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Missions x Neighbourhoods
Original draft of my essay for the ‘Mission Neighbourhood’ book, exploring participative transformations of the Nordic Model, and how missions for neighbourhoods must weave together local infrastructures and global systems
Before I left Sweden, I was part of a group pulled together by Christian Pagh, the chief curator of the 2022 Oslo Architecture Triennial, to help frame the exhibition. Christian wanted to explore the potential of ‘mission-oriented innovation’ at neighbourhood scale, using that as kind of conceptual container to dig into the practices, pitfalls and possibilities of recent Nordic architecture and urbanism. I had been doing more or less the same thing in my role at the Swedish Government, building on previous work at SITRA in Finland. In each role, I worked with my colleagues to help build diverse variations on participative urban systems and social infrastructures, across streets and schools and software.
Christian and colleagues delivered a wide-ranging, provocative, engaging and considered Triennial program. I had become part of it, in a small way, working with frequent collaborators Einar Sneve Martinussen and Joakim Formo from Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) on an exhibit called The Garden of…
