Transforming Havukoski: Vantaa’s AI-Enhanced Community Engagement Workshop

The City of Vantaa in Finland is embarking on a project to develop its Havukoski suburb. To initiate this, the city has begun assessing the area’s transformation potential, prioritizing residents’ perspectives as a fundamental element for future detailed planning.

In this context, city planners, in collaboration with the University of Tampere, conducted a two-day AI-assisted design workshop in October 2023. The workshop’s objective was to collect and coordinate the opinions, desires, and goals of the residents and stakeholders concerning Havukoski’s development.

Participants setting the scene for AI rendering work. Left photo by Milja Inkeroinen, right photo by Anna Koskinen.

The workshop commenced with participants dividing into groups to explore the area, discussing their observations. This was followed by a session where groups reconvened to create and share their visions for “Havukoski in the future”. Subsequently, they used UrbanistAI to visualize these concepts. This approach enabled residents to envision and further discuss the future possibilities of familiar locations in Havukoski.

One topic in re-imagining Havukoski was which types of housing could the area offer in the future. Photo on the left by Anna Koskinen.

UrbanistAI proved to be a valuable asset in this process. Participants found the tool engaging and inspiring, as it brought their ideas to life through visualizations. Planners recognized the tool’s efficacy in quickly converting concepts into visual forms, which significantly advanced the planning dialogue. They also acknowledged the method’s potential for better and broader engagement with residents.

Streets and street life was a reoccurring theme of the workshop. Photo on the left by Anna Koskinen.

The insights gathered from the workshop will be instrumental in the rezoning process for Havukoski. You can find the report from the workshop here (only available in Finnish).