019 Finlandia Prize for Architecture, awarded annually by the Finnish Association of Architects, SAFA.
Despite its total length of 287 m, the design succeeds in avoiding a rigid and austere feel by setting the residential units in a fan-like arrangement that creates a series of private and sheltered garden spaces. The design team also worked in close collaboration with the staff at Helsinki City Museum and the city’s planning and building control departments to propose a sustainable refurbishment. The majority of the original windows and kitchen fittings were preserved and repaired and, significantly, the original natural ventilation system was retained. This energy efficient system will continue to reduce maintenance costs and prevent indoor air quality problems in the years ahead.
The City of Helsinki continues to demonstrate commitment to innovative, sustainable design and the transformational potential of architecture in shaping the city as ways in which to further improve its maritime character, create liveable spaces, and promote active citizenship.
Later in 2022, an Architecture Policy will be unveiled that formalizes the city’s relationship to architecture across landmarks, everyday buildings, coastal connections, and urban renewal.
Also in 2022, the design winner of the Makasiiniranta quality and concept competition will be announced, cementing plans for Helsinki’s most high-profile upcoming development that will house the new Architecture and Design Museum.
Instituting a new chapter for the city’s South Harbor – the last old harbor area to be transformed for public use in Helsinki, including the protected Olympic Terminal – the development of the 83,000 sq ft historic site will reconnect the expanding pedestrianized city centre with the shoreline as a new culturally-intensive destination. A separate architecture competition for the Architecture and Design Museum is set to launch during 2023.
